Rosie Raja: Churchill’s Spy

It’s 1941 and eleven-year-old Princess Rosina has been taken from India to England after her mother’s death. She is cold and miserable and, to make matters worse, her English father (who is in the British Army) won’t talk to her about her mother.

When Rosie overhears her father and some of his friends talk about flying to Nazi-occupied France, she realises he must be a spy! Desperate not to lose more of her family, she stows away on the plane and her father only discovers her in France. Together, they must pose as a French family and help the resistance. But there are sympathisers of the Nazis everywhere. Who can Rosie trust?

Starring an Anglo-Indian character, this is a pacy, exciting read set in occupied France, with danger at every turn. The situation in Europe is portrayed honestly, and in an age-appropriate way. Likewise, the politics of the British Raj, and the fight for India’s independence, occurring simultaneously to the Second World War, are mentioned with sensitivity and truthfulness. Rosie is courageous but foolish, grieving but brave – in short, an excellently relatable heroine.