Summary of The Cut Out GirlÂ
“The Cut Out Girl” tells the story of a young Jewish girl who was taken in by the author’s grandparents in Dordrecht as a foster child to protect her from the Nazis. However, when the Dutch police began searching the house, the girl fled, hiding in various locations in the Netherlands, first in Bennekom and later in Ede. After the war, she returned to Dordrecht, but a falling out occurred that was never explained to the author, and his family lost contact with the girl. Now, over half a century later, the author reconnects with her to document her story.
Reasons to read The Cut Out Girl
“The Cut Out Girl” is a biography rather than a novel, recounting the story of a young Jewish girl’s struggle to survive in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation. It also describes the author’s attempt to uncover an unknown part of his family’s history. The book won the Costa Book of the Year award in 2018 (for both the biography and the overall categories). Bart van Es is a professor of English literature at Oxford University.
Setting: The Hague, Dordrecht, Bennekom, Ede (the Netherlands)
Original title: The Cut Out Girl
Year of publication: 2018
Nr of pages: 304
