The Night Sparrow Book Review

Synopsis

In 1941, Elena Bruskina, an ambitious university student, sees her world collapse when the Nazis invade the Soviet Union. She and her Jewish family are forced into the Minsk ghetto, where thousands are immediately murdered, including her father and her brother. When her younger sister is hanged because of false charges and her mother is shot, Elena escapes the ghetto, determined to avenge the killing of her family members.

In 1942, the Central Women’s Sniper Training School opens in Moscow. Seeing it as the perfect opportunity to retaliate, Elena is one of the first to enroll. She becomes part of an all-female sniper platoon, a community of young women who are ready to fight for their country, despite the appalling conditions and high risks.

Eight months later, Elena is stationed at the Eastern Front, her dreams of revenge unfulfilled. Ashamed of her inferior tally of kills, she finds herself undone by grief as she watches her fellow snipers fall from enemy bullets. After being injured in a firefight, she is reluctantly redeployed as a German interpreter. Elena quickly embraces her new role when she realizes she is part of a secret mission to capture the most evil fascist of all.

Inspired by real female snipers and interpreters who worked in the Red Army during World War II, The Night Sparrow is a portrait of friendship, resilience and courage under extraordinary circumstances. 

REVIEW

Every so often I come across a WWII novel that offers a perspective I haven’t read before, and The Night Sparrow was one of those books. Told through the eyes of a female Soviet Jewish sniper, it dives into a part of history that is often overlooked, giving space to stories that deserve to be remembered. It feels as though historical fiction has only recently begun to highlight women’s experiences in wartime, and it’s also less common to see the Eastern Front from this angle, which made the novel stand out to me.

In her author’s note, Sanders points out that the history of (Soviet) women in combat isn’t spoken about enough, and I couldn’t agree more. As a female veteran myself, I know firsthand that women’s military accomplishments are still not fully acknowledged today—and in some cases, deliberately erased, as seen during the current American administration when pages honoring women’s service were taken down. That connection between past erasure and present reality made the book resonate all the more.

This is not a soft read. It’s raw, honest, and grounded in the brutal realities of war. Content warnings apply here: genocide, murder, war, torture, and sexual assault. I appreciated how the novel examined the complicated tensions of the time—especially the contrast between Jewish identity and loyalty to the Soviet Union. Even if Elena herself came across more as angry and driven by vengeance for what happened to her family, those around her embodied the pull between belonging to the state and being persecuted by it. That complexity gave the story depth.

I’ll admit, at times the pacing felt uneven, and I wasn’t always sure what the central climax of the story was meant to be. But in a way, that almost mirrors real history—war and its aftermath rarely follow a neat arc. Despite that, I valued this book for its perspective, its honesty, and its insistence on remembering women whose stories too often get lost in the margins.

Thank you to Harper Perennial for the gifted copy for review!

Original publication date was 1 July 2025.