I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Note: this was an excerpt, poorly formatted for reading ease. This book seemed more of an overview than a full memoir. I would have liked to read more in-depth information. What I did read was interesting and an account of Dutch wartime life experiences.

Historical fiction about WWII is such a popular genre, and while those stories are usually based on true events, it sometimes benefits the reader to read a nonfiction book/memoir, that tells an actual story all the way through. The three young girls in this book, . Truus and Freddie Oversteegeen and Jannetje (Hannie) Schaft, become three unlikely heroes as they are witnesses to the German army's invasion of the Netherlands. As members of the underground resistance, their youth and innocence was capitalized on.when the need for sabotage, disguise, or murder plots were undertaken. Their bravery during the war and their willingness to be a part of the resistance to the Germans was amazing. The Epilogue is a part of the book not to be overlooked, as it puts additional closure to some gruesome details of the war as well as insight into what became of them This book was well researched and factual about a part of World War II that is not that well known, the invasion of the Netherlands. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy. #NetGalley #ThreeOrdinaryGirls

Nonfiction generally doesn’t keep the reader on the edge of the seat, but Three Ordinary Girls by Tim Brady often does just that. Beginning with the Third Reich troops swarming into the Netherlands in May 1940, the progress of World War II sets the stage for three unlikely heroes in three teenaged girls.

Truus and Freddie Oversteegeen came from a family that had a tradition of being active in leftist circles in Haarlem so their resistance to the German takeover seems natural. Jannetje Johanna Schaft, who would become known as Hannie, grew up in a more conventional way as a shy schoolgirl in stylish clothes with wavy red hair, in a row house near a windmill. She was an only child doted on by her parents. While the Schafts, too, had strong political views, Hannie lived a sheltered life. The transition for the three young women as they begin with relatively simple things like forging ID cards, hiding their Jewish friends, and distributing the underground press papers and move on to becoming spies, saboteurs, and assassins becomes a gripping account.

When a reader thinks of the Netherlands during World War II, Anne Frank and Corrie ten Boom come to mind. They are included in the text as markers in the timeline of this narrative, but the story is of these three young women and the people they save, often in a more aggressive manner than that of Frank and ten Boom. Brady gives statistics that show the difficulty that all of them shared. No occupied country in Europe lost a higher rate of its Jewish population to the Holocaust than the Netherlands with only 5,000 Jews left in Amsterdam of the 80,000 who had been there before the war.

My conclusion is the that the title is a misnomer. These girls may have begun as ordinary, but what they did put them into an entirely different category. The book gives a perspective on just how difficult life was in the Netherlands and how excruciating it became even as the radio gave hope that the end was near. I found the book to be a compelling read, but would not recommend it for bedtime reading!

The expert I read definitely made me want to read more! Wonderfully researched, beautifully written. Had me on the edge of my seat by the end of the last chapter I was sent. Will be getting my own copy.

Born in Haarlem to a politically active, socialist mother, Truus and Freddie Oversteegen entered the Dutch resistance as teenagers after the Nazi invasion of their beloved country. Passionate and invested in the treatment and equality of people, the sisters became members of a close-knit Dutch resistance network responsible for the assassination of multiple high-ranking Nazi officers.

The third of the not-so-ordinary girls referenced in the title is Joanna (Hannie) Schaft, who was raised in the Dutch countryside, encountering and falling in love with political activity at university, where she also developed close relationships with several of her Jewish classmates. When the Germans invaded, Jo was insistent upon protecting her friends, hiding them in her own home, procuring false identification cards for them, and bringing them to various safehouses when necessary.

These three young women came into contact with each other only about halfway through the book, when Truus and Freddie were met at work by a woman with a message for them. Nervous and confused, Truus kept her hand on her pistol until the woman was revealed to be Hannie Schaft, a comrade in arms working for the same resistance and who eventually became known beyond the underground as a notorious, red-headed, female assassin. Indeed, Hannie's bravery and determination to complete her missions was palpable throughout this book, and I was intrigued by many of Brady's references. Completely unfamiliar with Hannie Schaft's story as I was, I was surprised to discover that she is one of the more heavily researched personnages of this era.

On that note, I've come to my primary criticism of the book: this very much read like a high school paper on three fascinating female characters in the Second World War. Brady referenced the same three or four papers and books over and over again, rarely introducing alternative sources and even, at a few points, citing Wikipedia in his bibliography. Furthermore, there were multiple footnotes in nearly every paragraph without much deeper insight or analysis, such that my interest was piqued but unsatisfied.

Similarly, I wanted to know more about each of the young women in this book. I was curious about the details of their work in the resistance and their efforts to discover information that would undermine the Nazi project. Brady seemed to be mostly interested in the assassination plots that they took part in--which were certainly fascinating and unexpected, especially by such young women--but I would have liked to see more about Truus and Freddie's work at the hospital, Hannie's attempts to discover her parents' fates, etc. rather than the intense focus on bicycle assassination after bicycle assassination. It seemed like a massive jump from introducing these young women as "ordinary girls" to confident assassins within only a few dozen pages and without, in my opinion, sufficient character development and experience to rationalize it. (Of course, I know this is nonfiction, but I think the same sort of characterization process applies!)

Ultimately, I learned something new from this book and would certainly consider excerpting it for a classroom discussion, but I think it offers an incomplete assessment of these three extraordinary young women, and I was hoping for a bit more.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley through Kensington Books: Citadel and author Tim Brady. Opinions stated in this review are honest and my own.
Release Date: 23 February 2021

Three Ordinary Girls by Tim Brady is a nonfiction telling of the stories of three young, unlikely women who end up undercover as part of the Resistance in the Netherlands during its horrific occupation. Very informative and inspirational to read another facet of citizens standing up for what was right.

Thank you NetGalley and Citadel for this arc. I will post this review to my Bookbub, Amazon, and B&N accounts upon publication.

Three Ordinary Girls... could there be more of a misnomer than that? These three girls were anything but ordinary! When we talk about strong, important woman, this World War II Story should be included. Tim Brady did a phenomenal job with his research and presents these women's stories with their beginnings and how their contributions to the war effort made an impact.

At times very dry information on the specifics of events of the war, but overall extremely information and so intriguing! Hannie, Truus and Freddie's true story is remarkable and I am so thankful I had the opportunity to read this ARC!

If you are looking for a book packed with details and history of the Netherland than this is a book you would enjoy. For me there was so much information I had a hard reading through the first three chapters. I gave up after that.

A fascinating true story of three young women in a time and a situation in which women's roles have been ignored or marginalized. This is what our young women and men need to hear. The idea that history and world events were the actions and activities of just men, mostly white men, has left young girls in the shadows and given young men the idea that the world and its history is their story. Women took on dangerous and important missions in every major world event since the beginning of time. Of my soap box now. Three Ordinary Girls are truly extraordinary, but we must remember that these are a few stories in the many that have been ignored.

Three Ordinary Girls is only getting 1 star because it zero stars is not an option.

Three Ordinary Girls is about 3 Dutch teenagers who join the resistance during World War II: Hannie, Truus, and Freddie.

I gather most people aren't familiar with the Netherlands during World War II, so here's a quick primer: The Netherlands, ever the neutral country, had had close ties with Germany prior to the war and really didn't think that they were in any danger. Therefore, they were woefully unprepared when the Nazis invaded. It took all of 5 days for them to surrender and for the government, including the Queen, to abandon its citizens—but not before telling them to stay strong (Thanks Queen Wilhemina!). After that, 70+% of the Jewish population where systematically killed by the Nazis, including Anne Frank.

Okay, back to Three Ordinary Girls. My primary issue is with how the book was written, not the storyline itself. First of all, Tim Brady is try too hard to be Erik Larson (you know, author of Devil in the White City and In the Garden of Beasts). By this I mean that his storyline is filled to the brim with references and footnotes—which is great when done appropriately, but Brady writes like an undergrad completing a research paper (multiple citations per paragraph with little-to-no analysis of the information presented).

Brady presents his story, but it's riddled with sidebars explaining even the most minute events, which is fine if it's one sentence. However, Brady, in trying to provide historical context, deep dives into pages of detail only to finish his thought and go right back into the story. For example, multiple page explanations of Anne Frank and Corrie Ten Boom's stories is not necessary...they don't even need to be mentioned. At one point, a character is walking down a street and Brady stops the story to tell the reader that that street is where Anne Frank was hidden. This would've been fine, but that's not all he said. Instead, he went into the entire Frank Family backstory. It just felt like a cheap ploy to keep people reading.

Overall, there's better books about these three women—Seducing and Killing the Nazis: Hannie, Truus, and Freddie: Dutch Resistance Heroine of WWII by Sophie Poldermans comes to mind.

These women are famous (Ever heard of the Girl with the Red Hair?? That's Hannie!) and shouldn't have their story reduced to a piece of mediocre historical fiction.

I cannot emphasize enough how much this book is a must-read for all ages! It is eye opening, jaw dropping and unforgettable. I’m still completely speechless when it comes to what these three teenage girls went through and the actions they took during WWII in order to help save their fellow countrymen and Jews.

This is an astonishing World War II story of a trio of fearless female resisters whose youth and innocence belied their extraordinary daring in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. It also made them the underground’s most invaluable commodity.

May 10, 1940: Overnight, nine million Netherlanders were suddenly under the heel of the Reichstag boot. Joining a small resistance cell in the Dutch city of Haarlem were three teenage girls: Hannie Schaft, and sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen who would soon band together to form a singular female underground squad. Smart, fiercely political, and devoted solely to the cause, they took direct action against Nazi targets, “with nothing to lose but their own lives.”

They started with simple acts of covert illegality: lifting German ID cards to conterfeit them; distributing fliers announcing strikes, and passing out anti-Nazi literature. With each task the danger became more pronounced, and the stakes became higher.

Soon the three girls were called on for bigger and more deadly jobs: ferrying Jewish children to safe locations, intelligence-gathering, spying, sabotage, transporting weapons, detonating bombs and setting military facilities ablaze. They also assassinated German soldiers and traitors.

The inspiring and true story of Hannie, Truus and Freddie is a page turner that constantly had me holding my breath as my heart pounded. This is an astonishing piece of history that should never be forgotten, and I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to read this book and share my thoughts. I highly recommend this book not only to lovers of WWII history, but to anyone who enjoys discovering true stories about exceptionally brave and strong women.

Thank you Kensington Books and Citadel Press for the gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have been interested in all accounts about WWII resistance fighters for many years. Three Ordinary Girls is a non-fiction account of two sisters Truus Oversteen and Freddie and Hannie (Johanna) Schaft who is an only child. The Oversteen’s have a single mother who was an activist prior to the war. Hannie’s father was a secondary school teacher. Hannie is a few years older than the Oversteen sisters and studied law in the years before the war. This book at times reads like a textbook as Tim Brady offers a lot of background about Holland’s politics as well as the treatment of Jews before the war.

These three young girls are trained to blow up bridges, assassinate the enemy. I was surprised at the extent of the missions they did. I appreciate that the author wrote about Ann Frank and her family and also Corrie Ten Boom. As most readers have grown up knowing their stories, it gave reference for the reader. I also appreciated all of the footnotes.

Unfortunately, Hannie was killed. The sisters both lived to be ninety-two years old. This book is not for everyone, at times it reads like a research paper. I enjoyed learning about these young ladies. Of course the internal question arises, “What would I do?” My thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I have grown up learning lots about the WWII due my mom buying every book she could get her hands on. This one is a great read that gives you an insight of what happened in Holland and what these three girls went through during the horrible time. One thing I loved was when they talked about Anne Frank, because its one story everyone knows from her journals and having a familiar name in the books was a nice surprise. This is a unique book that i think everyone would benefit from reading, you see a new side to what happened in WWII and not just in the concentration camps like most of the books. The research was great, the one problem that I had was sometimes I felt the chapters did jumps, one moment talking about how the girl was working then next talks about a bombing. All in all I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read more about WWII, especially if they want to know more about Holland.

4 1/2 Stars, I rounded up.

The story of three ordinary girls in the Netherlands that assassinated, set bombs and spied for a resistance group during WWII. The book was well researched, as there were a ton of footnotes. I found it very interesting. It talks about food shortages, as well as the removal of Jews. The Jews were sent to concentration camps all over Europe. I learned quite a lot. The one draw back was it's not a page turner. I consider it a historical biography of these girls. If you like reading about WWII, and like me, don't know much about the Netherlands roll during this time, I would recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the Kindle Version of the book.

In THREE ORDINARY GIRLS, Tim Brady tells the inspiring, true story of three unlikely and powerful heroines. In Nazi-occupied Netherlands, two sisters and a friend carry out daring acts of espionage with courage, wits, and conviction unexpected in such young, unassuming young women. I had never heard their story and loved learning more about what they accomplished with few resources against a dominant, crushing force. The story itself was a challenging maneuver through detailed history and geography that interrupted an incredible story of ingenuity and resolute commitment. I wanted more story and less fact -- not that the facts were unimportant, but somehow they drew me out of the story and into history class -- fascinating, but not what I expected when I wanted to read about the lives of ordinary heroes. The story is as grounded in research and reality as anything I have ever read and I appreciated what the author did to present a realistic view -- making their victories all the more brilliant. I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my unbiased review.

This was such an interesting book on a portion of WWII that I had never even heard of before. I always enjoy hearing new stories from parts of history that otherwise feel over reported - all of Three Ordinary Girls felt like a fresh approach.
There were parts of the book that felt a bit slow as the author did his world building (again, while we're all familiar with WWII, I'm sure I'm not alone in knowing very little about the Netherlands at the time). I think they were largely necessary, but sometimes the transition from setting development to "day in the life" felt a bit abrupt. I absolutely loved the pieces of humor strewn throughout, though. Sometimes I had to remind myself that this was non-fiction!

Well researched non-fiction that almost reads like historical fiction at times. Brady tells the story of three brave and daring teenage girls in the Netherlands (Haarlem) during Nazi occupation, and the assignments they carried out for the resistance. He also shows us the slow spread of German occupation. While Jews were targeted, non-Jews came to realize they were all vulnerable to Nazi cruelty, brutal killings and long term hardships. The Ten Boom family (Corrie Ten Boom) and Anne Frank’s family lived in this area. It was interesting to see their stories in the timeline of Three Ordinary Girls.
I had not heard of Hannie Schaft or the Oversteegen sisters Truus and Freddie before reading this book. Their strength and courage while riding around on bicycles, armed with guns and ammunition, was heroic. They were definitely not ordinary.
Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.

This is the true story of three ordinary young women in Nazi occupied Holland in World War 2.

Johanna (Hannie) Schaft, known as the woman with red hair and Truus and Freddie Oversteegen,.

They worked for the resistance movement, going largely undetected since they were women and therefore didn't raise suspicion with the Nazi's.,

Johanna starts out stealing id cards to be forged for Jewish citizens since id cards were needed to be held by everyone and needed for everything.

Truus and Freddie start out passing out flyers their mother makes for strikes.

They are all recruited and join the resistance movement.

Hannie is unfortunately captured and later executed but in her death she becomes a martyr.

Truus and Freddie lived to be 92 and died in 2016 and 2018,

WWII Dutch Resistance Fighters
This is a slow-moving book, but I did learn so much about WWII in The Netherlands. Several branches of the resistance were Communist in nature and much of what they did promoted Communism as much as it decried Nazi Germany. The young women who are the subject of this history were Communist. To the author's credit, he did not make this a glorification of Communism nor vilification of fascism. The author managed to stay neutral in his writing and kept it to the facts. As an interesting side point, he related this history to Anne Frank and her family. We learn what they were doing in relation to the happenings in their city and nation. In all, it is a well-written book with ample footnoting. It can get slow and tedious on occasion, but it was not bad. When he details some of the deeds of these young women, I have to marvel at their inner strength. I know of few who could similar things, no matter what their motivation. So much of the resistance in Holland was neighbor against neighbor and not against the occupying Germans. It is quite horrifying. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

Although I found this book rather long and a bit too full of facts, the story of these three Dutch girls and their role with the resistance during WWII is interesting. The three ordinary girls of the title are not ordinary at all. They take risks and show courage beyond their years.