After being recommended this by my aunt (thank you very much Aunty G) I have found a renewed interest and love for WWII stories. I previously found the titles I’ve picked up to be a little too removed from the action or the protagonists were too naive and ignorant to their surroundings. The Girl With The Red Hair is anything but and furthermore it is a quick-paced, action-packed read centred around a fascinating and courageous woman more people should know about.

Hannie Schaft is a sweet and kind university student living in Amsterdam when the Germans invaded. Her best friends are Jewish and the help she gives at the alliance isn’t enough, so she agrees to take it one step further and join the Dutch Resistance. From there her life seemingly flips upside down (or as much as it can in the middle of German-occupied the Netherlands. Hannie as a character is so relatable in a subtle, familiar way because she’s an ordinary girl who is struck by grief young when her sister dies, then is forced to live under the watch of Nazis while they legalise the dehumanisation of Jews. She grows into her fire, her strength and her purpose. In terms of character development, a lot happens to Hannie and the emotional turmoil her choices create in her make for a rollercoaster of stages to witness. There wasn’t anything I could see in her character or personalisation that felt lacking or underdeveloped.

The Girl With The Red Hair is the first book I’ve come across set in the Netherlands during the war. I don’t know why that is – is it easier to have France be the setting of a WWII story because they get liberated earlier? Or because it was easier to drop in spies and resistance fighters from Britain? – but I would love to see more of it. I think that’s part of why I was getting tired of reading WWII stories because they were largely set in the same places with the same kinds of characters. The Netherlands has a different feel to it and a story to be heard and Buzzy Jackson documents the information and references of the setting so well, both in the story and in her notes.

There’s a certain feel with The Girl With The Red Hair. Unlike other WWII stories I’ve read, this one has a real sense of determination to it. A sense of hunger, of bloodshed and hatred, and a defiance that feels more true to the Resistance being depicted than to characters being a little rebellious or partaking in one plot to slow down the Nazis. No hate or shame to any books, authors or characters who aren’t hardcore in this way, but if you’ve read this then you may know what I mean. It gives the books a little more gravitas, a little more presence and a lot more impact. Hannie dedicated herself to the cause and knew she was in for life and would die protecting her fellow comrades. Being a resistance fighter isn’t a pretty life to live, nor is a war-torn country a pretty landscape to be surrounded by, and this book signifies that. It doesn’t shy away from the blood and the cruel reality of the war (one people seem to have either forgotten or are still denying even with the evidence and studies that have gone on to understand exactly what happened during the war).

Historical Fiction fans that haven’t read the Girl With The Red Hair yet, this is your notice to request it from the library, get a loan from a friend, or to peruse your local bookshop for a copy. You will not be disappointed, I assure you. The Girl With The Red Hair will be a blitz of a read and you will be left scrambling to find something to satiate your need for more.