Book review: The Night Sparrow by Shelly Sanders
Genre: Historical fiction
Release date: July 1, 2025
Goodreads rating: 3.78
My rating: 4.5
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The Night Sparrow by Shelly Sanders is a haunting book that I am extremely grateful was flagged to me. I love books based on real events, especially perspectives I am less familiar with, and this one immersed me in the Eastern front from the perspective of a platoon of women soldiers whose stories have largely been erased from history.
The story follows Elena, a young Jewish girl living in the Minsk Ghetto in 1941 who, after seeing her entire family killed, enrols in Moscow’s Central Women’s Sniper Training School and becomes a Russian snipper. Because she speaks German, she is quickly recruited to also serve as a translator and is assigned to an especially crucial secret mission that takes her straight into the bunkers of high-ranking German officials.
The story is told in a dual timeline, juxtaposing Elena’s early training days with her subsequent active-duty days, showing her evolution and helping to frame her motivations as well as those of her fellow female recruits (which were sometimes conflicting). The level of courage of these women is astounding, and Shelly Sanders makes the book especially compelling by starting each chapter with quotes taken from real historical accounts, bringing the voices of the real women who inspired this novel back to life.
The story has heart-wrenching moments that remind us how truly horrible WWII was but at its core, is a tribute to women soldiers, to their selfless contribution, and to the strength of the human spirit in general.
This is in my list of top 10 books this year. I highly recommend it to any historical fiction lover.
Thank you to Shelley Sanders and Harper Collins Canada for granting me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
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