Review: Girl in the Blue Coat

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Girl in the Blue Coat is what I call a 'weekend read.' It's short and full-on historical fiction bliss.
We follow Hanneke, a 19-year-old, who lives in the city of Amsterdam in 1943. The city is German occupied and filled with roadblocks, raids, and Nazi horrors.
Hanneke worked in the black market in order to help her family survive. She knew of the horrors that were happening, but she tried her best to ignore them. Hanneke was not Jewish and definitely not part of the hate group (NSB). Hanneke was just trying to live around the war, not in the war. She really didn't have friends, until she was given a mission to find a Jewish girl that had gone missing from her hiding place.
The story has its twists, turns, and some drama. The more Hanneke applied herself into finding the missing girl, the more she got involved with underground and resistance operations.
In midst of her mission, Hanneke is trying to deal with a loss that occurred when she was 17. She blames herself for the loss of this person and this mission kind of mends some of the wound.

It was a good story and it had enough to keep me interested, but it left a few questions unanswered. (view spoiler)[ There was a Nazi uniform involved, what did they do with it after they where done with the operation? What happened with her friend that married the German soldier? It was his uniform that Hanneke stole... Also, what happened to Hanneke's parents? Did she tell them that she was part of the resistance? And, what happened to the lady that was hiding the girl? So many questions... (hide spoiler)] This definitely played a role in my rating, but it was a good read. The author definitely did her research and I enjoyed that she wrote of people that were part of the resistance - which I barely get to read about. So, that was cool.



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