The War That Saved My Life

Jamie is about to start school, but Ada cannot read and is deemed not “educable” (89) by the teacher. Susan insists that Ada deserves a chance to attend school. She reads The Swiss Family Robinson to the children before bed each night and offers to teach Ada to read, but Ada declines. Ada is frustrated by the words she doesn’t understand in the book and would rather spend time with Butter, but Jamie enjoys the nightly reading sessions and bonds with Susan over The Swiss Family Robinson. Susan recognizes that Ada is using Butter as an excuse to escape from learning to read with her, but she doesn’t press the issue.

The school in town cannot accommodate the influx of evacuated school-age children, so Jamie and the other evacuees attend school in the afternoons. Susan walks Jamie to school on his first afternoon, leaving Ada alone at the house for the first time. As soon as they leave, Ada goes outside to ride Butter.

Margaret Thorton, Lady Thorton’s daughter, unexpectedly jumps her horse into Butter’s field, falling off her horse in the process. She is hurt in her fall, and Ada rushes to her aid. Ada rides Margaret’s horse back to the Thorton estate for her.