Sunday 22 November 2020

The Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

From Goodreads

Amsterdam, 1943

Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black-market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the front line when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion. But one day Hanneke gets a very unusual request. One of her regular customers asks her to find a girl. A girl who has disappeared from the secret room in her house. A Jewish girl . . .

As she searches for clues Hanneke is drawn into a dangerous web of lies, secrets and mysteries. Can she find the runaway before the Nazis do?

My thoughts

I gave this a 7/10 or 3.5 stars.  This was a book that I found on BorrowBox the digital lending side of my local Library.

I find this period in history very emotional and thought provoking. How anyone could carry out atrocities such as the genocide that the Germans and Nazis carried out against the Jews of any Nationality over the period surrounding the Second World War astounds me. The things that must have been going through the heads of the Jewish people and the people that helped them to the best of their abilities as they feared for their lives at every turn, we can only imagine. 

Telling the story of Hanneke as she goes on a search to find the girl in the blue coat who suddenly disappeared one day. Will Hanneke ever find the girl or will the Nazis find her first?

This was a read that gripped me from the start due to the subject matter, yet it didn't really blow me away completely. Others have found it a tear jerker in parts, but I didn't feel that about it at all. It's well worth a read and if you ever come across it, then grab a copy and immerse yourself in life in Amsterdam during the Second World War.

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