Descrip­tions

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke sillonne les rues de la ville afin de dénicher des marchandises au marché noir. Un jour, une cliente lui fait une requête particulière, retrouver une jeune fille juive qu’elle hébergeait et qui a disparu. En recherchant la prénommée Mirjam Roodvet, Hanneke découvre les activités secrètes des réseaux d’entraide aux familles juives et entre à son tour dans la clandestinité.

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days finding and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the German army invaded. Her illegal work keeps her family afloat, and Hanneke also likes to think of it as a small act of rebellion against the Nazis.

On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older woman’s frantic plea to find a person: a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially wants nothing to do with such a dangerous task but is ultimately drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning revelations—where the only way out is through.

Beautifully written, intricately plotted, and meticulously researched, Girl in the Blue Coat is an extraordinary, unforgettable story of bravery, grief, and love in impossible times.