Sisters of the War: Two Remarkable True Stories of Survival and Hope in Syria

by Rania Abouzeid

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, War, History, Audiobook, Biography, Memoir, Middle East

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2020

About the author

Rania Abouzeid has won the Michael Kelly Award and George Polk Award for foreign reporting, among many other prizes for international journalism. She has written for The New Yorker, Time, Foreign Affairs, Politico, the Guardian, and the Los Angeles Times. A New America, Ochberg, and Harvard Nieman fellow, she lives in Beirut, Lebanon.

Reviews

[Lilli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and eye-opening. Full review to come! Boy these reviews are backing up since I was asked to stop writing book reviews on the clock 😂

[Shaye Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned an incredible amount of information from this book. Most of all, I discovered how much I still need to learn. If I'd been reading it with my eyes, I would have been highlighting and taking notes in the margins just to make sure I didn't forget pertinent details (for example, Islam vs. Islamism -- very different things) or to keep the various families straight in my mind. I also recommend keeping a map handy if you're not familiar with the region because it will help in navigating routes of travel and the regions where each person/family landed. I was listening to it as an audiobook and kept moving forward, taking in what I could. But I am still tempted to go back through a print book just to take in more. Politics aside, it was a story that spoke of a resilient people who are still picking up the pieces and moving forward. The afterword (or epilogue?) provided details about Abouzeid and how the information was collected through interviews. It gave me much greater confidence in its authenticity.

For more literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!!

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sisters of the War: Two Remarkable True Stories of Survival and Hope in Syria by Rania Abouzeid is an important journalistic piece of YA Nonfiction. There's quite a bit of detail in this book that I didn't know about at all going in. It can be a lot to keep track of but it's well worth the time to learn these stories.

[Anita Grabowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big reminder that perspective in life changes, depending which part of world you are born in.
Big reminder that you can never be too certain in life.
Heart breaking and eye opening…

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this audiobook as part of the Libro.fm educator monthly subscription.

I learned so much listening to this book and know there is much more I still need to learn. I see myself listening to this again in a few months.

The story of these two families on opposite sides of the conflict is interesting. One set of parents shield the children from what’s happening and the other set of parents encourage knowledge and rebellion. All of theses children are brave, resilient, hopeful, and most importantly deserve long, happy lives lived out in safety and comfort.

I’m also inspired by the author who took great chances with her own life to cover the war from start to finish. She entered and exited Syria multiple times even though she had been blacklisted. This book is chock full of first hand accounts of the horrors of war including kidnappings, killings, bombings, and millions of citizens fleeing their homeland for safety.

I recall watching CNN in 2011 at the start of the Syrian war. Reporters were embedded in the country and relaying information about the conflict but somewhere along the way something changed. I’m uncertain what it was. Funding, decline in ratings, safety for personnel, lack of Western interest...I just don’t know what changed, but we stopped hearing about the war. I’m wondering now if we stopped hearing news when the United States failed to take action (as the Obama administration promised) when chemical warfare was induced.

There’s a part in the book where they recount the mosques would announce the dead by name each day (this is how they informed families/neighbors), then the number of dead were reported, and then the reports stopped. Even world organizations seemed to lose focus on what was occurring.

The citizens of Syria began to lose access to knowledge of wartime activities and information. Everything was censored. What little news and video smuggled out to Turkey, Jordan, or Lebanon was all the world knew and little could be trusted. That’s what makes this book all the more important. The firsthand accounts are the true history of what occurred.

It’s a shame how little attention the western world gives to atrocities across the world. Sure, there may be a blip on the nightly news, but we are not properly educated about conflicts in other nations.

It is reported this war has created more refugees than any other conflict since World War 2. An estimated 23 million Syrians fled the war torn country causing a significant humanitarian crises.

[Pragya · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this as much as I wanted to. It did give me some insight into the different perspectives and "sides" of the conflict in Syria, about which I've always felt uninformed. The "sisters," though seemed more of a device or afterthought than any real connecting and personal narrative. The quotes and stories felt somehow cold to me-- more like reporting than human stories. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't connect, but clearly others do...

[J.D. Holman · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Squire, I was searching for the next book to read on my shelf, and this one struck me as the choice. Turns out that one of the author/illustrators of that book did the cover art for this version. (Wow, the attention to detail! One of the girls wears an outfit described in the narrative.)

It was also a timely choice, shortly after the Turkish earthquake of early 2023. I hope the girls - now young women - survived that.

This is a very heavy book and I would recommend having something extremely cheery to pick up after. It gave me a sleepwalking nightmare at one point, in which I woke up cowering under a table, with my cat meowing curiously at me and my husband asking what I was doing. Of course, that pales in comparison to what these girls went through.

And what the author went through, if you read her note at the end of the book. She vividly shared so much of what happened by experiencing it with the girls firsthand, especially with Ruha and her family. Journalism is a dangerous occupation, indeed.

None of the accounts are sanitized, but it's still "appropriate" for a middle school-aged audience. (In quotations because the girls featured lived through a civil war at that age.) There are no graphic depictions of the horrors of war; no one is raped; nearly all deaths are off-page (in one instance, jarringly so).

I also think this is a very good read for Americans who probably think of civil wars as being like the straightforward affair that was the American Civil War. The events of this book happened within the past 12 years - within the lifetime of the intended audience. And it was nowhere near as "civilized" as two armies firing upon each other on battlefields. Most civil wars aren't. Children and families get caught up in the fray.

This is a good book to pair with the historical fiction novels by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, I think. If you have or work with tweens and teens who are moved by those books, this would be a good nonfiction to offer them.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

With the introduction of too many people throughout the story, it pulls the focus away from what the book could be about which is the history and future of Syria. Embedded as a journalist she spent time with the families in order to tell their stories but in doing so, dilutes the impact of the trauma and terror that has existed and continues for those living in the beautifully historic country.

She wants to make some deep points but then it's lost in the shuffle of figuring out who, what, where, and when.

[Brittney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides so much information about the Syrian war. For example, I’d never heard of Alawites. I wasn’t a huge fan of the journalistic style, and I wish some of the information provided in the end about how the author obtained her information had been given as a preface.

This reminded me of A Cave in the Clouds, which I read just before this book. A Cave in the Clouds begins in Iraq, but Badeeah is taken to Syria. Through this book I learned context about how the wars in each country created similar outcomes for the citizens.

[zarina]

dnfed this book 37% of the way through :(( i rly wanted to love this but it just wasn’t for me:// the writing was very meh and i couldn’t connect with any of the characters. this is a nonfiction so i thought that even though I didn’t love the characters i could forget about it due to the plot and information given to me about Syria but this was just not the case. the writing was very boring and stiff and i hated how there was no organization throughout the book. just sad. first dnf of the yr 🙁.

[Rue&Waffles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Andrea Frazee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook

[Shivali Sisodraker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has changed my life forever.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

P. 96

[Kate Waggoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

@Kidlitexchange

Thank you to @scholasticinc for sharing an advance copy of Sisters of War: Two Remarkable True Stories of Survival and Hope in Syria by Rania Abouzeid with the #Kidlitexchange Network. This narrative nonfiction book will be released on September 15, 2020. All opinions are my own.

Sisters of War details the civil war in Syria which began in 2011 and has killed over 500,000 Syrians and displaced more than 12 million. Abouzeid was one of the journalists reporting on the conflict. In Sisters of War, she follows two pairs of sisters who are on opposite sides of the conflict. The book gives readers firsthand insight into the complexities of the conflict and the devastation it has caused.

I found the topic of this book to be poignant and interesting. I have recently read a couple middle grade fiction novels on the topic of the Syrian civil war and was intrigued to learn more about the actual conflict itself. This book is chockful of information about the conflict and offers a detailed account of various events and experiences. I do have to admit that it wasn't what I was expecting. While the two pairs of sisters are discussed and the book does revolve around the lives of their families, I feel the story is more that of their father's and their communities' than it is theirs. That being said, it doesn't detract from the impact of the message of the story. While this book is written in a narrative style, there are sections that delve deeper into the politics and history of the area that read a little more like a textbook than a narrative nonfiction piece. Overall, the book is very informative and covers a topic that is important for YA readers to learn more about.

[Mackenzie Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sisters of the War: Two Remarkable True Stories of Survival and Hope in Syria by Rania Abouzeid is about two girls and their families in Syria. I don’t read much, let alone nonfiction but when this assignment in class came up I had to. I found this book in the school library and read a couple of the first pages and was automatically hooked.

Sisters of the War starts with two girls, Hanin and Ruha. Right off the rip the author, Rania, talks about Ruha’s house being attacked by men trying to find her father, Maysaara. More and more attacks happen throughout the book and Ruha and Hanin talk about how to hide from them and how to stay safe during all of the madness. At the end of the book Hanin is held hostage in a prison full of women and their children with none of her family. Finally, at the end of the book they do release her and her family picks her up at the border; the family is finally complete again and they are very happy.

“When I saw him, Baba was crying and I was crying. I couldn't stop the tears”. This is what Hanin said when she finally got released out of the prison she was held in. I think this book couldn’t have had a better ending, it was beautiful. All throughout the book Hanin and Ruha talk about the hard things they go through and this ending makes all of it worth it. I love how Rania Abouzeid perfectly tied it all together.

I can't think of another book like this one. I don’t read very much nonfiction but the reality of this book has inspired me to read more. I love the truth of this story and how it is explained by two little girls is just amazing. If you are interested in reading truthful stories I strongly recommend this one. If you want to shed a little tear while reading, this is the book for you.

[Stephanie Tournas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rania Abouzeid is a journalist who clandestinely followed two sets of sisters and their families who were on opposite sides of the civil war in Syria. Her first hand reporting really brings home the horrific effects of this conflict. Neither families of Ruha and Alaa, Sunni Muslims, nor Hanin and Jawa, Alawites, are well off before the war, but they all sustain terrible losses of life and livelihood. The beginnings of the conflict coincide with other large scale protests in the Arab world in 2011. Forces sympathetic to Assad battled with extremist groups ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra and fighters from neighboring countries. Bombs, gunfire, chemical weapons and kidnapping were everyday occurrences. I was saddened to learn that the U.S. did not retaliate against the use of chemical weapons, as was promised by President Obama. The U.N. calls the refugee crisis the worst since World War II, as half of Syria’s population has been displaced – that is 23 million people who are or were in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and even Iraq, with it’s own population fleeing that war-torn country.

Chapters alternate between the plights of the two families, with background information interspersed. A map is included, and a cast of the family members helps the reader keep track of who’s who. Abouzeid’s writing is very factual reporting style prose that focusses on events and movement, as well as emotions. There is a lot of information packed into the twin narrative threads.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story of the Syrian war as told through two families. It provides a glimpse into how the conflict started and how it became so convoluted. It shows the impact in a very ordinary way without embellishing. That is the power of the story. It made it quite affecting.

There is an author's note at the end that stresses how much of the observations are first hand by the journalist.

The conceit of removing the journalist from the story makes me feel a bit odd. It works against the honesty and ordinariness of the work. I don't think it would have hurt to have the story told to the journalist or talk about what it took to follow up. It makes me mistrust what I read.

I understand that it was a choice and the usual way for journalists to be but there are many of journalists in conflict areas are seen to be there when they are showing up on the television or telling their stories. It doesn't make Joe Sacco's Footnotes in Gaza any less impactful and helps with the understanding and empathy building.

Granted, this work is trying to move away from politics and tell the girls' views and how it was for them. They wouldn't be that interested in the official versions. Just that those versions still show up in asides.

That is a quibble though. I appreciated the book in its everyday horror. Makes me wonder what it would take for this to happen in a Western society and how easy it is for something to turn.

[Mrs. Pava · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this important and powerful book. The premise of telling the story of recent Syrian history through the young girls and their families has a very middle school feel...at the beginning. The information is broken down and explained in an easy and digestible way. Then things get both very complicated (in a geo-political sense) and very graphic. Mention of neighboring countries with their complicated relationships, terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, struggles between moderate and conservative defenders of the rebellion against Assad...these start to come fast and furious, leaving any middle school formating behind. Pair that with shockingly abrupt descriptions of injuries and deaths, and this clearly sits in upper high school land. And even then, I think many students would struggle for lack of context. That all being said, the book does an admirable job of laying out the very complicated developments, the overlap of competing forces, the international hands, and importantly, the impact on the Syrian people themselves who have been subjected to such chaos for so long. The book was upsetting, as any true story of human suffering should be. And I do feel like I have a much better understanding of the events that continue to drive the refugee crisis there and everywhere they seek safety. So, while I am critical of the rough shifts throughout the book, I am grateful there are more avenues for these important stories to be heard.

[Ubah Khasimuddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I found this book in the adult non-fiction section, it is really geared towards middle and high school grade readers - it tells the story of the recent Syrian civil war from the point of view of two sets of sisters and this is fascinating. One set of sisters are from the "rebel" side and the other set are on the "Alawite" or "regime" side. Ultimately, after reading the book is that all suffer in war and there is no good or bad side.
The book is super easy to read but for someone who is already well aware of the Syrian civil war, I could have done with less explanation; but I can understand if someone didn't know the in's and outs of the war, this would be very necessary. I wanted more of the meat and potatoes of the sister's stories.
The book is not for the faint of heart, tragedy befalls both sets of sisters, though amazingly at first I thought the girls on the "regime" side were much out ahead of the sisters in rebel held area, but sadly the war reached the Alawite girls and with devastating results.
I liked how the book was able to give me insight into what Syrians think of this war and their country and the situation altogether.
Highly recommend for middle graders (I'm going to recommend to my 6th grader) particularly if they are doing a non-fiction section, but also recommend for those who would like to get beyond the headlines of this war and hear from the people directly affected. Can be finished in a week.

[Lauren Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found out immediately after finishing this that this is basically a watered-down student's version of Rania Abouzeid's book "No Turning Back" but I'm still glad I read it, and now have added this book to my to-read because even this "Syria lite" version was excellent. Told through the perspectives of Sunni sisters Ruha and Alaa on one side and then Alawite sisters Hanin and Jawa on the other, this is an incredibly nuanced account of the war in Syria, especially through the eyes of children who are experiencing raids, shootings, and bombings on such a regular basis that they don't even look up from the shrapnel they're playing with as toys.

My favorite book when I was 8 was "Zlata's Diary" because I couldn't believe that a girl not much older than me was going through all that happened in war-torn Sarajevo. It made me more culturally inquisitive and want to learn more about people than just the ones in my immediate town, state, and country. Even though this book is not written by the children themselves, it had the same impact on me and I hope it's equally as eye-opening for kids today as Zlata Filipovic's diary was for me in the 90s. History books and facts are great but there is nothing more crucial to understanding than peoples' histories.

[boombaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Sisters of the War, Rania Abouzeid offers an intimate exploration of Syria's devastating conflict through the narratives of two families from opposing sides of a divided country under Bashar al-Assad.

Hanin and Jawa are sisters from an Alawite family living in Mezzeh 86, a neighborhood in Damascus originally settled by Alawite migrants from Syria's coastal region, many of whom worked for or supported the Assad regime. Through their experiences and family ties back in Blouta, Abouzeid captures the fears, loyalties, and complex emotions that bind many Alawite families to the government. One of the girls, Hanin, who is asthmatic, is abducted by extremist rebels.

In contrast, Ruha and Alaa, sisters from a Sunny family in the rebel-held city of Saraqib, embody the revolution's hopes and traumatic losses. They survive the bombardments, endure displacement to Turkey, and navigate the challenges posed by the extremist rebel faction Jabhat al-Nusra, of which they aren't fans.

Abouzeid's stellar journalistic clearly shows, a powerful tale of two group of sisters. The book, for both children and adults, offers a compassionate and deeply humanizing portrayal of Syria’s harrowing war, highlighting the resilience of four young girls.

[Patricia Romero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Living in the United States we think we know what is going on in the world. We have 24 hours of news coverage and constant updates on social media sites.

But a few years back when I began to try and figure out who was telling the truth about Syria, it was obvious we know nothing. The reports I was given told two entirely different stories depending on who was writing them.

This book lets the children and adults who are living on both sides of the conflict tell their own stories.

There are innocent people on both sides, and the children's sense of hope was inspiring. The differences in their lives while living only a few hundred miles apart were stark. One set of parents determined to shield their family from the ugliness beyond their own door while the other encourages rebellion.

Rania Abouzeid is a journalist I admire and can trust. Her writing in this book is exceptional and honest.

I will be sending a copy to my granddaughter!

[Samiha Hoque]

I didn’t have high hopes for this book as its premise was “Two-siding” Syria’s tyrannical regime. DNF’ed at 18%

The good
-pretty blunt about the evils of the Assad regime
-honest that being poor didn’t stop alewites (nonMuslims) from benefiting from the regime

The bad
-began the book by making you feel sympathy for alawites, the religious group of the regime (for what?)
-undermined Muslims’ role in leading the revolution against the regime (references to ““”islamists””” and “human rights” but never Islam).
-equated religious clerics as bad as tyrants but no such language was used when referring to the French colonizers.

A new pretty cover of this book was released (and caught my eye) since the Assad regime was overthrown in 2024—by Muslims, to be clear, as media like this want to downplay the net positive of Islam. Disappointed in this book tbh, hoping more Syrians can speak up now though!

[M.L. Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

#KidLitExchange Partner: Sisters of the War by Rania Abouzeid. Available NOW through @scholasticinc.
———
I absolutely love a YA nonfiction. While I followed the Syrian civil war for years, this book taught me even more.
Journalist Rania Abouzeid was in Syria for most of the war and followed two different families, whose stories she delivers to us in the book. She also gives an easy-to-follow yet detailed timeline of the whole war, from the Arab Spring to the end in 2019, with every event big and small in between.
This book is a must-read because no one can truly understand the refugee crisis without knowing these details. In some ways, the war was even worse than I realized. While news articles tell you the “what,” it doesn’t describe the “who.” In this book, you get to know the individuals and the horrors they faced.
This is a wonderful YA nonfiction and you can get it now! Thank you @kidlitexchange for the review copy—all opinions are my own.

[Melanie Dulaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on the publisher's summary and a quick look at this book, I thought it would be a great choice for my middle grade library collection for my patrons who enjoy narrative non-fiction. Reading the book, however, it became clear that while the reading level is likely only 5th or 6th grade, the text includes lengthy sections describing the politics, unrest and subjugation of those in the lower classes or minority religions in Syria. While I learned a great deal, this book, as Kirkus Reviews indicate, is geared to readers of narrative non-fiction in junior high or even high school. The story will keep readers engaged and its message is one of hope, but there is also much to learn about Syrian civil war in this one. Libraries will high readership in the political science, war sections of their collection may want to consider this one.

Thanks for the print ARC, Amazon Vine program.

[Mitzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this. It's an intimate account of two families living through the war in Syria. They live in different communities, with different loyalties and beliefs so it highlights just how devestasting war can be to all involved. There are some harrowing experiences and when you think they are happening to young children, they are devastating. My main critique is that this is as dry as the desert. There are pages explaining all the factions and background, which I found useful, but plodding. But as this is written for middle schoolers, I would doubt any of them would get past that to the stories that help them sympathize with kids their age in Syria. And the documentary style even those stories are presented in make it more clinical than emotional. It is an important story with a good idea, but executed poorly for the audience it's intended for.

[Aisha (thatothernigeriangirl) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a brilliant book. The author has detailed the lives of four girls from two different family — seemingly on the two sides of the Syrian war. Through these four girls (and their family members), I got context on the war; the Syria before and after; the political and selfish interests that muddled the initial call for Syrian liberation —triggered by the Arab spring of 2011.

The highlight for me was finding out that the author was present in many of the events detailed in this book (like she was physically present!). It gave more authenticity and empathy to this work that she’s done. Thanks to her, I’m eager to read more Syrian narratives, either fictional or nonfictional forms.

I really wish Ruha, Alaa, Jawa and Hanin so much good wherever they are.

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely interesting and informative. For years we heard of Syrian refugees, but I had no knowledge of what was really happening over there. We think of two-way wars, but this became a three(and more)-way war, all against each other, with people-groups all caught in the middle; only the ideas of the original revolutionaries were good for the actual people.
In the beginning of the book there is a nice map and a cast of characters! I wish I would have remembered that! :-D I kept getting the character names confused.
Worthwhile quick read.

Note: page 236 I read an re-read the middle paragraph, and it definitely seems that the two girls, Ruha and Hanin, are mixed up. Either that or it was badly written.