Girl in the Blue Coat

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 Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion.
On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older woman's frantic plea to find a person--a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially wants nothing to do with such dangerous work, but is ultimately show more drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning revelations that lead her into the heart of the resistance, open her eyes to the horrors of the Nazi war machine, and compel her to take desperate action.
Beautifully written, intricately plotted, and meticulously researched, Girl in the Blue Coat is an extraordinary, gripping novel from a bright new voice. show less

Although this young adult novel sounded intriguing, I was quite disappointed.

Hanneke is a teenager in WWII Netherlands. She is her family's sole support, finding items on the black market for various clients. Her job has its dangers, and she has learned to lie convincingly to German soldiers in order to deliver packages without being discovered. One of her clients asks her to help her find something unusual: a girl in a blue coat that the old woman had been hiding in her house. The girl has disappeared without a trace, and Hanneke reluctantly agrees to look for her.

The search takes Hanneke to a Jewish school, a cell in the Resistance, a deportation site, and to the homes of those who hide Jews. The tension slowly builds until a show more surprise twist abruptly takes the story in a new direction. Along with the mystery of the missing girl is the slow unveiling of what happened to Hanneke's boyfriend, whom we know was killed in the first few days when the Dutch army tried to stand up to the German invasion.

I found the plot to be slow, until two-thirds of the way through the book, when an event occurs which seems to be included in part for shock value. After that, I was much less interested in the story and finished it perfunctorily. show less

In the "Girl in the Blue Coat" we see the central horror of the Holocaust; not the number of dead, not that ordinary people did horrible things, but the loss of a singular life. If the Jewish traditional saying is, "He saves one life saves the world," then destroying one life is destroying a whole world.
A teenage girl who thinks that the German invasion of her country, Holland, is an oppertunity to make money tries to find one girl her age. And the answers she finds are horrific and beautiful, leading to new truths and leading the reader to ask, "What would you do?"

Vanished - 4.5 stars...

It's 1943 and the Germans have arrived in Amsterdam. They are a constant presence on every street corner. Hanneke is just an ordinary girl who finds and delivers black market goods so that her and her parents can eat and survive another day. On one of her routine deliveries, her customer Mrs. Janssen, asks her to find a Jewish girl, Mirjam, that vanished from the secret room she was staying in. Hanneke realizes the task is very dangerous and at first balks at accepting but the more she learns about her friends, neighbors, Mirjam and herself, she feels like that's the least she could do.
 
All I can say is anytime we think we have it hard today, we need to remember what those who lived during World War II went show more through! This was a very moving and powerful story and will make you appreciate the freedoms that we enjoy today.
 
The story is part historical fiction but it's also a locked room mystery which I was thrilled about and enjoyed trying to solve. I didn't though- didn't even come close actually. There were some good twists that will definitely keep you guessing. The only reason I didn't give it a full five stars was because I felt like the ending was rushed. I would have liked to have heard what happened with the rest of the main characters in the story. It was still a great story though and worth the read if you enjoy war stories or mysteries.   show less

This is the first "good book" that I've read in 2017, and I was entranced with it. Set in The Netherlands during the Nazi occupation (1943, to be precise), Hanneke is focused only on keeping her and her parents from starving by profiteering from the black market. She's not involved in the Resistance, nor is she interested in it. Her heart was broken two years ago, when her boyfriend, Bas, joined the Dutch Navy to try to defend their homeland from the Germans; he never returned, and his body was never recovered. Since then, Hanneke has been floating in a bitter bubble, refusing to allow herself to care about much of anything. Then one of her black market customers, Mrs. Janssen, offers Hanneke a good deal of money to find a missing show more Jewish girl that she has been hiding for a few weeks. Hanneke's first instinct is to say no, but she eventually gives in and gets pulled into a world that, to this point, she had been quite content to pretend didn't exist.

I really, really think this book is better if you go into it knowing little about the plot. But it's a great story about friendship (how it can be so fragile at times, and at other times so strong), how difficult it was to live under occupation, about relationships (there is no instalove in this book, yay!), and courage and weakness.

I've read some reviews saying that there should be more diversity in this book, and I'm not sure how Nazi-occupied Holland is supposed to be "diverse" (especially since the Nazis were busily trying to eradicate "diversity" in the lands they controlled; considering that the Dutch Jews, unfortunately, had an extremely high mortality rate [according to the historical notes at the back of the book, nearly 3/4 were killed], and the occupation had been established for three years by the time this story began, I don't really think much more diversity could have been achieved). I saw this story as a young woman's political and social awakening; I never felt like the Jewish characters were placed just to help Hanneke. Judith, Mirjam, and others (I won't go into details due to spoilers) had unique voices and personalities. There's even a LGBTQ character, which was surprising (due to the time period and, well, the Nazis didn't like LGBTQ people any more than they liked Jews) and awesome. And I say this all as a Jew so...I mean, what are you expecting in Nazi-occupied Holland?

This book is making me want to read Code Name Verity, which has been on my TBR pile for a LONG time. show less

Coming of age story set in Amsterdam in 1943. Protagonist Hanneke Bakker is grieving the loss of her boyfriend during the Nazi takeover of the Netherlands. She has become involved in the black market, and one of her clients asks for Hanneke’s help in finding a runaway Jewish girl who has been hiding from the roundups. She discovers a youth-led underground resistance effort and they also ask for her help. Hanneke has misgivings about helping in an effort that would threaten her own safety. She struggles with questions of conscience and how to make the “right” decisions in a world gone horribly wrong.

“None of us knows what a normal afternoon even looks like anymore, one in which we’re not ferrying children from the Hollandsche

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Schouwburg, or trying to find places for onderduikers, or trading on the black market. If there were no war, and if we were normal young adults, what would we be doing today?”

I think the Hesse largely succeeds in her stated goal: “I wanted to tell a story of small betrayals in the middle of a big war. I wanted to illustrate the split-second decisions we make of moral courage and cowardice, and how we are all heroes and villains.” While some of the plot elements feel a little contrived, the tone and questions addressed seem appropriate for a teenage audience. The author does a credible job of making it feel authentic to the region, though some of the characters seem to have more modern sensibilities than would have existed in the 1940’s. Apparently it is mandatory for any book with “Girl” in the title to provide twists and surprises, which unfortunately require characters to engage in lengthy explanations that detract from the heart of the story. The author appears to have done her research, as there were no glaring inaccuracies, and she explains in the author’s notes what parts are factual. Recommended for a young adult audience. show less

This was a whole new take on WW2. I expected gruesome work camps and feared deportations, but what I didn't expect was the acts of resistance. This book captured a behind the scenes bravery that I've never read about before. It pulled me into a thrilling plot full of danger, lies, and secrets.

Hanneke works in the black market where she recycles rations cards and buys items for those willing to pay. It's usually items like meat, lipstick, magazines, etc. So when a customer asks her to find a girl, her automatic reaction is to flee. She runs home and sits and ponders the pros and cons. She knows she shouldn't say yes, but deep down she wants to mend emotional wounds and save a life since she blames herself for taking one.

She finds show more herself wrapped up in a twisted mystery that throws her on the doorstep of the resistance. It's a dangerous time and in honor to get answers she has to break rules and live on the edge. Each move could end with death, but she has her mind set on finding the girl and she doesn't stop until she does.

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed this book a lot. I love historical YA and I think this one was a perfect addition to the genre. However, there were a few things that held me back from loving it. First I found the plot twist to be very predictable. I knew what happened before it was revealed and I believe others would guess it as well. Second, I felt like many things were just grazed upon. I wanted to dive deeper into the theatre and see more of the intense darkness. Lastly, I wanted closure in other areas. I felt like the mystery got closure, but everything else was left open ended. Elsbeth? Ollie and Willem? I guess I need to keep in mind that there was no possible way to explore each character in depth. I still wanted to though.... and that is a great thing!

Overall, I definitely recommend it to all historical fans that appreciate new takes on a brutal time. Just keep in mind that it's not a love story. It's a story of healing and moving on. A story of sacrifice and hope. A story of bravery during the time of war. show less