Winter in Wartime [Paperback]

A gripping and fast-paced adventure story about one boy's life-threatening mission to support the secret resistance in Nazi-occupied Netherlands, based on the author's own childhood in Holland during World War II.

It's the winter of 1944-45, and Michiel's country has been at war since he was eleven. Now he's fifteen, and his country is under Nazi occupation, including the town where Michiel lives and where his father is the mayor. No longer able to attend school, Michiel spends his days running urgent errands on his bicycle, avoiding Allied bombers and German soldiers alike. Then one day, his friendship with Dirk, the neighbor's older son and a member of the secret underground, involves him in the care of a wounded British pilot. When a German soldier is found murdered and the townspeople are blamed for his death, Michiel's already-risky mission turns life-threatening. Winter in Wartime is a fast-paced and exciting novel, which has never been out of print in the Netherlands since it was first published, nearly fifty years ago. Based on the author's own boyhood in wartime Holland, the action and adventure of Michiel's mission makes for a gripping read, while the anguish of his experience underscores the ultimate anti-war tenor of the novel. [A] new translation of this fast-paced story about a small-town mayor’s son who gets tangled up with the underground resistance....Harrowing and well-plotted, this antiwar novel for readers ages 10-15 casts light on a seldom-visited corner of the European Theater. —Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal Weekend
 

Originally published in Dutch in 1973 and newly translated here, this gripping tale of conspiracy and humanity is based on the author's childhood memories of the war. Suspenseful third-person narration provides historically and culturally specific details along with insight into Michiel'lÃÙ