Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Nazi-occupied Holland, 1943: In a makeshift village in the middle of the woods, hiding from Nazi soldiers determined to find them, a beautiful young Jewish woman named Laura thought she was safe. By day she remained silent and out of sight, but as darkness fell, she began to fall in love with a resistance fighter named Wouter. Until everything changed, on the day the village was stormed…
Desperate to protect the six small and terrified children in her care, Laura races towards the church spires of the nearest town in the distance and just manages to escape from the soldiers.
Wouter is stuck on the other side of the village when the German officers start shooting. As he desperately scrambles through the dark, dense woodland, he has no idea whether Laura has made it out alive.
Devastated that he hadn’t tried to save her, Wouter spends his days delivering food and transporting people to safety, determined to help those most in peril. But he never gives up hope of finding the woman he loves.
Even when he hears the rumours about the Nazis cramming Jews onto cattle trains for deportation to brutal work camps, he can’t believe she’s gone forever. How could he live if Laura was amongst them? And if he does find her, will their love have survived the ravages of everything they’ve been through, together and apart?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of Hidden in the Shadows to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Hidden in the Shadows is the second in the Wartime Holland series by Imogen Matthews. It can be read as a standalone as I found it recaps a lot of the story from book one. I don’t think new readers would be confused at all and could easily follow along with the plot. In fact, I found a good chunk of the story went over old ground from book one. At first I found this to be slightly frustrating as I wanted the story to move on a bit and for new things to happen but then I realised the necessity for this as it helped provide and consolidate the overall picture of Wouter and Laura’s story from when they had to flee the hidden village. It did go on a bit recapping things so perhaps this aspect could have been shortened.
This book continues on from where the first left off and I found myself quickly refamiliarising myself with the plot, the characters and the setting. I enjoy that the books are set in Holland because prior to this I hadn’t read anything set in this country during the war years. It gives the reader a good perspective on how Holland dealt with its occupation by the Germans and how so many people sacrificed so much to take part in resistance work to try and aid those less fortunate then themselves. These people being Jews and other sections of society deemed worthless by Hitler.
We first encounter Wouter as he is fleeing from the village hidden deep in the forest in the area surrounding Kampenveld. Someone had given away the location of Berkenhout which had been so painstakingly constructed and kept secret by a resistance group. German soldiers had arrived unexpectedly and tried to kill as many as possible. Wouter is not Jewish but didn’t want to be sent to Germany to work in a factory so that is how he came to be living there. Being high up in the ranks created by the village he should have stayed to help people flee. Escape routes had been planned and drills in case of discovery had been carried out but all this goes out the window when the attack happens and he runs for his life.
Wouter carries the guilt of his wrong doing throughout the book. He knows he should have stayed to help especially as the whereabouts of the young girl Laura that he loves remain unknown. The last time they had seen each other there had been an uneasy tension between them with things left unsaid and misunderstandings occurring. Now Wouter feels he will never have the opportunity to express how he really feels. Will he ever see her again? Will he have the chance to tell her that he loves her and wishes to be with her? He experiences such remorse throughout the novel as we journey with him as he navigates the days which turn into weeks following the destruction of the village. He knows Laura is out there some where but given the dangerous situation they find themselves and with Laura being Jewish the resistance network has kept her moving on from place to place to get her as far away to safety as possible. The country is in a constant state of fear and anxiety with so many people hiding and so many others doing their best to keep people safe.
I found that the chapters throughout the book were very short and flitted between characters very quickly. Just as I was getting to grips with where Wouter was and what he was doing the chapter concluded and then we were back to Laura and so forth. I don’t think the book ever found a steady rhythm where the reader could fully engage with what was going on. I admit I found Wouter to be quite spineless in that at the first sign of danger his instinct was to escape instead of thinking about others also. So perhaps he deserved to feel the guilt and upset that plagues him throughout the story? We follow Wouter as he tries to find Laura but at the same time he is trying to redeem himself and so helps with the network in whatever way he can. But is it too little too late? When push came to shove was that the time when he should have showed his metal and determination or will he persist and demonstrate resilience and courage and keep going to find Laura?
To be honest I wasn’t overly enamoured with Wouter as a character but I appreciated the journey he went on. I found it interesting to read of the people he meets and the secret work they were all involved in. A small network could achieve so much because they were all united for one common cause. I found the secondary characters to be more interesting as they highlighted the brave work of so many and put their lives in danger when they needn’t have. They could have gone through the war, keeping their heads down and just making it through to the end unscathed. They choose not to and for that they deserve admiration and respect.
Laura’s aspect of the story took less prominence than Wouter’s and I found myself wanting to read more of her and to try and really get into her head. They were glimpses of this occurring but it didn’t happen enough. Her journey takes her far away from the village and from Wouter and she has no choice but to go along with it. She really does put her life and her future in someone else’s hands. As a reader you just can’t imagine having to do this. She relies on the kindness and compassion of others and she goes through some very dark periods before hopefully reaching a place of sanctuary or does fate have more in store for her? You do desperately want her to reunite with the man she loves but it’s like a game of cat and mouse. They always seem to miss each other and it’s like Wouter is always one step behind and that reuniting is so far from becoming a reality. Laura really went on a journey of transformation throughout the book. I felt she was the one who grew the most and she did things she never thought she was capable of. But again, some aspects of her story fell flat in that I needed to read more of her instead of the male perspective dominating too much.
Overall, I was glad I read Hidden in the Shadows because I felt book one left many unanswered questions. I remember finishing book one and wanting to know what happened to those who escaped from the village and here is where I got those answers. Yet, the story overall was a bit of a mixed bag for me in that there was too much going over what occurred in book one instead of pushing the story forward. A few paragraphs of recapping would have sufficed. Hidden in the Shadows is an interesting read but the first book is the better of the two as it gives you the background to the setting up of the village whereas here the connection between Laura and Wouter I didn’t always care so deeply for them as I should have done. None the less I am glad I read this book and to see if the pair find their way back to each other then I suggest you give this story a read.
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