The Lioness of Leiden

A very quick read (280 pages), but it has left me breathless!!! I was again amazed at the courage (and often recklessness!) shown by Hettie and her fellow resisters. Experiencing constant fear, sleepless nights they all felt hatred towards the Nazis, while always pushing forward to save their country! They never experienced one moment without stress, and this is what I felt reading this book! Knowing that this novel is based on the author's mother-in-law's own experience as a resister makes this novel even more powerful!
I received a complimentary ARC of this novel from NetGalley and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.

“The Lioness of Leiden” is a historical fiction book by Robert Loewen, based upon his mother-in-law’s WWII covert activities. In the beginning this book seems to be about three young women, all working for the Dutch Resistance, but as the story progresses it focuses more on Hetty. Hetty must’ve been an amazing woman to know with her patriotism, resilience, and passion on the pages. It’s also obvious that Mr. Loewen did research into that time period and location. For me, the book began a bit slowly, but rather quickly (around the 20% mark), the story found its groove and flowed a lot more smoothly. My one wish was that a timeline of some sort was included - at one point I couldn’t figure out if days, weeks, or months had passed (turned out to be about five months) between two incidents. A very interesting book.

I wrote a whole review and it got deleted, so here we go again. Here's to hoping I can capture everything I wanted to in the initial review.

The Lioness of Leiden is a historical fiction story loosely based on the author's mother in law's experience in the resistance. It is a story based on the Dutch resistance, which is more of a unique viewpoint than many WW2 fiction books I've read. The author does a great job at provoking a myriad of emotions. Rarely does a novel leave me feeling as gut punched as this one. I fell in love with all the characters. The beginning of the book focuses on three young women, but as the story progresses the focus becomes more on Hetty. I loved Hetty's character and the amount of resilience and passion she had. This was a beautifully written and intriguing historical fiction with drama, suspense, and romance.

Thanks to Netgalley and Greenleaf Book Group for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Leiden is dictated by Nazis, and Hetty with her roommate Mimi decide to join the Ressistance. Constantly in danger, in fear of loving their loved ones, they decide to fight for their freedom.

Given that this story is based on a real person (the author's mother-in-law), and that a lot things on this book really happened to her, makes the whole experience all the more haunting. Reading books based in WWII never gets any easier. It is appaling the fact that there once existed a person, who thought that he had rights over an entire people, who believed that there was a 'superior nation'. Regardless, it was insightful to see the point of view of people of the ressistance, and what they had to do, for example to carry falsificated papers or hand grenades, how they could always be searched by Nazi soldiers etc. What was also ever present throughout the whole book, was the uncertainty of war and how things can change in basically a second

Character-wise, it was definitely worthy to see their development. Dear Hetty, who suffered through so much, losing some friends from uni, her constant arguments with her father, and at the same time trying to maintain her cool. while executing her line of work as a mesage courier. What was also really fullfilling were her personal relationships with Yacov, but mostly Mimi, and how much they cared for one another. Mimi, even though she was different than Hetty, was there for her, trying to understand her, even though she was afraid of being a part of the Ressistance.

This book contained so much death, uncertainty, plot-twists, but most importantly it contained hope. And for that I'm wholeheartedly grateful.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. The book comes out on April 4th!

When the Nazi's invade Holland, Hetty's boyfriend volunteers to fend off the Nazi's. When he goes missing, Hetty knows that she must join the resistance. She and her roommate, Mimi, are quickly recruited by Kees to form a small resistance cell in Leiden, along with Maria, an orphan whose parents were killed for resisting. They begin by transporting ration cards, but are quickly escalated for more dangerous missions, transporting pilots, people and weapons. As the danger heightens, Hetty's cell is directly targeted and Hetty can't seem to keep the danger away from those she loves.

Based on the life of his mother-in-law, Loewen presents an amazing story of the unknown heroes of Leiden during World War II. The writing is realistic and gritty and doesn't gloss over any of the dangers that these young women put themselves in. Hetty's character was emotional, heartfelt, determined and down to earth. Her decision making was for the greater good and I was in awe at her ability to always carry on in the face of danger. As well as Hetty's courageous acts, Mimi and Maria were astonishing heroines in their acts for the resistance. I didn't know much about the Resistance in Holland and was glad to learn about these incredible, brave, real-life women who were willing to risk everything to fight the Nazis.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

I was attracted to this book because of the location, The Hague in the Netherlands, is where my parents grew up and lived during the war.

The author does not hold back as he describes some of the atrocities the Dutch endured as the Nazis endeavoured to take over. However, this book shows they did not take this invasion lightly and fought back.

There is a lot of people to keep track of, especially at the beginning, even though I had wished I had kept notes it didn't take long to become absorbed. The Lioness of Leiden is a well researched, raw story centring around Hetty as she worked with the resistance. She endured terrible losses, heartache, and danger. There are a number of different POVs which gave a vivid picture. The only thing I found lacking was a timeline to indict the progression of time.

The author notes at the end made this book all the more compelling with a final chapter that was emotional and a fitting end. Given this book is loosely based on the author's mother-in-law made the story all the more interesting and sad for the things her family lived through.

My thanks to Greenleaf Book Group (via Netgalley) for a digital arc in exchange for a honest review.

The Lioness of Leiden is a WWII historical fiction set mostly in the Netherlands and revolves around three women who took part in the Dutch resistance. Hetty, Mimi, and Maria are the three brave main characters who carry out dangerous jobs such as helping downed pilots and refugees in hiding, delivering coded messages, etc. I'm always amazing by stories of bravery during war and this book is filled with tense moments which made it super readable. I really loved all three friends and I think it's really neat that Hetty is loosely based off the author's mother-in-law. I do wish there would have been some sort of timeline added to each chapter because I was confused at times when starting a new chapter because there would be a significant jump in time.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It had The Nightingale vibes so I would definitely recommend if you loved that novel. But keep in mind that War is not pleasant and parts of this book were really hard to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for giving me access to an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Well done, Mr. Loewen. This is a well-written story of the Dutch Resistance in Leiden, which pulls no punches while highlighting both the bravery of everyday citizens and the cowardice of others. The abject cruelty of the Nazis in occupied countries never ceases to horrify and there were accounts in this story that were new to me.

Knowing that the author based this novel on the experiences of his mother-in-law, Hetty Kraus, made it truly a privilege to read. (I loved Hetty meeting her future American husband randomly on a Swiss train.) I'm so impressed that this is Robert Loewen's first book, especially since he is a few years older than me! I highly recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for making this ARC available.