Download The Cut Out Girl PDF

2019
Title The Cut Out Girl
Authors
Genres World War 2 Books Social & Cultural History European History Biography: Historical Political & Military
Publisher Penguin Books, Limited
ISBN 9780241978726
The extraordinary true story of a young Jewish girl in Holland under Nazi occupation who finds refuge in the homes of an underground network of foster families, one of them the author's grandparents Bart van Es left Holland for England many years ago, but one story from his Dutch childhood never left him. It was a mystery of sorts: a young Jewish girl named Lientje had been taken in during the war by relatives and hidden from the Nazis, handed over by her parents, who understood the danger they were in all too well. The girl had been raised by her foster family as one of their own, but then, well after the war, there was a falling out, and they were no longer in touch. What was the girl's side of the story, Bart wondered? What really happened during the war, and after? So began an investigation that would consume Bart van Es's life, and change it. After some sleuthing, he learned that Lientje was now in her 80s and living in Amsterdam. Somewhat reluctantly, she agreed to meet him, and eventually they struck up a remarkable friendship, even a partnership. The Cut Out Girl braids together a powerful recreation of that intensely harrowing childhood story of Lientje's with the present-day account of Bart's efforts to piece that story together, including bringing some old ghosts back into the light. It is a story rich with contradictions. There is great bravery and generosity--first Lientje's parents, giving up their beloved daughter, and then the Dutch families who face great danger from the Nazi occupation for taking Lientje and other Jewish children in. And there are more mundane sacrifices a family under brutal occupation must make to provide for even the family they already have. But tidy Holland also must face a darker truth, namely that it was more cooperative in rounding up its Jews for the Nazis than any other Western European country; that is part of Lientje's story too. Her time in hiding was made much more terrifying by the energetic efforts of the local Dutch authorities, zealous accomplices in the mission of sending every Jew, man, woman and child, East to their extermination. And Lientje was not always particularly well treated, and sometimes, Bart learned, she was very badly treated indeed. The Cut Out Girl is an astonishment, a deeply moving reckoning with a young girl's struggle for survival during war, a story about the powerful love of foster families but also the powerful challenges, and about the ways our most painful experiences define us but also can be redefined, on a more honest level, even many years after the fact. A triumph of subtlety, decency and unflinching observation, The Cut Out Girl is a triumphant marriage of many keys of writing, ultimately blending them into an extraordinary new harmony, and a deeper truth.
More Books You May Like
More Myself : A Journey
More Myself : A Journey
Alicia Keys

"An intimate, revealing look at one artist's journey from self-censorship to full expression As one of the most celebrat...

61 Hours by Jack Reacher #14
61 Hours by Jack Reacher #14
Lee Child

Jack Reacher is back.   The countdown has begun. Get ready for the most exciting 61 hours of your life. #1 New York Ti...

Gordon Ramsay Quick and Delicious
Gordon Ramsay Quick and Delicious
Gordon Ramsay

Create chef-quality food without spending hours in the kitchen -- these are the recipes and straightforward tips you nee...

The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
Richard Koch

How anyone can be more effective with less effort by learning how to identify and leverage the 80/20 principle--the well...

The Diary of a Bookseller
The Diary of a Bookseller
Shaun Bythell

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread ov...

The Phoenix Project
The Phoenix Project
Gene Kim

Five years after this sleeper hit took on the world of IT and flipped it on it's head, the 5th Anniversary Edition of Th...