At 18, Hanneke Bakker has the people-bluffing skills of a con artist, a taste for risk and a heart full of grief that should not have been hers for decades.
Her parents believe she works as a receptionist for an undertaker, Mr. Kreuk, which she does. Her more important work, though, is helping Mr. Kreuk with his sideline, acquiring goods using dead people's ration cards that he sells on the black market. Hanneke helps with the shopping and the deliveries. Her blonde good looks and quick wits help her slide by the attentions of Nazi soldiers she runs into on the streets of Amsterdam.
At night, her thoughts turn to the young man she was in love with Bas (short for Sebastian). He enlisted in the Navy, with her support and encouragement, and now he's dead like so many others.
When one of her regular customers, Mrs. Janssen, urges her to linger for coffee, cookies and a startling conversation, Hanneke's understanding of the world turns on edge.
Mrs. Janssen begs her help finding a young Jewish woman, Mirjam Roodveldt, whom she had been hiding. Mrs. Janssen's husband had been in business with Mirjam's father, David Roodveldt. Unbeknownst to his wife, Mr. Janssen hid them in the furniture store he owned. They were betrayed and Mirjam escaped the slaughter and ran to Mrs. Janssen's door. Then, suddenly one day, she vanished.
As Hanneke begins asking questions that could have fatal consequences for herself and the people she contacts, she discovers there's a vast difference between asking a butcher for meat for "a sick grandmother" and trying to find a Jew who might already be in the hands of the Nazis.
She finds herself identifying with Mirjam and her Christian best friend Amalia. As she searches, she finds others whom she least expects using their skills and cunning to do more than find cigarettes and lipstick for bourgeois women inconvenienced by the war.
This is a well-written young adult story that you won't want to put down. It has unexpected twists and a bittersweet ending that will haunt you for days. Even if you're well-read in the history of resistance during World War II and the Holocaust, this story will surprise you.
Mrs. Janssen begs her help finding a young Jewish woman, Mirjam Roodveldt, whom she had been hiding. Mrs. Janssen's husband had been in business with Mirjam's father, David Roodveldt. Unbeknownst to his wife, Mr. Janssen hid them in the furniture store he owned. They were betrayed and Mirjam escaped the slaughter and ran to Mrs. Janssen's door. Then, suddenly one day, she vanished.
As Hanneke begins asking questions that could have fatal consequences for herself and the people she contacts, she discovers there's a vast difference between asking a butcher for meat for "a sick grandmother" and trying to find a Jew who might already be in the hands of the Nazis.
She finds herself identifying with Mirjam and her Christian best friend Amalia. As she searches, she finds others whom she least expects using their skills and cunning to do more than find cigarettes and lipstick for bourgeois women inconvenienced by the war.
This is a well-written young adult story that you won't want to put down. It has unexpected twists and a bittersweet ending that will haunt you for days. Even if you're well-read in the history of resistance during World War II and the Holocaust, this story will surprise you.
The Author: Monica Hesse
In addition to Girl in the Blue Coat, Monica Hesse is the author of young adult science fiction novels Stray and its sequel Burn. She is a feature writer for the Washington Post, where she covered inaugural balls, royal weddings, dog shows, political campaigns, Academy Awards ceremonies and White House state dinners.
Originally from Normal, Ill., she and her husband live in Washington, D.C., with their dog.
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