Sisters of the War: Two Remarkable True Stories of Survival and Hope in Syria (Scholastic Focus)

by Rania Abouzeid Narrated by Lara Sawalha

Overview

An extraordinary true account of the enormous tragedy of the Syrian civil conflict.

Since the revolution-turned-civil war in Syria began in 2011, over 500,000 civilians have been killed and more than 12 million Syrians have been displaced. Rania Abouzeid, one of the foremost journalists on the topic, follows two pairs of sisters from opposite sides of the conflict to give readers a firsthand glimpse of the turmoil and devastation this strife has wrought. Sunni Muslim Ruha and her younger sister Alaa withstand constant attacks by the Syrian government in rebel-held territory. Alawite sisters Hanin and Jawa try to carry on as normal in the police state of regime-held Syria. The girls grow up in a world where nightly bombings are routine and shrapnel counts as toys. They bear witness to arrests, killings, demolished homes, and further atrocities most adults could not even imagine. Still, war does not dampen their sense of hope.Through the stories of Ruha and Alaa and Hanin and Jawa, Abouzeid presents a clear-eyed and page-turning account of the complex conditions in Syria leading to the onset of the harrowing conflict. With Abouzeid's careful attention and remarkable reporting, she crafts an incredibly empathetic and nuanced narrative of the Syrian civil war, and the promise of progress these young people still embody.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise and awards for No Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria:A New York Times Notable Book of 2018Winner of the Overseas Press Club of America's Cornelius Ryan AwardFinalist for the Lionel Gelber PrizeFinalist for the RSL Ondaatje PrizeFinalist for the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism"Abouzeid's remarkable journalistic and literary work has given us, at last, a book worthy of the enormous tragedy that is Syria." — New York Times Book Review"Harrowing reporting from the front lines of the civil war in Syria." — Kirkus Reviews

School Library Journal

10/09/2020

Gr 7 Up—Journalist Abouzeid, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants who was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, chronicles the stories of two sets of sisters growing up under the rule of President Bashar Hafez al-Assad in Syria. Ten-year-old Lojayn, eight-year-old Hanin, and six-year-old Jawa live on the fringes of Damascus. Nine-year-old Ruha, eight-year-old Alaa, and two-year-old Tala live in Saraqeb, which is about four hours away from the city. Both sets of sisters deal with the devastating effects of war and the trauma and devastation it brings to their families. This narrative nonfiction account details the horrors of murder, bombings, kidnapping, and the authoritarian government under which they are forced to survive. Throughout all of it, they retain hope for themselves and their country. Abouzeid's meticulous, firsthand reporting is extraordinary. She also describes the history of Syria and the control the Assad family has held for almost 50 years. An author's note at the conclusion of the text details the lengths Abouzeid undertook to provide the reporting that went into the creation of this book. VERDICT An important, incredibly gripping account of two families and two sets of sisters who were affected by the civil war in Syria.—Traci Glass, Mesa, AZ

Kirkus Reviews

2020-06-25
As the conflict that will eventually claim more than 500,000 lives erupts in Syria, this account follows two real families on different sides of the political divide who end up in similar circumstances.

Eight-year-old Hanin is at first oblivious to the conflict. Her father is certain that the early small protests will be squashed by the Syrian regime. Her family, like that of President Bashar Hafez al-Assad, belongs to the country’s Alawite religious minority, whose members support the government and hold military and security power. Nine-year-old Ruha’s acute awareness of the struggle for justice in Syria begins with a raid on her home during the peaceful uprising in 2011. Subsequently, her town gets shelled and school is no longer safe. Her community is Sunni Muslim, like the country’s majority. Lebanese Australian journalist Abouzeid illustrates the complexity of the Syrian conflict over six years while reporting on and quoting the two families. Both girls’ families suffered in unspeakable ways due to the conflict. Their stories, juxtaposed in alternating chapters, focus heavily on their identities, favoring an account of warring religious groups at the expense of delving into systemic government suppression, competing international interests, and the struggle (sometimes armed) for rights. The detailed documentation of the conflict also eerily leaves out Assad’s role in enabling Islamist fighters and gains due to their assistance.

While presenting powerful true stories of survival, the book could leave a distorted impression of the Syrian conflict. (cast of characters, map, author’s note) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177106427
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	09/15/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Maysaara had pulled away from his family. He wanted his children to get used to living without him, in case one day they had to if he were killed. He also stayed away from them because, he said, "Children can make a man weak. They make a man a coward. I try to keep them at a distance from my heart, from my eyes. It is negatively affecting the children, I know it is, but we have a duty. We’re talking about the fate of a country."

He was still helping finance a Free Syrian Army group mainly comprised of relatives, as well as smuggling medical supplies and satellite communication devices from Turkey. The devices were illegal in Syria, and medical supplies were needed because hospitals were often targeted in regime airstrikes. Maysaara transported the goods in black duffel bags he and his nephews carried on their backs across the mountainous Turkish border into Syria. He’d pour the jumble of medical packaging in a heap on the basement floor for Ruha and Alaa, their mother, and Aunts Mariam and Noora to sort through. The women placed like with like, creating heaped piles on the floor: packs of gauze, blood bags, intubation tubes, sachets of hemostatic agents, and other items whose use they didn’t know.

Manal feared what the war was doing to her children. "They are used to the sound of rockets, it doesn’t scare them," she said. "I don’t know if it’s because they don’t understand the consequences of the sound, that if a rocket lands near us we would, God forbid, die or be chopped to pieces," she said. "They don’t understand this."

Except they did. Alaa had even devised a game around it, one she played in the basement. She explained the rules one day. "I hear what they’re saying about who died. I memorize it as if I’m recording it on paper. I record it in my mind. I count who died, who has lived, who has left." When asked why, she just shrugged and repeated a word that was her default answer to what was happening around her: "It’s normal."

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