When the Nazis first invaded the Netherlands, things were quiet at first. For many people, life could go on almost as it always had. Gradually, however, things began to get worse, for the Jewish population and the general populace alike. A resistance movement sprang up, and perhaps its most famous members were a pair of teenage girls who would seduce and kill Nazi soldiers.
Elif and Lien are not a retelling of the Oversteegens, but they show bravery in their own right, taking up arms and learning how to handle explosives as they attempt to free their homeland. The story is an intriguing one, and readers will be drawn deeper into the story as things grew more dangerous for the young women.
I did not enjoy the book as much as I hoped, but the more I read, the more I realized that was because the book doesn’t feel like it’s written for adults. With its fourteen-year-old protagonist and rather simplistic prose, I would recommend this book more to teens interested in historical fiction than to adults. I know I would have loved it when I was fourteen.