Girl in the Blue Coat

This story takes place in World War II and Hanneke is a teenager who supports her parents buy delivering sought-out goods on the black market to customers. When one of her customers, Mrs. Janssen, asks her for help in locating a Jewish girl, Mirjam, Hanneke gets drawn into an undercover network. The networks forerunner is her ex-boyfriend’s brother Ollie who works on getting food to people who are starving and placing Jewish children. Hanneke asks him for help and the only thing that she knows about the girl is that she has a blue coat. When there is a transport happening they see that the girl was brought in with a blue coat and so they develop a plan to save her. However when they risk their lives to save Mirjam, she refuses to go with them and starts to running away from the group being transported and in doing so gets killed. After her burial Hanneke realizes that the girl that is buried is missing some scar marks that Mirjam should’ve had so she begins looking for more information. Hanneke starts talking to Christooffel who is in love with Mirjam tells Hanneke what happened and that the girl that is buried in not Mirjam but Amalia her best freind. In the end, Hanneke finds the real Mirjam and realizes it is better for her to stay where she is at than for her to go to Mrs. Janssen’s house.

I enjoyed reading this book; I was shocked with the twist towards the end. It was a little slow in the beginning but it got better.  I like how historical events were built into the story; I guess that’s what got my attention, knowing that it takes place during WWII.

Hesse, Monica. (2016). Girl in the blue coat. New York: Little, Brown and Company

Special Note: This book is on the list for Best Fiction for Young Adults and a National Bestseller.

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