Review- The Girl with the Red Hair by Buzzy Jackson

The Girl with the Red Hair by Buzzy Jackson

Publisher: Michael Joseph

Release date: 11 May 2023
Back cover blurb: 1940, Amsterdam. You're nineteen years old. The war has stolen your future and your country is under siege. The people you love are no longer safe. Will you stand aside as the menace of Nazi evil tightens its grip on your homeland? Or do you unleash your fury, joining forces with your enemies' enemies, plotting to strike? Because if not you, then who? You're drawn deep into a web of plots, disguises and assassinations. The Resistance trained you for this. You flash your enemies a smile and beckon them closer. Little do they know you've grown used to the weight of a gun in your hand. Soon, they will all know your name . . .

The Girl with the Red Hair is based on the astonishing true story of Hannie Schaft (the girl with the red hair of the title).

Hannie is nineteen, at University in Amsterdam when she sort of falls in to joining the resistance. She has never agreed with the German occupation of her home country but she hasn’t considered fighting back until she understands with horrifying certainty what could happen to her new found university friends who are both Jewish.

Having lived in the countryside prior to university, Hannie hasn’t exactly been sheltered from the war, but her arrival in the city of Amsterdam has certainly opened her eyes to the horrors of the Nazi rule, and the complicity of some of her fellow countrymen.

Determined to help her friends, her rebellion against the occupiers starts in a small way, but she is soon one of the most active members of the resistance putting her life in danger every day, to help save others. 

When the Nazi's ramp up their rouding up of Jews, Hannie only has one solution to save her friends. Take them to her quiet countryside home town, and hope her Mother and Father have the same level of morality that she does.

Hannie's family would not be unique in hiding those in need, there are many many stories from the period of those who put their lives on the line to help other to safety. But I don't believe any if them are as unique as Hannie's.

I can't say too much more about this remarkable book without giving anything away. However, I was surprised to find that this book was the authors debut. 

I really look forward to reading more from them.

The Girl with the Red Hair is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.