The War I Finally Won

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2017

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-13

Chapters 14-19

Chapters 20-26

Chapters 27-34

Chapters 35-43

Chapters 44-50

Chapters 51-57

Chapters 58-63

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 1-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

Chapter 1 opens on a September night in an English hospital in 1940. Ada, the 11-year-old protagonist and narrator, is due to have surgery on her ankle the following morning. She was born with a club foot; the bones of her right ankle are twisted to the right, and the bottom of her foot is turned upward. She hopes the surgery will give her a normal and functional foot. Susan Smith, Ada’s carer, sits at Ada’s bedside.

Nurses come to put blackout blinds on the hospital windows. Ada is relieved that her hospital is not in London, which is bombed nightly. Ada and her six-year-old brother Jamie were evacuated from London a year ago when the Blitz began; they have been living with Susan in a small seaside village in County Kent.

After surgery, Ada wakes with her leg in a cast. At her bedside, Jamie tearfully reveals that their mother was killed in a London bombing raid.

Chapter 2 Summary

Ada is shocked by the news of her mother’s death, but she is also relieved. Ada and Jamie’s Mam was a cruel and neglectful parent, especially to Ada, who feared she and Jamie would never be free of Mam’s cruelty.

Despite her relief at Mam’s death, Ada worries about what will happen to her and Jamie now that they are orphans. Susan previously assured Ada that she and Jamie could remain with her in Kent, but Ada wonders if this might change now that their mother is dead. When Susan refers to “arrangements,” it is clear that she merely means funeral arrangements, but Ada worries that Susan means new living arrangements for her and Jamie.

Chapter 3 Summary

Ada is distressed as she recovers in hospital in the days after her surgery. Still worried that she and Jamie will have nowhere to live, she asks a nurse about orphanages. She worries she will no longer be able to keep her pony, Butter, if they no longer live with Susan in Kent. She has traumatic nightmares of being pinned down by a fallen wall in a bombing raid.

Susan explains to Ada that her mother was cremated, and that this is what she meant by “arrangements.” Ada sobs with relief when Susan confirms that Ada and Jamie will remain with her, and that she will apply to become their legal guardian. Susan’s home was destroyed in a bomb raid, but she explains that Lady Thorton (a rich landowner who organized Ada and Jamie’s placement with Susan) has offered to let them live in a furnished cottage on her estate.

Chapter 4 Summary

Susan again confirms that she will become the children’s legal guardian. Ada learns that Lord and Lady Thorton paid for her surgery and resents that she will need to show them gratitude.

Ada struggles with being restricted in her hospital bed. Susan brings her books, knitting needles and wool, and pencils and paper to help her to pass the time. After three long months, Ada’s final cast is cut off her leg, and she is allowed to stand and see her new foot. Overcome, she sobs with joy and relief upon seeing her relatively normal foot. Susan hugs her, and they laugh together.

Jamie and Susan present Ada with a pair of leather shoes. This is the first time Ada has put a shoe on her right foot, and she is overjoyed to see the matching shoes on her feet. Ada is finally discharged in early December.

Chapter 5 Summary

Susan, Ada, and Jamie travel to their new cottage. The five-bedroom cottage is located in the woods of the Thorton estate and is far bigger than any of them expected. Ada is thrilled to have her own large room. She puts her shoes in pride of place on her new bookshelf, so she can see them as soon as she wakes up.

Ada longingly thinks of her pony Butter, and Susan reassures her that she will see him in the morning. Exhausted from traveling, Ada falls quickly asleep.

Chapter 6 Summary

Ada wakes up and immediately wants to see Butter. As Ada excitedly makes her way to the stable, she reflects that the smells—hay, grass, and sea salt—are the smells of her home here in Kent. For the first time ever, thanks to her surgery, she runs.

Ada joyfully rides Butter into the village, hoping to see her friend Stephen White. Stephen is another child who was evacuated from the London slums during the Blitz; he lives with a retired military officer, the Colonel.

When Ada reaches the Colonel’s house, she is shocked to see how gaunt and unhappy Stephen looks. He wears a black armband and explains that he’s signed on as a cabin boy with the marines. Later, Stephen joins Susan, Ada, and Jamie for tea at their cottage. When Jamie asks Stephen how his younger brother Billy is, Stephen responds that Billy is dead.

Chapter 7 Summary

Stephen explains that his younger brother and three younger sisters were killed in a London bombing raid. Stephen had remained in the village to help the Colonel rather than returning to London with his siblings. Now he and his father (who was at work when the bomb fell on their family home) are the only remaining members of his family. Stephen and his father have enlisted, wanting to avenge their loved ones’ deaths.

Stephen presents Susan with a framed photograph of her friend Becky, recovered from the ruins of the home they used to share. Susan is moved to tears by the gesture and the recovery of the irreplaceable memento.

Chapters 1-7 Analysis

Ada, the novel’s narrator and protagonist, explains the that story’s events occurred three years ago. This establishes that narrative’s timespan falls between 1940 and 1943, indicating that Ada’s narration comprises a series of chronological flashbacks.

It is quickly established that Britain is in the midst of World War II, and the struggles inherent with living during wartime are a persistent narrative theme. The nurses who come nightly to install blackout curtains on the windows in Ada’s hospital ward illustrate the constant threat of German attack. This fear is certainly justifiable: Susan’s house is destroyed, Ada and Jamie’s mother is killed, and Stephen’s siblings died tragically, leaving him traumatized, bereft, and angry. His black arm band is a physical manifestation of the grief he carries and a symbol of the many mourning British citizens who have lost loved ones to the war.

Ada’s mistrust of adults and caregivers, stemming from a childhood of trauma and neglect, is made clear. After receiving news of her mother’s death, Ada immediately assumes that Susan will not want her or Jamie anymore. This assumption is baseless, as Susan has already rescued the children from their abusive mother and promised they will always have a home with her. Ada feels that she is innately unlovable, and she silently obsesses about what their life in an orphanage might be like. Her worries demonstrate how traumatic events can lead to catastrophizing, creating a mindset with little room for hope or optimism.

Ada struggles with the news that the Thortons paid for her surgery and resents that she will need to show them gratitude. She is confused about, and almost suspicious of, their help. This is typical of Ada’s abrupt and often rude manner, and it is indicative of her reluctance to trust any overtures of friendship or kindness from those outside her small circle of trusted individuals. Like her mistrust, her rudeness comes from a place of fear, loneliness, and an acute sense of inadequacy created by childhood abuse. Ada’s reaction to Susan’s reassurance that she and Jamie will be cared for (breaking down in tears of joy and relief) speaks to the extent of her fear of abandonment.

However, there are moments of joy even in wartime. Ada is moved to tears of joy at the sight of her matching shoes. Susan’s efforts to ensure Ada receives her surgery, which brings such freedom, illustrates her role as a kind and loving mother figure in Ada’s life. Kent, where Ada joyfully returns after surgery, is the first place where she has ever felt valued and loved. It is significant that she revels in the smells of Kent and describes them as the smells of home, as they conjure feelings of safety and happiness. Like her new shoes and new home, Ada’s beloved pony Butter is another symbol of her growing freedom, happiness, and sense of belonging, and all together these details suggest that Ada will find healing in this place.