This one is another Dutch one that I brought back from my recent trip to NL. Now... this one has a bit of a tale attached to it. I thought I knew what this one was going to be about... but as I started reading it I found out that I was wrong. In a way this is good news as this book was a pleasant surprise and it means that there is another one out there that I need to get. Another good thing is that half way through to reading this one I remembered the title of the one I thought this one was going to be! It's on my Christmas list now.
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Oorlogswinter - Jan Terlouw
This is another book which is supposedly meant for young people but I still found it a very good read. Not sure what that says about me... hoping it says a lot about the author, that he has managed to keep the story interesting even if you are of slightly more advanced years.
It deals with young Michiel who is a 15 year old boy who is trying to survive during the final winter of World War 2. For him and his family it is relatively easy as they live in the part of Holland that still has working farms so it is able to sustain the locals and some of the refugees flocking in form the cities. Michiel and his family are finding that they seem to have a lot of distant relatives who come to call and are only to happy to take some food for their journey back to the cities in the west.
Michiel is a young lad who does his best to stay out of trouble whilst scrounging up food and other useful items for his family left, right and centre. He kind of unintentionally ends up getting involved in the war and resistance work when he gets delegated the responsibility of taking care of a crashed and injured English pilot who is in hiding. He even ends up helping him escape. It is difficult for Michiel as he is not sure who to trust and who he can ask for help. People he assumes are safe and to be trusted turn out to be the opposite and those whom he avoids might just be the ones to help him. But... being a young lad Michiel kind of feels his way through the final days of the war by living of his wits and having a fair bit of good luck.
Although some of the things that Michiel experiences are kind of all fun and games there is a very serious side to the work he does and to the occupation of the country he lives. One of his friends gets hurt in a attempt by the resistance to rob a local distribution office and then, to make matters worse a dead German soldier is found in the woods. Naturally with all this going on someone has to pay and the Germans waste no time in rounding up some of the more important men of the village. They initially keep them hostage and let the people of the village know that they want the person who killed the soldier to come forward or else. Unfortunately for Michiel his father is the mayor and he is one of the men who is rounded up. Even more unfortunately for Michiel it is his father, together with some others who is made an example of. It is tough for a young lad to deal with but Michiel has to keep it together and take care of his family and those others who come to depend on him. A tough job for any young lad, let alone one trapped in the final stages of the war.
Michiel makes it to the end of the war alive so in a way I guess, it all ends well. But... he has lost some of his family, friends and most of all a lot of his innocence.
Title: Oorlogswinter
Author: Jan Terlouw
169 pages
Lemniscaat
ISBN# 978-90-6069-118-2
Books to be read: 129
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