In Monica Hesse's new YA novel, Girl in the Blue Coat, Hanneke is mourning the loss of her one true love, Bas, while trying to survive in Amsterdam under Nazi rule. She procures extra food for her family by working in the black market, bringing illicit supplies to those who can afford them. One day, a client named Mrs. Janssen asks Hanneke to help find Judith, a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding in her house until the girl vanished. This goes against everything Hanneke has been trying to accomplish: it would mean becoming personally involved in the fight against the Nazis and risking her neck for the sake of a stranger. Then Bas’s brother, Ollie, entangles her in his work for the Resistance and forces Hanneke to confront her own tragedies as well as those occurring all around her.

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