Sorry to say that I’m in the minority here.
Although I enjoy historical fiction, this one just fell flat for me.
Not sure if it was the story itself, the narrator, or a combination of both…

The premise sounded really good. An American in the Netherlands, working for the government and trying to save as many Jewish people as he’s able to. Add to that a love interest, and it seems like gold…

The story is told as it’s being rendered to a reporter. (For me, I found this very odd, as I didn’t see that transition coming…)

As always, I enjoy reading about the people who helped others escape in that dreadful time. And the author obviously did the research on this. But again, it just wasn’t my favorite. Loved Teddy and Sara and Kate, but still had a hard time getting to the finish line with this one…

Thanks to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. ***The release date is today, 9/17/24.***

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me.

#APlaceToHide by #RonaldBalson and narrated by Fred Berman.

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A Place to Hide
By Ronald H Balson
Publication date: Sept 17, 2024

Ron Balson has long been my favorite family-based, WWII historical writer. I have read all his books, and he has joined us for many book clubs to share insights and behind-the-scenes information on his stories.

His characters come to life, and you can’t stop reading or in this case, listening to their exciting and often precarious journeys. You must know what will happen to his characters almost as if they are your friends in danger.

In his newest Book, A Place to Hide, Ron introduces us to Theodore “Teddy” Hartigan. A simple State Department researcher who has an easy job and a full social life in DC. Until he is forced to take a position at the US Consulate in Amsterdam. His new Dutch-speaking position is available as many Jewish staff are fleeing Amsterdam. Hilter is advancing on the countries surrounding them. His job is to process US visas applications for others fleeing from Poland, Austria, and Amsterdam. Everyone is trying to get to the safety of the US. However, the number of visa’s filled are very limited and hardly anyone he meets will be granted safety to the US.

Teddy meets Sara, a local Jewish nursery schoolteacher and her family. They share a deep and endearing love. while all of Amsterdam is confidently holding its breath knowing that Hilter will not invade-they are neutral in their politics. But the confidence of the Dutch people is crushed, and Teddy and Sara are suddenly thrown in the world of the conspiring resistance. They along with their adopted German Jewish daughter, Katy, must find a way to escape Amsterdam.

Their escape takes on a life of its own as they risk their own lives to help Jewish children, in route to the concentration camps, escape as well. The dangerous and selfless actions of an ordinary American and his Dutch friends make a difference for hundreds of Jewish children in Amsterdam. The narrow escape via a German Bomber plane made my heart race with desperation. Will they get out? How many children have escaped? Will those left behind be safe?

Ron creates a fictional world grounded in reality. Ronald is the winner to the National Jewish Book Award. His stories are a heart-felt reminder of those who were lost and those who came to the aid of many.

Five stars-buy your copy tomorrow 9/17/24!

Net Galley and Macmillan Audio, have provided me with an advanced audio version of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. Fred Berman does a fantastic job narrating this story. I highly recommend the audiobook!

I love WWII books and this one focuses on the heroic efforts to rescue and remove jewish children by 2 Americans and the Dutch jewish community.

Theodore “Teddy” Hartigan is a 2nd generation government service worker who runs in the circles of the rich and powerful in Washington DC. His family enable him to have a comfortable job at the State Department in Amsterdam. As Hitler begins his rise and sweeps through Europe, Teddy has some difficult decisions to make.

This is not my first Ronald Balson book but I think this is now my favorite by this author. Its a fast paced, engrossing tale of the tremendous effect that a few selfless people can have saving defenseless children.

Highly recommend!!!

A Place to Hide is the first book that I have read about WWII in the Netherlands. It was well written with great characters and a very compelling story. I most enjoyed the way that Balson weaved the history and the story together in a way that I wanted to keep reading long after the book was finished. I had the pleasure of listening to the audiobook and enjoying the e-book. I will definitely read more books by Ronald H. Balson.

Thank you Net Galley, Ronald H. Balson, Macmillian Audio and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to preview this novel. The ideas shared are my own. This novel is expected to be released on Sept. 17, 2024.

What a difficult but beautiful listen! This was one of the best WWII historical fiction books I've read this year. The story revolves around now 92 year old Teddy, who was assigned to the US Consulate in Amsterdam during WWII. When he falls in love with a Dutch women named Sara at the beginning of the war and Katy, a little girl they agree to adopt, Teddy makes the decision to stay in Amsterdam even when he had the change to leave Europe to go back home to America. Instead of going home, he spends his time with Sara and their daughter Katy, and he uses his influence to save lives of many children. This was a moving story of tragedy, love, determination, and self-sacrifice.

The narration was spot on, and the flow of the overall story was well paced and engaging.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillian Audio, and Ronald H Balson for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an early audiobook edition of “A Place to Hide” by Ronald H. Balson, narrated by Fred Berman for an honest review.

First, I want to discuss Fred Berman, he is quickly turning into one of my favorite narrators, he can change his voice for each character and keep it up throughout the book. During the entire story, you hear the voice and know who the character is, that cannot be easy! He is truly exceptional.
This is the story of Teddy, a wealthy U.S. statesman, who was placed in Amsterdam, Netherlands as the U.S. Consulate in 1938. As Hitler began to conquer Europe, Teddy was responsible for putting refugees on a list for a U.S. visa, visas that were not available and would never be received. Teddy falls in love with a local Jewish girl. When Hitler occupies Amsterdam and begins to tighten the reins on the Jewish population, with the ultimate plan to eliminate the entire Jewish population, Teddy needs to do something. Teddy joins the underground and helps to hide thousands of Jewish citizens and save them from Hitler’s planned elimination.

The characters were well-developed and the research into the history was well done. I have read other WWII books about the occupation of the countries north of Germany for their coastlines, but this story gave more details. The details were perfectly woven into the well-developed characters, so you learned the history of the area, while being invested in the characters, the best way to learn history. The author did a great job incorporating the details. The story was the right length, with little extraneous storyline. My only complaint is that there were instances where a detail was provided and then 20 pages later, the same detail was given as if it had not been given yet. This happened more than a few times, which for me is irritating. Overall a good story!

My gratitude to NetGalley for the chance to read this book and provide a clear and honest review.

If it were possible to rate this book higher than five, I certainly would! It's not your average WWII/Holocaust narrative. It's much more, offering a unique perspective on historical fiction. The story sheds light on seldom-discussed history: the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during WWII and the ordinary citizens who risked everything to help their neighbors and friends find safety amidst peril. Unlike typical WWII narratives that often leave a heavy impression, this book, despite its serious subject matter, concludes on a somewhat uplifting note.

I would recommend this book to anyone with a passion for historical fiction or lesser-known historical accounts. It's truly remarkable!

Karyn is looking for her lost sister, and she finds herself writing Teddy's story of his time abroad during the Nazi invasion in Amsterdam. I was immediately immersed in Teddy's time working at the US Consulate in Amsterdam and how his position changed to spy once Nazi invaded Amsterdam and began targeting the Jewish community. The risk that many people took to save the lives of young children and babies from their death was eye opening. I had no idea that this happened. The narrator, Fred Berman does a wonderful job portraying Teddy, Karyn, and many of the other characters that appear in the book. The tones and inflections were done well and kept me engaged till the very end. If I could give this book 10 stars, I would.

Rating: 4/5 Stars
Pub Date: 9/17
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A Place to Hide is a historical fiction that is jam packed with information about the beginning of the war that I had absolutely no idea about. I love how it started as a simple story about a woman taking her grandaughter to the store which led to her looking for her sister and eventually meeting Ted.
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Both Ted and Karyn were lovely characters; Ted with his grumpy attitude and Karyn with the patience of a saint. I felt like I knew all of the characters in Ted’s story, everyone was so well written.
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This story is told from Ted telling Karyn about the War and his experiences in order to have a biography made for his family. His story was so raw and emotional and just so beautiful I couldn’t help but want to continue. I had a hard time putting this one down. This story has the perfect-ace for such a serious topic. I loved this book.
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I listened to this one via audiobook. Fred Berman was the perfect choice to tell Teddy’s story. I felt like I was Karyn being told this story first hand. I absolutely loved this narration. Highly recommend!!
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To all of my historical fiction fans - be sure to check this one out! Huge thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, St. Martins Press and Ronald H. Balson for the ALC and eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Netherlands, Washington DC, historical-novel, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, memories, memoir, invasion, journalist, WW2, consulate, biographical-novel, antisemitism, riveting, romance, culture-of-fear, rescue*****

The main characters in this very moving novel are from the author's imagination, but the devastation of The Netherlands by Hitler's people and the heroics of Jews and other partisans is straight out of the history books. It is the story of a nonagenarian who finally needs to have a written legacy for his family describing the tribulations of WW2 in The Netherlands. Most European survivors of that time and horror have not spoken of it to their children and grandchildren, so that part also rings true. I thought the writing was excellent.
Corrie Ten Boom and family was provider of A Hiding Place for smallish families in The Netherlands. It’s believed their efforts saved nearly 800 lives.
Fred Berman did a fine job of interpreting emotions and differentiating characters.
I requested and received a free temporary audiobook from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley. Thank you!

Having read alot of WWII books - I learned about so much that I’d not been aware of previously. The narrator of this story was excellent in the delivery. I felt like he switched between Teddy at different ages and to Karyn without missing a beat. I was pulled into the audiobook from the very beginning and had a hard time putting this one down.

A very inspirational story about such a tragic time in history. Excellent audiobook/book.

Although I have read, enjoyed, and appreciated several of Ronald Balson's books in the past, A Place to Hide doesn't match the quality of those previous works. Much about the book is appealing, and the story of how some Jewish children in the Netherlands were saved during WWII, is not without interest, in the end it falls short of his usual standard. Balson gives as a long and buildup to the horrible crisis that Jews in the Netherlands faced as Hitler's forces moved in but the conclusion is very rushed and not entirely satisfactory. The characters are a bit too cookie-cutter for my taste. By the end we know Teddy, who at age 92 narrates the story he tells to Karyn as she captures his words for a book he hopes to leave about his experiences in Amsterdam as a member of the U.S. Consulate to his grandchildren, fairly well. We know Karyn, who hopes Teddy can help her locate her sister, from whom she was separated when they were young children so they could be saved by being "hidden" from the Nazis by being adopted by non-Jewish families only superficially. And Teddy's wife Sara and his colleague Julia are elusive. We know their stories but we don't really get to know them. Additionally, the narrator was disappointing. All the characters who spoke English with an accent sounded the same. A Place to Hide has much promise that is not entirely fulfilled. I look forward to a more compelling read/listen from Balson's next book.

This book vividly portrays the Holocaust and the courageous actions of those who risked their lives to protect other. The novel seems to resonate with important themes of resistance, humanity, and the bravery of righteous Christians who saved Jewish lives during Nazi occupation. Balson's attention to historical detail has left a strong impact, especially with the combination of fiction and real-life figures, making the story even more poignant.

A Place to Hide by Ronald H. Balson
Narrated by Fred Berman

The story starts with ninety two year old Theodore “Teddy” Hartigan telling his story to a woman who hopes he can help her find her sister, separated from her long ago, during the time when Jewish children needed to be hidden from those who wanted them wiped off the face the earth. Teddy's memory is fantastic and he also has amassed paperwork as backup. He needs to tell his story, he hopes his grandchildren will read it and know what has happened in the past, what needs to be remembered by those who were not there.

In the past: Twenty eight year old Teddy has had a comfortable life as the son of a wealthy and powerful man, knowing he's going to marry his social climbing childhood sweetheart, and fitting well into the boring State Department diplomat’s career his father has planned for him. But it's 1939 and Teddy is re-assigned to the US Consulate in Amsterdam as the staff that has been there is fleeing the country due to the real threats presented by Hitler. There goes Teddy's already laid out future with the fiancé furious that he'd actually take the job. Once Teddy arrives in Amsterdam he sees what a thankless and almost useless job he's taking over.

Teddy is to process visa applications when almost all quotas have already been filled long ago. He's supposed to spout platitudes and false hope to people who are fleeing for their lives and the lives of their families. There is nothing he can do to help these people, he's basically a well placed paper pusher, totally tied down by bureaucracy, by people much higher up making decisions, and by the fact that he would never consider breaking any rules.

Being extremely naive is a strong trait of Teddy's. Despite what he sees and hears with his own eyes and ears and despite what his new girlfriend's father tells him repeatedly, it takes a very long time for Teddy's eyes to open to what is really going on right in front of him. Teddy is a good man but he waits until it's too late to make many of his moves to help the people he has a chance of helping. Still, once everything sinks in, Teddy and those who he aligns himself with, are the reason so many adults and children, especially children, survived Hitler's goal of extermination.

I was able to enjoy both the ebook and audiobook at the same time and Fred Berman did a great job as the narrator. I kept looking to see if there were two narrators because he narrated both the men and women so well. This is a story where Teddy is talking to us and he's very detailed about the history and things happening. I really enjoyed this way of sharing Teddy's story. I've become more knowledgeable about things happening in the Netherlands before, during, and after WWII thanks to my reading over the last several years and Teddy added to my understanding of what was going on at the time. Getting this story told first hand by someone who was at first just an observer who was in no danger because of his diplomatic immunity and then watching him become a part of the resistance was a different experience. Once Teddy is all in, he's all in. Where he was once on the outside, turning away people because it was his job to do so, eventually he's having to help choose who he and his group can save and who will be going to a certain death. By the end of the story, I didn't want to leave his world, as harrowing as it was, knowing that the war wasn't over, that there was so much more to be done.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

A Place to Hide tells the story of what was going on in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during WWII, history that I was unaware of until now. Teddy Hartigan is an elderly man in 2002, talking about his life to a journalist who has agreed to help him write his life story to share with his grandchildren. And what a story it is! He started as a low level Department of State worker who was transferred to the US Embassy in Amsterdam, where he begins to work to try to save Jewish children from the Nazis by placing them in adoptive homes. The story within the story, Teddy's memories, were sometimes hard to hear but Teddy's voice brings the story alive. This novel would make a great movie. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. I was lucky enough to be able to read the ARC as well as listen to an audio of the novel. I usually prefer British accents for my narrators but Fred Berman's voice was perfect and he did an excellent job as narrator.

This is a different take on the typical WWII stories. A woman is seeking a relative who has disappeared in WWII. She is connected with a man who wants his memories written from the war and in exchange, he will use his connections to find her relative. The stories are emotional and I love the connection between past and present. It's not all hard to read because it breaks up with questions from the person writing his memories and it's just...unique. Loved it.

This book is set mostly in Amsterdam during WWII showing before and during the Nazi’s takeover as well as the efforts of Dutch citizens to save as many Jewish lives as possible.

I learned so much from this novel (looking it up to confirm of course). I had never known that over a period of a year almost one thousand children were rescued from the Crèche, just weeks before deportation to concentration camps, and adopted out to families willing to hide them.
Also, after hearing of 400 Jewish citizens being arrested and sent to concentration camps the locals were enraged. They organized a mass strike, one of the only protest in Europe against the mistreatment of the Jewish people. Due to the violence inflicted upon the strikers by the Nazi’s it only lasted a few days.

As with any historical fiction set during this time it was emotional to read about but I appreciated this new-to-me perspective.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the alc and St. Martin’s Press for the arc via Netgalley.

(3.5 rounded up)

I don’t read a ton of WWII fiction anymore, as I have read so much, but I did really enjoy this book. I haven’t read anything by Balson before, but I may just have to check out some more of their work now.

What I haven’t read a ton of is the role and history of Amsterdam in the war, and I was so intrigued by all of this info, and it was nice to read a WWII story set in a place other than Germany or Poland.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review "A Place to Hide".

Karyn is in search of information about her long-lost sister, who she was separated from during World War II. She is connected to Teddy Hartigan, an elderly gentleman, who might be able to use his resources to track down the information she is hoping for. In return, Karyn helps Teddy to write the biographical account of his time working in the US consulate office in Amsterdam during WWII. As Teddy recounts his past, he reveals memories of the lead up to the war and the struggle to make difficult decisions that will mean life or death for those impacted by them.

Ronald Balson did a great job of creating a story steeped in accurate historical facts. He captured the slow build up and unraveling that occurred in Amsterdam as the Germans gained control. While historical fiction based during WWII can be dark and difficult to read, this was focused on the positive efforts of people helping others.

As a home educator, I enjoy using literature to bring context and connection to historical events and places. From that prospective, I feel like this book allowed me to gain a greater understanding and perspective of WWII than I had before.