Shelly Sanders and Sasha Vasilyuk on The Night Sparrow

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Shelly Sanders’ The Night Sparrow (Harper) brings to light the untold stories of female snipers and interpreters in the Soviet Army during World War II. Only one out of five of the nearly 2,500 women snipers lived to see the end of the war.

The novel focuses on the world of Elena Bruskina, an ambitious Jewish university student in Belarus, whose world collapses with the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. She and her family are forced into the Minsk ghetto, where thousands are immediately murdered, including her father and brother. As tragedy continues to envelop her family, Elena escapes the ghetto for Moscow. Enrolling in the Red Army’s newly created Central Women’s Sniper Training School, she becomes a member of an all-female sniper platoon, a community of brave young women willing to give their lives to defend their country. Then Elena is chosen for a secret mission.

The Night Sparrow offers a riveting yet nuanced portrayal of war, moving beyond the bullets
and bombings to explore the complexities of wartime experiences from the female perspective—the morality, duty, personal beliefs, and even the friendships formed in times of adversity. The Night Sparrow serves as a stark reminder of the personal consequences of war and the enduring strength of the human spirit amidst chaos and turmoil.

Shelly Sanders is the bestselling author of the novel Daughters of the Occupation and the acclaimed young adult historical novels The Rachel Trilogy. She began her writing career as a freelance journalist working for major publications, including the Toronto Star, National Post, Maclean’s, Canadian Living, Reader’s Digest, and Today’s Parent. She lives in Ontario, Canada.

Sasha Vasilyuk is a journalist and author of the novel Your Presence Is Mandatory, longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and translated into seven languages. Her nonfiction has been published in The New York Times, CNN, Harper’s Bazaar, Time, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. Vasilyuk grew up between Ukraine and Russia before immigrating to the United States at the age of thirteen.