Author: Hiba Noor Khan
Publisher: Andersen
Paperback
One of our books of the year 2024!
Safiyyah is a schoolgirl in Paris in 1940, as rumours of war are swirling – but this is not like any WWII novel you’ve read before. Safiyyah is French-Algerian, and she lives with her family in the Grand Mosquee, where her father is the administrator and her grandmother tends the garden. Based on the almost-unknown true story of how the imam and administrator of the Grand Mosquee smuggled hundreds of Jews and other hunted people out of Paris via the catacombs, this is an unbelievably gripping and beautifully written debut from a writer of fantastic observational powers. Every powerful emotion Safiyyah feels and every courageous plan she concocts is immediately felt, along with her love for cats, oranges, Paris, and her family and friends. One for all readers from 10 to 110, crying out for a lavish BBC adaptation…