Our Narrow Hiding Places by Kristopher Jansma on August 13, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / General, Fiction / Historical / 20th Century / World War II, Fiction / Literary
Pages: 272
Format: ARC
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I don’t read a lot of historical fictions but when I do, I want to invest time in a really good one and Our Narrow Hiding Places by Kristopher Jansma didn’t disappoint! This one was the Dutch take on the Nazi occupation. This was about survival and family and secrets.
This is told in the present and the past and the story revolves around Mieke Geborn. At the start of the story she is an 80 year old woman who is widowed and lives a routine life. She was walking home from a friend’s one night with a book that was written during the “Hunger Winter” but from the perspective of Eels. Yes, you heard that correctly…Eels. The author is unnamed and she has the feeling she knows the stories these “eels” are telling. But before she gets far in the book she falls and has to be rescued by a neighbor, Giancarlo, who befriends her.
Then she gets a visit from her Grandson and his wife. The Grandson is going through his own issues but needed an escape. He starts asking questions about his past. So his Grandmother, Mieke, starts telling him stories from her time when she was a young girl and how she survived the Nazi occupation. They are horrifying stories of how she lived on a tiny piece of bread and a half a beet for a day, sometimes more. And all the things she had to do to survive. Mieke would often have to use her imagination and stories just so she could survive her situation. So she passed these stories down to her grandson, Will.
The story goes back and forth in time to Meike and her grandson, Will, and what they both experienced and how it affects them today. This one compares to All The Light We Cannot See and has a The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah feel to it. I’ve read quite a few Nazi occupation stories but not as original as this. I loved the story telling eels part of the book. This is a slow burn type of book. It took me a minute to get into this one but then I had to know what was going to happen. The author did a great job of making me care about the characters, even a few minor ones.
Thank you to NetGalley, Author Kristopher Jansma, and Ecco Publishing for providing me with this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This book releases 8/13/24.