Afbeelding auteur
10+ Werken 345 Leden 6 Besprekingen

Over de Auteur

Bart van Es was born in the Netherlands in 1972. He speaks both English and Dutch and is based in England. He is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Catherine's College. His work includes Spenser's forms of History, Shakespeare in Company, Shakespeare's toon meer Comedies: A Very Short Introduction, and The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found, for which, he won the 2018 Costa Prize for Biography. (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder

Bevat de namen: Bart Van Es, Bart van Es

Werken van Bart Van Es

Gerelateerde werken

Tagged

Algemene kennis

Geslacht
male

Leden

Besprekingen

Fabulous book - really clear helpful structure which I can emulate. Chspters cycle between subject, author’s research, and author and subject discussing together
 
Gemarkeerd
MiriamL | 5 andere besprekingen | Aug 22, 2021 |
Bart Van Es won the Costa Award for Biography and for Book of the Year in 2018 and brought to light an area of WWII that I knew little about, namely, the hiding of Jewish children in the Netherlands, from the Nazis. Interestingly, Van Es, an Oxford professor, discovered that his grandparents had hidden the particular child that he discovered in his research, making his quest so much more interesting to him. Lientje, although elderly now, is still alive and the author was able to interview her. One thing he wanted to know was why she had had a falling out with his grandparents after the war. After all, they were among those who went out of their way to save her after her parents died in Auschwitz. He uncovers disturbing information that reveals that sometimes people who try to do the right thing and come to the aid of those less fortunate are ill equipped to handle the trauma that these children face and may even make it worse. Excellent narrating of the book by the author.… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
brenzi | 5 andere besprekingen | Feb 11, 2021 |
Going back and forth from today to 75 or so years ago. Very sad account of one who was rescued from the Nazis and yet faced abuse from her rescuers.
 
Gemarkeerd
PGWilliams71 | 5 andere besprekingen | Jan 31, 2021 |
This book came to my attention because the author is a guest at the forthcoming Adelaide Writers' Week and I came across it when browsing the program.

The Cut Out Girl was the Costa Book of the Year in 2018, taking out the prize in the Biography category as well as the overall prize for the work, worth £30,000 to the author. rel="nofollow" target="_top">According to the BBC, this is the first winner from the biography category since Helen Macdonald won it in 2014 for H is for Hawk and is only the fourth biographer to take the prize this century. This is the BBC description of the book:
The Cut Out Girl tells the story of a young Jewish girl, Lien, who was taken in by strangers during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Her family were all killed but, like 4,000 other Dutch Jewish children, she escaped the Holocaust by being hidden from the Nazis by a non-Jewish family.

Bart van Es, a Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, has a personal connection to the story – his own grandparents were the couple who fostered little Lien in the Hague during the occupation. The Cut Out Girl interweaves the story of Lien in the 1940s with his own experience of uncovering it, a burgeoning friendship with the elderly Lien and some uncomfortable truths about Dutch collaboration during the occupation.

What intrigued me about the book was that there was a falling out between the adult Lien and her foster family, and I could not imagine how that could be. I have always admired the astonishing courage of people who saved Jews during WW2, and the stories of children who were fostered by complete strangers seemed like a miracle of bravery and kindness. What The Cut Out Girl reveals, however, is that rescuing these children was much more complex than just avoiding detection and the terrible risk of Nazi reprisals, and that while some people were open-hearted and generous, others did it because they felt they ought to for religious reasons, when they were not really the kind of people who should have the care of damaged young children. And inevitably, some of those who had access to these vulnerable children took advantage of them in the worst possible way.

(It's an entirely different scenario, of course, but there are awful stories about children evacuated from the Blitz who were placed with people who had no idea how to care for traumatised children and some who exploited them as domestic help or worse.)

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/02/05/the-cut-out-girl-by-bart-van-es/… (meer)
1 stem
Gemarkeerd
anzlitlovers | 5 andere besprekingen | Feb 5, 2020 |

Lijsten

Prijzen

Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk

Gerelateerde auteurs

Statistieken

Werken
10
Ook door
3
Leden
345
Populariteit
#69,185
Waardering
4.2
Besprekingen
6
ISBNs
36
Talen
7

Tabellen & Grafieken