Girl at war tells the story of ana juric who when the story begins is 10 years old without a care in the world running around the streets of zagreb the capital of croatia the story is told in told in four parts when anna is 10 and war breaks out across yugoslavia her young sister is quite sick and needs a doctor. Sara novics debut novel girl at war zeroes in on the croatian war of independence which lasted from 1991 to 1995 the united nations estimates that 3000 to 4000 child soldiers some as young as 10 took part in the fighting most of them in bosnia and croatia though other sources put the numbers at more like 10000. Throughout girl at war performs the miracle of making the stories of broken lives in a distant country feel as large and universal as myth it is a brutal novel but a beautiful one. Girl at war is an extraordinarily poised and potent debut novel a story about grief and exile memory and identity and the redemptive power of love financial times remarkable julia glass the boston globe a powerful gorgeous debut novel adam johnson the week one of this years most discussed debuts