The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found: The Costa Book of the Year 2018

(Paperback)

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Description

A harrowing true story about a young girl's struggle to survive Nazi persecution, and a man's attempt to unveil his family's secrets The last time Lien saw her parents was in the Hague, where she was collected at the door by a stranger and taken away to be hidden from the Nazis. She was raised by her foster family as one of their own, but a falling out after the war put an end of to their relationship. What was her side of the story, Bart van Es - a grandson of the couple who looked after Lien - wondered What really happened during the war, and after So began an investigation that would consume and transform both Bart's life and Lien's. This is an astonishing portrait of a young girl's struggle to survive war, and her powerful, tumultuous and painful ties with her foster family.

Reviews

Astonishing. Van Es has created a masterpiece of history and memoir, concluding on a note of reconciliation, hope and great love * Evening Standard *
An extraordinary, harrowing story of loss, survival and love * Guardian *
Deeply moving, this is a remarkable memoir * Sunday Times *
Powerful . . . extraordinary * Irish Times *
Brought to life with family photographs and diary entries that add further impact to Lien's harrowing memories and testimony - this deeply affecting and fascinating story is guaranteed to haunt you * Sunday Mirror *
Remarkable - the story of one traumatic childhood, deeply moving, and told with great dexterity, allowing the wisdoms of today to run parallel with the absorbing narrative of wartime events * Penelope Lively *
Compassionate and thoughtfully rendered, the book is both a memorable portrait of a remarkable woman and a testament to the healing power of understanding. A complex and uplifting tale * Kirkus *
A nuanced, moving, and unusual "hidden child" account * Publishers Weekly *
Superb. This is a necessary book - painful, harrowing, tragic, but also uplifting * The Times Book of the Week *
Fascinating, beautifully written. Van Es carefully salvages Lien's story and creates a deeply moving and complex book about war, atrocity and human suffering * The Oldie *
Sensational and gripping . . . shedding light on some of the most urgent issues of our time * Judges of the Costa Book of the Year Prize 2018 *
Luminous, elegant, haunting - I read it straight through * Philippe Sands, Author of East West Street *
Deeply moving. Writes with an almost Sebaldian simplicity and understatement * Guardian *
Harrowing and beautiful * Bookseller *
An awe-inspiring account of the tragedies and triumphs within the world of the Holocaust's "hide-away" children, and of the families who sheltered them * Georgia Hunter, author of We Were the Lucky Ones *
The Cut Out Girl is a reminder of the extraordinary richness of archives and the treasures released by scholarly research * TLS *
An extraordinary story, harrowing, deeply affecting. This fascinating story is guaranteed to haunt you * People *
A moving story of personal and family history, with a scholar's objective eye for the bigger picture. * Irish Times *
Harrowing . . . profoundly moving * Daily Express *

Author Bio

Bart van Es was born in the Netherlands and is bilingual in English and Dutch. He now lives with his family in England. He is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Catherine's College.