The Hidden Village by Imogen Matthews - Book Review

Books

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

Today it’s my stop on the book tour for The Hidden Village by Imogen Matthews. Again like my previous review of The German Wife, it’s a World War II historical novel. This one is based on the true story of an entire town that put itself in danger to keep strangers safe. Read on for my full review.

The Hidden Village by Imogen Matthews - Book Review

Book Description

A Nazi soldier slams his rifle into her father’s head. From her hiding place, Sofie stifles a scream as tears roll down her face. Suddenly she can’t take it anymore. ‘Stop, stop!’ she sobs, rushing out and pushing the soldier away. And then freezes, as he snarls and whips the gun round to point at her…

Holland, 1943: the Nazis are in occupation. German soldiers patrol the streets, and each week more families disappear without a trace, never to be seen again. So when armed soldiers storm Sofie’s house and threaten her father at gunpoint, she knows their time – and luck – has run out.

Fleeing in the middle of the night to hide in a neighbour’s secret attic, the constant threat of a German raid means they can’t stay long. So Sofie’s parents make the heart-rending decision to send their daughter away. Concealed in the woods is a secret village, built by the town as a haven for Jewish families like Sofie’s. Remote, cold and bleak, yet filled with the hopeful laughter of children playing, it is the one place Sofie has the chance to live.

But rumors of the hidden village have been swirling, and the Nazis are determined to find it. As soldiers patrol the woods in ever-greater numbers, snow cuts the villagers off from the outside world and starvation sets in. Sofie knows what she must do, even though it means putting herself in danger. And when the worst happens, Sofie is faced with a terrible decision – save the village, or save herself…

What I Thought

This book revolves around characters in a Dutch village who help hide Jews from the German soldiers during World War II. I found it fascinating to hear about how the brave Dutch people helped the Jews. You can feel the fear and tension on the pages of *The Hidden Village. The fear of the Nazis discovering the village is great. By both the hidden Jews inside and the men, women, and children from the nearby village. They are risking their lives gathering food for all those hidden there. They are brave and resilient and do what they believe in. You will be on edge for sure!

It’s a well written novel, brilliantly researched with greatly developed characters. I found it easy to get stuck into and this continued throughout.

Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for my copy.

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 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: https://youtu.be/2YO0IWJSjj0