Once We Are Safe tackles deep themes of displacement, trauma, and survival. It follows Aida and her family’s escape from Bosnia during the Bonian was to Italy, and beneath the surface, the lasting toll of mental illness.

While I appreciated the subject matter, the execution felt uneven. The narrative read more like a loose collection of Aida's memories than a fully realized novel. Early chapters were particularly disjointed, leaving me disoriented rather than immersed. Details that could have grounded the reader—setting, family background, cultural context—were sparse. Even pivotal life choices, such as Aida’s adoption by aid workers, were glossed over.

What stood out most to me was the honest and rew portrayal of mental health struggles within the family. The book raises important questions about PTSD, mental health stigmas, and access to care, but stops short of fully exploring them.

This book has value in spotlighting refugee experiences, but as a reading experience, I found it lacking in depth and cohesion.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review.

By reading the synopsis this book caught my attention (also, the stunning art cover, obviously), but sadly the writing wasn't engaging enough to hold my attention.
I thought the characters were fine, the descriptions were fine, but the execution was weak. Or weak enough to make me feel invested in what I was reading. My favourite part of it was the setting in Italy.
Hopefully, other readers will enjoy this book more than I did.

Even though this book is titled "Once We Are Safe: A Novel", it read less like fiction, and more like a transcript of a person's recollection of their life. This also feels like it suffered a great deal in the translation, as the language of the book is utterly charmless. It took forever to read because it was dull and depressing, easy to put down and hard to pick back up. Told from the point of view of Aida, who flees Bosnia with her family, as a six year old, we are given very little sense of place. Bosnia is only a place with Grandparents and cousins and dolls, while the new life in Italy is little more than concrete and television.

I kept having to remind myself that they were living in Italy because she never really described her new homeland, not even in contrast to Bosnia. There is no mention of food other than the occasional Bosnian treat. Her father is angry and rageful, her mother is despondent, her baby brother is sunny but likely suffering from undiagnosed mental illness. And yet we don't really care about anything because Aida doesn't seem to care about anything and shares almost nothing.

The book is very long and tedious to read. She eventually becomes a doctor and marries a doctor but we have no sense of how this happened. So many pages to learn so very little about her life and her family's displacement. It felt at times as if it was a book about events in the 'olden times' and then randomly, someone is watching an American television show.

This book was so opaque and guarded in a way that felt like someone who didn't want to share her life being forced to relate information to a governmental agency. But this is a Novel. We should be invited in, we should be given a full story, not some dull facts.

I started and finished Once We Are Safe in a personally insane 4 hours, and cried twice. The riveting journey of Aida's family from Bosnia to Italy during the Bosnian genocide, told in breathtakingly short chapters, had me completely captivated. The shaky understandings within Aida's family to exist as a unit once they've emigrated were moving and at times upsetting, but I adored the loving relationship she had with her younger brother, Ibro. I can say that I learned a great amount from this book, and I certainly believe that the discussions of warfare, immigration, and mental health will stay with me.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book early. The opinion in this review is my own.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It did have a lot going for it. The premise and the plot was solid. Where it fell flat for me was the writing. I'm not sure if this suffered due to it being a translated work or because it's from the view of a young girl. The writing felt like it was more telling and not showing. It was very simple sentences and instead of painting a picture it would just tell you what Aida was feeling and thinking.

I would still recommend this book if you're interested in the premise. It seems that I'm in the minority of it being “just okay”. I did like reading about a time in fairly recent history that I didn't know much about. It was worth the read.

My fear when picking up fiction, especially historical fiction, is always feeling lost. I've always loved history, but when reading historical fiction, I couldn't connect; this was just the opposite; I could feel all the ups and downs, and it was a pleasure to read.
I loved it.
Thank you, NetGalley, and the author!

This book is set during and after the Bosnian war. It starts as Aida and her pregnant mum escape their village for Italy. This is where they stay with her husband and more family come to join them a time passes. I enjoyed the jumps in time and how the boo wa spilt up. I did not enjoy how the large chunk at the end of the book focused on her brother Ibro. It did show the impact the watr had on the family, I feel it took away from where I thought the story would go. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy for an honest review.

4.75. Wow. Carati has written an immensely moving tale of a young Bosnian refugee who fled with her family to Italy during the Bosnian War in the 1990s. The story follows Aida, who is six when war breaks out and she escapes with her pregnant mother to Italy (her father meets them partway through the journey). The trauma she goes through on the escape is significant, yet a central theme of the story is the stark differences between Aida's family (who escaped) and those who remained (many of whom were killed; many of whom suffered immense trauma themselves). There is an interesting tension that flows through the story of being a bystander to a war that is immensely personal to those close to you; Aida herself is so young that it's hard for her to process it all, but the reader (and Aida) can see how much her parents struggle. One thing I liked especially was that, as Aida was so young, she was an unreliable narrator of sorts. Her young brain could only absorb so much and the author did a great job expanding on that. As Aida got older, her unique perspective also made her a bit of an unreliable narrator; I found myself wondering what the other characters were truly like, instead of how she perceived them. The only part of this book I struggled with were the large time jumps; I imagine the characters continued to grow and change, but we only saw snippets. Still, those snippets were effective in showing the effects of the generational trauma inflicted by the war, so I can't be that critical. I highly recommend this powerful, unique perspective on war and refugees.

Thank you to the author, publisher and to Netgalley for the e-ARC!

A gripping and emotional thriller that explores themes of safety, trust, and survival. Carati's writing is suspenseful and engaging, keeping readers on the edge.

The title grabbed my attention and made me immediately interested in finding out more about what this book had to offer. It took me a few pages to get into the book, but I became hooked after diving into the first chapter and wanted to know more. The characters are quite interesting and easy to get into. I felt like the book was very well written and a lot went into making this a great read for anyone. The story was very well presented and I enjoyed reading this book from the time I started it. I would it to anyone who enjoys reading a book that’s hard to put down once you pick it up.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. A heartfelt story of a family going to escape from the dangers of war and start fresh. Aida is trying to keep her head straight despite her family’s issues, grieving, and mental issues. At times my heart aches for this family and at others I was relating more to Aida. This book should be read by everyone so they can have an understanding of what many families go through just to survive and find a better life and future.