Hidden in the Shadows by Imogen Matthews

Books

*AD-gifted: I received a copy of Hidden in the Shadows in exchange for this post. Affiliate links are marked with a*

I was really excited to be on the book tour for Imogen Matthews’s 2nd book, *Hidden in the Shadows in the Wartime Holland series. Her first one, The Hidden Village was brilliant. I read that one back at the start of the year. My review is here if you would like a refresher!

Hidden in the Shadows by Imogen Matthews - Book Review

Book Description

The hidden village was meant to keep them safe, but the Nazis have found it… There’s no time to lose. Laura gathers the children and whispers to them to be brave. The smallest cowers in her arms as they hear the crack of gunshots outside. Laura knows they’ll have to run if they are to survive…

Nazi-occupied Holland, 1943: In a makeshift village in the middle of the woods, hiding from Nazi soldiers determined to find them, a beautiful young Jewish woman named Laura thought she was safe. By day she remained silent and out of sight, but as darkness fell, she began to fall in love with a resistance fighter named Wouter. Until everything changed, on the day the village was stormed…

Desperate to protect the six small and terrified children in her care, Laura races towards the church spires of the nearest town in the distance and just manages to escape from the soldiers.

Wouter is stuck on the other side of the village when the German officers start shooting. As he desperately scrambles through the dark, dense woodland, he has no idea whether Laura has made it out alive.

Devastated that he hadn’t tried to save her, Wouter spends his days delivering food and transporting people to safety, determined to help those most in peril. But he never gives up hope of finding the woman he loves.

Even when he hears the rumours about the Nazis cramming Jews onto cattle trains for deportation to brutal work camps, he can’t believe she’s gone forever. How could he live if Laura was amongst them? And if he does find her, will their love have survived the ravages of everything they’ve been through, together and apart?

What I Thought

After the ending of The Hidden Village lovers Laura and Wouter are separated when their underground hideout in the forest is destroyed, I was eager to come back to see what had happened to them.

To recap. Laura is Jewish and Wouter, a German resistance fighter, have fallen in love. Wouter promises to protect her if the Nazis find the Hidden village… But it’s not an if but a when.

Laura is devasted that the Nazis have found the hidden village. She and Wouter get separated. She has to run, but where? Aided by others she hops from hiding place to hiding place praying she and the children are not found. Laura is showing her strength coming to form, she is courageous, a fantastic character with a heart and brave to the core. But she does show her anxious side and fear which is unimaginable.

Will Wouter and Laura find each other?

Hidden in the shadows is a thrilling read, and heartbreaking at the same time. I loved it! Totally recommended!

Author Bio

Imogen Matthews writes novels based on true stories about the Netherlands during the German occupation in World War 2. Some stories she discovered by chance, others are based on her Dutch mother’s own experiences of hardship and survival during the Hunger Winter of 1944-45.

Her first novel, The Hidden Village, is set in the Veluwe woods, a beautiful part of Holland that Imogen has visited frequently over the past 30 years. It was in these woods that she discovered the story of the real hidden village which provided shelter in underground huts for Jews during WW2. Imogen retells the story of the hidden village with characters drawn from real life and from her imagination.

Within weeks of publication in 2017, The Hidden Village became an international bestseller, ranking at the top of a number of Amazon’s most-read book lists.

Following on from The Hidden Village comes Hidden in the Shadows, which has the pace of a thriller yet is also a love story. It tells the story about two young people who are brutally torn apart and must find a way to be together against all odds.

Imogen’s third WW2 novel, The Girl Across the Wire Fence, is set in Amersfoort, Netherlands, and is based on the unforgettable tale of two young lovers who risked everything to keep hope alive in the very depths of hell – the little known Dutch concentration camp called Kamp Amersfoort.

Imogen’s WW2 novels are published by Bookouture, a digital imprint of Hachette.

Learn more about Imogen’s story in this video:

Author social media

www.imogenmatthewsbooks.com

Facebook: @theHiddenVillagenovel

Twitter: @ImogenMatthews3

Where Can I Buy Hidden in the Shadows?

You can buy Hidden in the Shadows from *Amazon

Switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to Audible audiobook. Add the audiobook for a reduced price of £2.99 after you get the *Kindle book as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription.