A review by mozbolt
Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

5.0

What an incredible historical fiction ya novel! I have mad respect for authors who commit time and effort to historical research and accuracy, but also manage to concoct a whopper of a plot! I adored Hanneke's resilience and loyalty... her character was intreguing to me in many ways, mostly because she started out as a survivalist and ended the novel an activist. Also, even though romance was present in the novel, it showed up as flashbacks - the relationships in this book were mainly friendships, which were portrayed realistically and dynamically. I especially appreciated the author's depiction of Hanneke and Elsbeth's loss of friendship. I loved the atmosphere of the book, as it helped me envision WWII in Amsterdam through the eyes of a pragmatist who is simply aiming for the best possible outcome in the realms of rationality. I would recommend 8-12 English teachers bring this into their classrooms for a reading workshop; I'm definitely going to try to implement this at some point!