Rosie Raja: Churchill’s Spy
By Sufiya Ahmed (Bloomsbury)
Review by Abigail
The book is the story of a journey of Sufyan, her experiences of being from India and being born to an Indian mother and English father. She has recently moved to London after her mothers death she realises her father is keeping a secret from her once she finds out it changes her life forever.
I enjoyed the book. It is something different to anything I have read before. It was an easy read, I enjoyed the perspective being from a child as it is something you don't see in many books. It is also informative about the fact there were spies during the time of World War Two, which I feel like is not taught very much when learning about the war in school. I would recommend it to other people to read.
Review by Freya
Sufiya Ahmed has written a wonderful book about a girl called Rosina Raja, who after moving from India to England, goes on a spy mission with her father. It is set in 1941 and is an empowering and action-packed book about the British and French resistance in WW2.
Rosina Raja is an Indian princess who is also half English. Rosina, nicknamed Rosie is a strong, persevering and spirited young girl. Along the story Rosie and her father become closer after the sad passing of her mother. This is a heart-warming and thrilling story which many will definitely enjoy.
When overhearing her father and his guests talking about infiltrating Nazi-occupied France and going on a mission, Rosie realises he must be a spy! After learning that her father is a secret spy for the Prime minister: Winston Churchill, she sneaks onto the plane that is taking her father and his fellow spies to Paris. Rosie soon understands why her father kept so many details about his job a secret, because being a spy is more dangerous than she thinks!
This book is exciting and mind-opening. I think it is best suited to an audience around the age of 10 to 13 because it gives a great insight into what France was like when it was taken over by the Nazis. It also is good for anyone who finds it difficult to read because it has shorter chapters and doesn’t take too long to read. I would rate it 5 stars.
Review by Jakub
I recommend this book to people over the age of 11 because it shows the reader higher level vocabulary. Also, this book taught me a lot about the events of World War 2. It showed me how the French rebelled against the Nazis and how spies got information and carried out missions. My favourite character was Rosie as she did risky things and was the perfect fitting main character. The story did however lose some energy and after a while I wasn’t interested in the book and it didn’t pull me like it used to but if you want to have a good experience then read the book that glued me to a chair for hours.