Reviewed by Emma Crowley
When Nazis break down the front door of eighteen-year-old Trudi’s home and seize the Jewish couple hiding in her attic, she’s devastated, and is suddenly solely responsible for their two innocent children. The whispered rumours about the resistance are her only hope. A man called Frans and his cousin Piet risk their lives every day, helping scared and abandoned Jewish children escape into the countryside. Under the cover of night she races to beg for their help.
When the girls are offered a safe house, Trudi is relieved. But with soldiers on every corner of the cobbled streets, getting there will be extremely dangerous… Trudi must dress up in a German nurse’s uniform and convince anyone who asks that she is transporting two children to hospital.
Trudi will have to give up everything to protect Rosy and Louisa. She will have to lie to her friends and family, and learn to fire a weapon that could take someone’s life. The only consolation is Piet’s dark eyes and handsome face as he stands beside her helping to plan her next steps.
But Trudi suspects someone close to her told the Nazis about the hiding place in the attic, and they’ll stop at nothing to make sure the girls do not escape…
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Girl from the Resistance to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Girl from the Resistance is the first in a planned trilogy from Imogen Matthews. Each book will follow a young woman detailing their experiences in the Dutch resistance during World War Two. This was a dangerous and nerve wracking time time where very few women took part in Resistance activities. This first story is set in 1941 and follows a young woman named Trudi who lives in Harlem in the Netherlands. The war has curtailed her ambitions and after left school aged 18 she has had to take up work as a domestic help which she is certainly not enjoying. She has a sister named Frida who works as a nurse and her parents help out with the war effort hiding Jewish people who are trying to evade being rounded up by the Germans. Life is full of fear, apprehension and terror for her family and so many others as the minute they step outside of their home they are wary at encountering Germans. But a spark has been ignited in Trudi and soon we see her take bold and courageous steps as she wants to do more to help those whose lives are in peril.
The power the Nazi’s hold over the people is very strong and when they raid Trudi’s home and discover they have been hiding a couple in their attic this is when things really take off. Trudi hides with the couples young daughters Rosy and Louisa and whilst their parents are taken the two children remain safe but they can no longer stay in the attic. Trudi soon comes to realise that true power comes from helping those in need. This is a powerful statement whose sentiment will sustain her through some dark, challenging and troubling times.
Trudi promised the children’s parents that she would keep them safe and she is never one to break a promise. She is shouldering a huge responsibility, but she does so with great strength and tenacity. When she meets Sem, the son of a fisherman, at his stall there is a connection there and she soon learns that he is involved with the Resistance movement in which small groups have sprung up all over the Netherlands.These groups have ambitions to intercept German plots but they are also helping with the smuggling of Jewish adults and children to safety. Trudi is introduced to Frans, a man who has his fingers in many pies but yet is someone who is brave and resourceful. She manages to get Rosy and Louisa to a safe house where they can be hidden but she is not ready to rest on her laurels. In fact, being involved in something like this only makes her more determined to do her bit for the cause. She has strong nerves and she will need them especially if she is to handle arms. She feels strongly about helping people to understand the truth about what is really happening under German occupation.
I thought the book started off strong and then there was a lull. There are details of tasks Trudi is sent on by Frans and yes she is in danger but there was nothing earth shattering or really dramatic happening. I felt the chapters were just rolling by and I was making progress with the book but it wasn’t overly gripping. Yes, the details of her assignments working as a courier, transporting important information or delivering necessary equipment or gathering intelligence were interesting and they did highlight the danger involved in her work. It did show that she grew in strength and that she was courageous and willing to take on different assignments.But I just wanted something exciting to happen as I felt the middle section fell into a repetitive pattern that needed something really dramatic to shake things up a bit and have me glued to the pages.
Thankfully that came in the last quarter or so and I got everything I had hoped for. All the little bits that I had presumed were surplus to the storyline begin to join together and made for an exciting and thrilling last part of the story that certainly made up for what at times had been a sluggish middle section. Trudi really showed her true fortitude, stability and tenacity. She is tasked with her most dangerous mission of all which puts her directly in the line of fire. I felt the scenes here were brilliantly written and my heart was in my mouth. The love and care she has for the people involved in this assignment shine through at every opportunity and I loved how there were so many twists and turns as we raced to a very dramatic conclusion. This really did give a much needed boost to the story and it totally changed my opinion of the book.Characters who I thought didn’t have much of a role or were deserving of a place in the book came to the fore and in fact it was clever how Imogen Matthews had everything plotted out and in fact the development was much better over all towards the end than I thought it had been for the majority of the book.
The tension, element of surprise, revelations and angst that I had wanted in the story were there in spades as the booked raced to its conclusion. It was brilliantly executed and demonstrated what a remarkable character Trudi was. Her situation in the end has set us up nicely for the next book in the series as has several other strands which have left me with lots of questions. If the next book doesn’t solely focus on Trudi I do hope we get some more information as to what happens to her next as I have become firmly invested in her as a character but at the same time I am eager to discover more about the other two women who are to feature in the series. The Girl from the Resistance, despite a shaky middle, turned out to be a very good read which has left me wanting much more.
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