I was recommended this book by a friend, they had read all the Carnegie books for 2024 and said this was one of their favourites for this year. Other people also thought this was one of the best for 2024 but unfortunately I didn't really enjoy it.

At the start, I was quite interested in the story but as I got further into the story there was just so many things going on at once. Since so many things happen, I would forget about characters often, for example Isabelle who was introduced as Safiyah's best friend at the start of the book. After the start, Isabelle wasn't really mentioned too much and for the second half of the book, I feel like she's forgotten.

I also didn't like the pacing. I found it hard to grasp how much time had pasted in the book. It would say about the change in weather but I still couldn't understand how long had gone by.

According to the Carnegie website, Safiyah's War is for ages 9+. For people around that age, I do think it is a good book to teach them about WW2.

You can tell that the author has put a lot of effort into making sure the book is historically accurate. If you do read this book, definitely read the Historical Note at the back of the book where the author talks about their research. The Historical Note also mentions a book called 'The Grand Mosque of Paris' which I'm going to see if I can get a copy of.