Safiyyah's War and other September reads
A new favourite and some other interesting reads.
With my slump successfully shaken off in August, September was a really good reading month. I read a variety of genres, mainly female authors and books that have left me thinking and reflecting on something within my life or something within the world.
Safiyyah’s War by Hiba Noor Khan
This is my favourite book that I read in September, and is among my favourite books I have read so far this year. One of the reviews for ‘Saffiyah’s War’ by Hiba Noor Khan says:
"Safiyyah's War has the soul of a classic and the urgency of a story for our times.” - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
I could not agree with this more. What an act of service for Hiba Noor Khan to write this story for children (it has a reading age rating of 9+), and how fortunate current and future generations of readers are to have this book out in the world.
Safiyyah’s War is set right before and then during World War Two, in German-occupied Paris . Our protagonist is the wonderful Safiyyah, a character who was inspirational for me, reading this book as a 27-year-old and would have been incredibly profound for me to come across as a young reader. I was so moved by her curiosity, empathy, kindness and stubbornness. She has a fierce sense of right and wrong, and she shows up in all the way she knows how in a scary and uncertain time. Her world is turned upside down over the period when Paris is occupied by Nazi Germany and then slowly begin to take over the rest of France. She observes and is affected by many changes - from her best friend leaving, to the changing behaviours of those around her, as well as (albeit from a distance), the behaviour of the Vichy government.
The narrative itself is centred around a true story, which I had never heard of before, despite being incredibly interested in this time period and consuming a lot of literature and other material related to it. This true story is about the Grand Mosque de Paris, which during World War Two, provided refuge and a means of escape to Jews fleeing persecution the Nazis. This brave initiative was spearheaded by the rector of the Grand Mosque, Si Kaddour Benghabrit, who inspires a character named Ammo Kader. The estimated number of Jews who were saved as a result of the Resistance activities carried out by the rector, the Imam and other Grand Mosque staff is between 500 - 1700. These activities included helping Jews hide in the Mosque or among Parisian Muslim families, forging identity documents and helping them escape through the Catacombs below the building.
Against this backdrop, Safiyyah proves herself time and time again to be courageous, generous and have a penchant for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the right place at the right time, depending on how you look at it.
I read this via audiobook and could not stop listening once I started. It is a captivating, compelling and deeply evocative novel that is beautifully written. It is the perfect example of how books that have been created for children and young adults can be just as profound, moving and engaging for adult readers. I am so grateful to Hiba Noor Khan for shining a light on this story in such a beautiful way and giving it the gravitas it deserves. She has created a book that would lead to a child (or an adult) looking at the world around them differently, and questioning it more than they do already. It is also a great way in for parents to discuss topics such as refugees and war. She wields the power and responsibility of an author well.
I could go on and on about how much I loved this book, but I would like to leave you with some of my favourite quotes from it, which will hopefully inspire you to pick it up.
“It is only in holy places of worship and libraries that you have to whisper, for they are both sacred in their own ways.”
“Choose courage and goodness, my dear. Maps have led many people only to terrible darkness; look at the horrors of what the French have done to our people in Algeria…There is no use in a million maps unless they lead you to light.”
“No telegram nor postman, pigeon nor loudspeaker could carry her message of love and concern to Isabelle, and so she turned to the seas. Setti said it is water that connects us all to each other, and now Safiyyah closed her eyes and allowed the lapping and gushing sounds of the river to calm her.”
“I used to spend time with the sky every night back in Algeria. The stars were much brighter there though. God put secrets in the natural world that you’re only let in on when you truly become companions. Most of us don’t sit and stare for long enough. We’ve forgotten how to hear the secrets.”
Safiyyah’s War by Hiba Noor Khan
What You Are Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama
This book by Michiko Aoyama and translated into English by Alison Watts was like being cocooned in a blanket with a hot cup of tea, as you watch the rain pour down from your window on a misty afternoon.
In this book, we follow five characters, all of whom feel stuck in their lives in one way or another. All of them know that there is something that needs to change, but they lack the confidence, or the knowledge of the perspective they need to bring it about. Each one of them ends up at a library where Sayuri Komachi, the librarian asks them a question that is simple but confronting at the same time - ‘what are you looking for?’ She has the ability to understand what they need to read to give them inspiration or a mindset change and in doing so, also offers them another special token.
This is a quick and easy read that is sweet and uplifting. Ultimately, the library, librarian and book are just there to unlock something that has already been in the works for the characters. This idea seems simple, and potentially unrealistic but the power of words to heal and help is unparalleled. It may not be as easy as finding a book from the library, but even in the act of questioning and seeking something different, you are opening yourself up to something new, and I think this is the point.
“Oh?” Ms Komachi looks at me, her head on one side. “I did nothing. You took what you needed, yourself.” she says in that laid-back way of hers.
What You Are Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
This is the second book that I have read by this author. The first book was the ‘Ten Thousand Doors of January’ which I disliked so much I couldn’t finish it. This book I did finish, and most of it was interesting, if not enjoyable which is definitely progress.
‘The Once and Future Witches’ has a very smart premise. It is set in 1893 when women are fighting for suffrage and witchcraft has all but disappeared but the Eastwood sisters want to bring it back and turn the movement for women’s votes into a movement for witches. We follow the three Eastwood sisters - James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth and Beatrice Belladonna as they try to bring witching back and have to fight the prejudice against witches and the danger this puts them in.
The writing in this book is lovely; Alix E. Harrow definitely has a way with words. Her writing is very evocative and helps you to really visualise the setting and get a feel of the atmosphere. However, I think there are times when she gets carried away with the descriptions and metaphors so the reader gets lost in the words and misses the point the characters were trying to make. It somehow made me read the book from a distance which meant that while I cared about the bigger picture and the wider plot, the character arcs didn’t feel as important to me as they could have.
The plot itself is fascinating and inventive. I was so intrigued by the way witches were discussed within the book, and how power structures and struggles were depicted. It feels very relatable and very realistic as a conversation because it mirrors the struggles that have been and are still ongoing to make society more equitable for communities who have been historically and who continue to be marginalised. The book gives you a behind the curtain look at how the powers that be hold on to their power in the form of propaganda and brute force, and how communities, even when they are marginalised themselves, can contribute to upholding and preserving those power dynamics.
What unfortunately threw me off the most and made it a difficult book to fully sink into was the way the book was paced. The first third and the last third of the book in particular are done really well, which is impressive because what often happens with stand-alone, and especially fantasy stand-alones, is that there is so much build up and ultimately no pay off. In this book, the ending is well done - you leave feeling satisfied. However, the pacing of the middle section of the book is strange and unnecessarily circuitous.
Despite this, as I reflect on the book almost a month later, it feels like an important book to read. Another book that would be great for reading in the classroom together, so you can discuss the themes and what the book is saying about the world.
“Seems to me they're the same thing, more of less. Witching and women's rights. Suffrage and spells. They're both...They're both a kind of power, aren't they? The kind we aren't allowed to have.”
“History is a circle, and you people are always looking for the beginnings and endings of it.”
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
I had heard amazing reviews of this book from the ‘booktok’ and ‘book tube’ community. I am happy to say, that it mostly held true.
Its chief victory is in enabling the reader to empathise with characters who are not very likeable. I think the reason I was able to empathise with them was because they felt very human and real. They made a lot of mistakes and they said a lot of silly things but ultimately, eventually they learnt from it all and were humbled by life.
We first meet Cleo in New York and soon after meet Frank. Frank is twenty years older than Cleo, and when they meet one fated New Year’s Eve suddenly Cleo has a way out (seemingly) from all her problems. Frank feels safe and stable, and he can give her the ability to stay in New York a little longer, as her student visa is about to run out. For Frank’s part, he is taken in by her but they surprise all their friends when they jump headfirst into marriage the following June.
For a while things are happy and wonderful, but soon things begin to unravel. And as things unravel for Cleo and Frank, they also begin to do the same for their friends. This book depicts adult life in a very honest way but with a lot of care and diligence for the characters. There is nothing that happens that feels out of place, and while the characters are frequently irritating, it’s because they make choices that aren’t the best for themselves, or even make the right choices but in the completely wrong way. This makes it a very relatable read and the pacing of it is perfection; it’s almost heady.
For a debut novel, it is so impressive. Coco Mellors is a very witty and emotionally intelligent and inquisitive writer. I am looking forward to picking up more of her work.
“When the darkest part of you meets the darkest part of me, it creates light.”
“Fun was fine when you were young, but as you got older it was kindness that counted, kindness that showed up.”
“ ‘I don’t understand this obsession with happiness, she said. “Happiness is like the Hollywood sign. It’s big, it’s unattainable, and even if you do make it up there, what’s there to do but come back down?’ ”
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
The Last Soldiers: Foot Soldiers of the Indian Freedom by P. Sainath
I expected to love this book. On paper, it seemed like it had every single element needed to make it an instant favourite: it is about the stories of real life people, it brings overlooked histories into the spotlight and it reveals problems with systems in their current state.
Unfortunately the execution did not deliver.
Let me start with the positives, because while it was not an enjoyable reading experience, the stories that this book covers are vital, and many like them are at risk of being lost or have been lost already to time. What the book does well at the very beginning is set the scene by highlighting the problematic definition of ‘freedom fighter’ in India. For example, to be recognised as having contributed to the freedom struggle by the Indian government under the current rules and be eligible for the pension scheme, one of the conditions is that you have to have suffered as part of the struggle. This struggle can only be in a form recognised by the Indian government, otherwise does not count. This among other things makes it an extremely narrow definition and leaves out many people, especially women, who contributed to the freedom movement in more oblique ways.
The book also brings important stories into the foreground that I never would have heard about otherwise such as the ‘Toofan Sena’ which was the armed part of Satara’s provisional government which declared independence from British rule in 1943. It forms an important account because these stories of bravery are saved in very few other places, and with that generation slowly leaving us, it is more important than ever to ensure they are preserved.
It also discusses how casteism was still rife during the freedom struggle. This is not a lens through which I have seen the fight for Indian freedom be discussed, and it was valuable for me to get these new perspectives that I hope to explore further through other books.
Where the book fell short was in its structure and how it presented the stories to the reader. The book would have been better if it was grouped by area, by time or by theme but the way the stories of the different freedom fighters follow one another in the book is very counterintuitive. We go from one region to another back to the first region and so we encounter a lot of unnecessary (and boring) repetition. The author presents the material in a very unemotional way - rendering stories that should be evocative to be fairly lifeless and forgettable.
“Maybe this problem arises in narrating history only through famous personalities and forgetting the role of the Subaltern. There is a strong tendency to view history as one of rajas and ranis only, as if the struggles of commoners were non-existent.”
The Last Soldiers: Foot Soldiers of the Indian Freedom by P. Sainath
I am loving the books I have read so far in October so I’m excited to bring you my reflections on those next month.
Until next time,
Ishani
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