I read an excerpt of this book provided by NetGalley and Kensington publisher. The writing flowed very smoothly for something so well-researched. I had no idea about these young women or their story. I can’t wait for the book to be available in its entirety to continue this learning journey.

Very well researched book! The three girls were amazing in their strength and commitment to the cause. Their bravery as resistance fighters was astounding. Recommended to readers who love WWII history.

This was an excerpt of the first few chapters but it was enough to get me interested in the rest of the “story”. The writing style isn’t particularly engaging and it reads like a rough draft so hopefully that will be better in the final published book.

I am a big fan of true accounts of war from different perspectives. This was a fascinating book, exposing the desperate lengths and terrible risks which ordinary people were prepared to take in support of peace and freedom. It was easy to get very engrossed in the “story” as the characters were so vividly depicted.

I didn't realise this was just an excerpt but it certainly got me interested. Mostly background to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands but sets the scene well. I will look out for the book.

Thank you NetGalley for this great excerpt!

I did not know I would get just a snippet of this book, which is the only complaint I have. 

I have been interested in the WWII period for a while now but there is still a lot of things I am not very familiar with. The exact situation in the Netherlands and its Resistance is one of them. Even from the small section of the book that I got to read one could tell that thorough research had been done. All the information is delivered in a very accessible and interesting way. 

The only reason I'm not giving this book five stars is that I can't judge the book as a whole. However, this is a definitely good start.

This book has all the promise of being a truly gripping read. It is superbly researched and is doing the demanding job of explaining the wider historical story whilst still making sure the reader feel that they really know the three girls at the heart of this incredible story. I look forward to reading the finished book, hopefully reviewing it before it is published.

The book looks promising, but I am not able to post a review as the ARC received is only a portion of the book. The ARC appears to be a rough draft, which is acceptable. However, I cannot make a final review of a portion of the book without being unfair to the author.

I did not receive the ARC of this book so rating it as one is impossible. It reads like an first draft our outline of the first four chapters. Lots of potential but not ready to face the world yet.

The information about the Netherlands of the late 1930's and during early Nazi occupation of the 1940's is shocking in its depth of detail. Told through the exploits of the experiences of two sisters and of a university student we see two aspects of what is happening in Haarlem and Amsterdam and touched on in Rotterdam..

I was expecting a book that would present the Dutch people as they faced and resisted German occupation during WW2. This ARC did not provide any flow into a story, only facts which were impressive but not enough to carry as a novel or even a novella.

I would like to read this in its entirety at some point. I hope the publisher/editor gives me that opportunity in the future. This is a book I was considering as one of my gifting books of 2020.

This is not the full ARC of the book. It is only the first few chapters. It is hard to rate a book without reading the whole thing. I have to give a star rating in order to send my feedback so I am giving it two stars. It would likely be a four or five star for me if I could read the whole book.

<i>Three Ordinary Girls</i> is a true, well-researched, WWII account from the perspective of the Netherlands. The protagonists are three strong willed girls, with right wing leanings and the strength to hide Jewish refugees, who become resistance fighters. Tim Brady is an award-winning author and historical documentarian, whose books, have received wide critical acclaim.

I only received an excerpt of the book but was very impressed with the easy flow of the writing and the extensive research of the economic and social conditions in the Netherlands at the time of the Nazi invasion.

The character development and the family background of the three girls gives you a good picture of who they are and why they become resistance fighter and assassins.

I look forward to the full story but like what I see so far. I give it a 4 on 5. I want to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books in exchange for a fair review of this excerpt.

I'm not really sure what to think about this - it is not the full book, just an extract, which makes it too difficult to review. We learn a lot about the girls backgrounds, but don't quite get onto their wartime activities.
The book is well researched, but it doesn't flow as a story or memoir - its quite academic in its approach & thus quite hard to read. I did like the insight into pre-war & early-war life in the Netherlands and I do want to find out more, but I can't be sure if I want to read more of this book or not ...
Overall I am disappointed that this was just an excerpt and don't feel that I can give a rounded review after such a short section

This DRC is actually an excerpt from the book (the first four chapters, I believe). Keeping with the trend of books highlighting women spies and resistance fighters during WWII, this book is about three Dutch women who fought against the Nazis during WWII.
It's tough to get a good idea about this book with just the first four chapters. They laid out the each girls' background, and the invasion of the Netherlands by the Nazis in 1940. At times the excerpt seemed to get caught in the larger WWII narrative, losing focus of the women at the heart of the story. But I'm hopeful that after the wider historical situation is set, we'll get to read about the daring adventures of three Dutch girls who stood up to the Nazis.
As I said above, books about women during WWII are on trend right now, and based on just the first chapters I think it will be a great read for anyone who enjoyed D-Day Girls or the like. I know I definitely want to read the rest.
For now, I'm giving it three stars with the intention to fully rate it once I read the whole book.

There is an intriguing, important, historic story here and the research is tremendous and well done. I found this excerpt particularly hard to get into. It is clearly heavily researched and a fantastic and very interesting collection of information, but it reads like more like a history thesis more than a memoir. The description of the book on NetGalley gets to the crux of the story and hits the mark. It brings in the reader and peaks their interest. It is a bang-wow description that leaves me with "yes! now that sounds like something I would like to read!"

I enjoy academic reading for work and enjoyment. Diving into heaps of historical data is my idea of fun. In this case I read the description as an average reader drawn in by the intriguing story, it's historical implications and the active pace involved. From the beginning I felt as if I was delving into stacks of preparation information. The pace was not that of the description. There were places where wordiness and research load overwhelmed any underlying scene structure and transitions.

Memoirs are hard. Often they collapse under details that aren't easy to make concise. Looking at this excerpt from the perspective of a non-academic reader I was disappointed. Although being an excerpt, I do look forward to seeing how it turns out. All the best in preparing the book and your publishing process. It is a story that needs to be told!

The book is outlining the situation in pre-war and war Netherlands with great detail, but it never gets boring. Within the first chapters, you will be able to imagine what it was like to live there, and how the Netherlands ended up being under Hitlers rule.

The book is written in a very catchy way, which makes it hard to put it aside once you start reading. From the first chapters, it is clear that the book is well written, well researched, and has an inspiring story on its pages. The first chapters made me want to find more about who these girls were and what is their life story.

Three Ordinary Girls :The Remarkable Story of Hannie Schaft and the Oversteegen Sisters, Teenaged Saboteurs and Nazi Assassins is a harrowing, emotional and very necessary read, which tells the true story of three remarkable girls. This book was expertly researched and it really shows. making it a well worth a read.

This download from NetGalley and Kensington Books was a lengthy excerpt from the scholarly, meticulously researched book to be published in February 2021. I wish to thank NetGalley and publisher for this introduction to this informative book which gives me a touch of history I knew little about, and puts the book on my list I want to read in its entirety.

I was immersed in the details of the social, economic, and political conditions in Holland before, during, and after the German invasion, the persecution and execution of dissenters and strikers, and the suppression of the Jews which resulted in their removal to the extermination camps. We get a picture of the country’s geography, the society and living conditions in each major city before the war, the bombings and deaths during the occupation of German troops and politician figures.


The rightwing leanings of the families of the girls, their dislike of Fascism, their hiding of people in danger from the Germans, and the upbringing of the three girls who will be the focus of their upcoming true story was explained. The excerpt concluded with the amazing recruitment of the two younger girls, teenaged sisters, as saboteurs and assassins in pursuit of freedom from German dominance. The older girl from another, more affluent family, made strong friendships with Jewish students while attending University, and is appalled at what has happened to her country with restrictions on freedom increasing.

This selection from the book has made me anxious to learn more about the role played by these three young freedom fighters. Their heroism should not be forgotten.

Courage and determination shone among the young people of the Netherlands as war and anti-semitism raged through courage. This is the story of three young girls who refused to be broken.