Smart, fiercely political, devoted solely to the cause, and “with nothing to lose but their own lives,” Hannie, Truus, and Freddie took terrifying direct action against Nazi targets. That included sheltering fleeing Jews, political dissidents, and Dutch resisters. They sabotaged bridges and railways, and donned disguises to lead children from probable internment in concentration camps to safehouses. They covertly transported weapons and set military facilities ablaze. And they carried out the assassinations of German soldiers and traitors–on public streets and in private traps–with the courage of veteran guerilla fighters and the cunning of seasoned spies.
REVIEW:
Three Ordinary Girls was a hard read for me because I wanted so much to be engaged in the story of these teenage resistance fights, but found myself struggling to keep slogging through the book. I found the writer's style jarringly casual at times for an otherwise dry history. The formatting of the footnotes was problematic in the Kindle version I read and so much of the book was footnoted that I wasn't sure there was any reason to have written a new book rather than just telling people to read a translation of an existing work. I never really felt like I got any personal insight into the three girls, and the complex mystery of how their work fell apart so close to the end of the war was completely unresolved. At times, this just felt like a tally of their kills but with no exploration of the motivations behind them. I kept wanting more but never got it, and so finished with no more knowledge or insight than when I started. Sadly not a book I will recommend despite what should have been a fascinating subject. 2 stars.
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