I enjoyed reading the story of Hetty, a Dutch resistance fighter during WWII, even more so knowing that this story was inspired by the real-life experience and bravery of author’s mother-in-law. The danger, sacrifice, and loss that the resistance fighters encountered during their own battle for freedom against the Nazis was clearly portrayed throughout the story being told. Knowing the city of Leiden, the Hague, and surround area quite well myself, I could easily imagine the story of Hetty and her resistance fighter friends in their surroundings. The bombing of Bezuidenhout (a neighborhood of the Hague) on March 3rd, 1945, was even included as part of the story-line, an accurate representation of war times in the Hague. Despite the heavy historical topic of the Nazi’s occupation of the Netherlands, the story flowed well, there were several suspenseful sections, twists and turns, and storylines of love as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group Press for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

An interesting story of the Dutch Resistance against the Nazis and the price people can pay to fight for their country against enemy occupation,

Kudos to the author for honoring his mother-in-law with this novel based on her real life story of working for the Dutch resistance during WWII. There's so many WWII books out there but the Dutch perspective seems to be underrepresented in popular novels, so it was nice to read a novel from this point of view.

As much as it was interesting subject matter I had a few issues with the structure of the novel itself. The book felt more like connected vignettes centered around the main character, without a cohesive plot. There was limited character development which left most people in the book feeling a bit one-dimensional. The dialogue between characters felt a bit stilted. It was also hard to keep track of the timeline of the story. It would have been really helpful to have the month and year at the beginning of each new vignette as it was often unclear how much time has gone by (days, months, years?).

With that said, this fictionalized novel based on real stories serves as an important testament to the real life Hetty who bravely served the resistance. I was compelled to keep reading to find out how it all ended — the ups and downs (there were many!), and how she survived and lived to tell the tale.