Review

The parents of pretty, blonde 17 year old Hanneke think that she works in an undertaker’s office. And she does — but she is also a black marketeer, finding luxuries like sausages and cigarettes for rich Dutch citizens in WW2 Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. She hates the German invaders, who killed her Dutch soldier boyfriend Bas, but cynically figures there’s not much she can do about them, except rort their ration system. And she has to keep safe: she has her parents to care for; she’s their only source of food and income. Suddenly, one of Hanneke’s wealthy clients asks her to find something quite different: a Jewish girl, the titular girl in the blue coat, whom she’d been hiding until the girl’s sudden disappearance. Hanneke’s initially reluctant to take it on, but something leads her to make some inquiries. Her relatively comfortable world is challenged as she learns more about what’s really happening to Jews, confronts her feelings of guilt and grief about Bas’s death, and is drawn deeper and deeper into the world of the Dutch resistance.

*

I enjoyed this one — it’s a bit of a page-turner— and I think its mix of WW2 and mystery will appeal to a lot of historical fiction loving teens, particularly girls. It has lots of historical detail, and some backstory romance.

336 pp. Suitable for year 7 and up.

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Set during the holocaust, so includes persecution of Jews (and others), rounding up of Jewish people in inhumane conditions, the sending of Jews to work or death camps (which Hanneke is initially unaware of), and death; deaths of soldiers; perilous resistance work; grieving for dead soldier boyfriend; guilt for encouraging soldier boyfriend to sign up; breaking up with a best friend due to Nazi involvement; betrayal by Dutch Nazi sympathisers; a couple of very mild kisses. Main (backstory) romance is mlw; very minor mlm subplot, linked to Nazi persecution of homosexuality.

*

Hesse, M. (2016). The girl in the blue coat. Pan Macmillan.

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