April 20, 2022

HIDDEN IN THE SHADOWS

MY THOUGHTS:

Holland, 1943, Laura, a young Jewish woman is hiding in a village in the woods.  Staying hidden is the only way she can survive. Hiding during the day and traveling at night is her only option.  Soon Laura meets and falls in love with Wouter.  He is a resistance fighter and her only hope.  Laura is also responsible for the safety of six young children in her care.  And when the village is overtaken by the Nazi’s, Laura and the children bravely flee the village and run and hide in a church in a nearby town.  Wouter loses track of Laura’s whereabouts and doesn’t know if she and the children made it out alive.  Wouter continues his mission to deliver food to people and helping them get to a safe place.  


I was on the edge of my seat while reading this amazing story.  I found myself wondering and hoping that Wouter and Laura would somehow one day, be reunited.  I felt my pulse racing as Laura and the children were running to safety.  And I held my breath with every step of Nazi’s boots crunching on the ground. This story was both heartbreaking and inspirational.  This book hit every emotion and I found it to be unputdownable.  This ‘read in one sitting’ book is an absolutely captivating must read.  


Thank you Imogen Matthews for such a wonderful and inspiring book.  This is truly an unforgettable story.  I highly recommend this book.


⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rating: 5 out of 5.

DESCRIPTION:

HIDDEN IN THE SHADOWS
Author:  Imogen Matthews
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: April 20, 2022 
Pages: 288 
Buy on Amazon 

The hidden village was meant to keep them safe, but the Nazis have found it… There’s no time to lose. Laura gathers the children and whispers to them to be brave. The smallest cowers in her arms as they hear the crack of gunshots outside. Laura knows they’ll have to run if they are to survive…

Nazi-occupied Holland, 1943: In a makeshift village in the middle of the woods, hiding from Nazi soldiers determined to find them, a beautiful young Jewish woman named Laura thought she was safe. By day she remained silent and out of sight, but as darkness fell, she began to fall in love with a resistance fighter named Wouter. Until everything changed, on the day the village was stormed…

Desperate to protect 
the six small and terrified children in her care, Laura races towards the church spires of the nearest town in the distance and just manages to escape from the soldiers.

Wouter is stuck on the other side of the village when the German officers start shooting. As he desperately scrambles through the dark, dense woodland, he has no idea whether Laura has made it out alive.

Devastated that he hadn’t tried to save her, Wouter spends his days delivering food and transporting people to safety, determined to help those most in peril. But he never gives up hope of finding the woman he loves.

Even when he hears the rumours about the Nazis cramming Jews onto cattle trains for deportation to brutal work camps, he can’t believe she’s gone forever. How could he live if Laura was amongst them? And if he does find her, will their love have survived the ravages of everything they’ve been through, together and apart?

ABOUT IMOGEN MATTHEWS

Imogen Matthews is an Oxford-based, award-winning author and journalist with an interest in forgotten stories from WW2 Holland. Imogen was born in Rijswijk, Holland, to a Dutch mother and English father who moved the family to England when Imogen was very young. All her life, she listened to her mother’s stories about her life in Holland, in particular the hardships she faced during the Hunger Winter in 1944-5, which has had a profound impact on her writing.

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