Girl in the Blue Coat

World War II stories are hard to read at times. This one is no exception.

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke (the audiobook had it sound like Hanika) works in her own little way to resist the Nazi occupation by being a black-marketeer in finding things that people need. But suddenly one of the ladies she normally finds things for has a missing girl that she wants found. Only this girl isn't supposed to be there. She is a Jew and has somehow vanished. She can't go to the guard, obviously, or other authorities, so how is she going to find this girl in a blue coat?

This was a very well done piece. It was written well and kept me very engaged the whole time. While Hanneke and the rest of the characters may be fictitious, the actions and events were very historically sound. The black market, the college resistance fighters, the theater and nursery across the street that helped save hundreds of people who would have died... These are all amazing things that Monica Hesse has portrayed beautifully, realistically, and powerfully. I very much enjoyed this and am even more interested in the other stories Monica Hesse has written.

I enjoyed the characters and how they felt lifelike. There situations and reactions to their circumstances were real and made me worry for them more than I worry for many of the other characters I read about.

I think Monica Hesse was a very brave woman to end the story the way she did. This is war and wars often down have happy endings for everyone involved. The ending was fulfilling and the focus of the story was different than most would suspect, which is also a very brave move for the author to do walking the fine line between what the plot needs and what the audience wants or expects. And I think she pulled it off well.

Good on you Monica Hesse. It was a very good book and one that I probably wouldn't mind reading or listening to again.