Being a Cripple in the Period of War in The War That Saved My Life

Imagine trying to escape an abusive family during the middle of a war with a crippled leg. The War That Saved My Life is a book about this exact point. This historical fiction novel will keep you at the edge of your seat with its near close calls and its lovable characters.Its a book about never giving up and pushing through the pain. It has so many interesting things in it that I couldn't get enough of it.

Ada, a 9-year-old girl with a cripple leg, is looking outside in the 1 room apartment she lives in. She has never been outside because her mother won’t let her. Her mother was embarrassed about her cripple leg that Ada has. Little does her mother know that Ada was learning to walk with her cripple leg. Ada’s Mother harasses her and beats her if she doesn't do what she orders her to do and would kill her if she found out that Ada was learning how to walk so Ada does it when her mother is off at work.It hurts her to learn to walk but she endures through the pain. Ada also has a brother named Jamie. Ada hears that Jamie and other kids will be a train leaving to a small town named Kent to avoid the bombs that the Nazi’s might drop onto London. Ada saw this as her time to escape.

Ada, with Jamie's help, are able to sneak out of the apartment while her mother is sleeping and go to the train station. Ada hides her cripple leg and uses a separate cloth to stop the blood from getting on her clothes. They make it to the train station in which all the kids are boarding to leave London to Kent. On the train ride, Ada and Jaime sees a pony and Ada dreams of riding on the pony. When they made it to Kent, no one from the Woman's Volunteer Service wanted nor had room to take care of them so Lady Thorton made Susan Smith take care of them. Ms Smith did not want to take care of the children but she reluctantly agree. Ada asked if Smith had a pony and she said yes.

Smith took care of Ada and Jamie. She fed, clothed them and bathed at first Ada due to her cripple leg.Smith also enrolled Jamie into school. Smith took Ada to the doctor to check out Ada’s Leg. The doctor gave her crutches and said he could do surgery on the leg to improve it. While shopping for some food, Ada saw someone at the beach that no one was allowed in. She told an officer and they caught the guy who was a german spy and thanked Ada for her good deed. Ada loved her new life and was even starting to recover from all the abuse she endured but it wasn’t going to last. Around a year or so had passed and the abusive mother came back to take them home after the UK sent her a letter that she had to pay about 1.5 pound per kid each week.

When they got back to London, Mother takes Ada crutches and says she shall never walk or leave this apartment again and starts abusing Jamie. Ada made a deal with her mother that Ada and Jamie will leave and never come back and Mother doesn't have to pay a single shilling again. Her mother agrees to the offer. They leave and as they go to the train station, London gets bombed. They make it to a bomb shelter in time. Smith finds the children and takes them back to Kent only to find out their home was also destroyed. Susan thanked Ada for making her go to london to save them and Ada just said, “We are now even”. This story is amazing and manages to portray the time well. The characters are some of my favorites. It was one of the most interesting books I ever read and might be one of my favorites. The War That Saved My Life is a great example of never giving up and enduring the pain and I would recommend this book.