Hidden in the Shadows is the second book in the Wartime Holland series, after reading and loving the first book The Hidden Village I was extremely excited to read this one especially as by the end of The Hidden Village I had questions which needed to be answered and I am pleased to say that this does answer those questions and it does not disappoint.
I can't say that I loved it as much as I did the previous book, but this is still a compelling and poignant book to read. I am fascinated by the history of the era and in complete awe of the bravery and courage of those putting everything on the line to help.
As with The Hidden Village, I was left with so many emotions running through me, sadness, awe, anger and inspiration, this covers a dark and dangerous time in history and tells a story which hasn't been told in other books maybe it should have been,
Hidden in the Shadows is an emotional, thought-provoking, compelling, richly evocative story of courage and hints of love.

Have been unable to review due to illness. Review coming soon! This novel looks fantastic and I highly recommend this author to everyone! Can't wait to read this one!

A WWII story set in wartime Holland with the attendant horrors of the Nazis, the persecution of Jews, the courage of those who helped them escape and mainly the story of Wouter and Laura.

The story is compelling, the horrors actual and the escape of Laura particularly descriptive and detailed. The efforts by normal civilians to help as many people escape - despite knowing what would happen if they were found out is almost unbelievable. Putting yourself at risk is one thing but putting your family and the entire village at risk is something else. The repercussions of being found out were horrible and still people continued to help others selflessly.

Wartime 1944 Holland going into 1945 was not easy for anyone - food was very scarce, resources were limited and everyone was stretched to the limit. A story of endurance and courage.

Book 1, #TheHiddenVillage, sets up the background, but it’s not needed to read Laura & Woulter’s intense perspectives on this horrible time in history. #HiddenintheShadows left me needing a book 3 in this #WartimeHolland series!
AND! #ImogenMatthews gives a glossary to help with the authentic language she uses!



Thank you, Imogen Matthews, bookouture & netgalley for my copy! All opinions are my own. Thank you, #Bookouture, for including me on the tour!

Hidden in the Shadows is the second in the Wartime Holland series by Imogen Matthews. It can be read as a standalone as I found it recaps a lot of the story from book one. I don’t think new readers would be confused at all and could easily follow along with the plot. In fact, I found a good chunk of the story went over old ground from book one. At first I found this to be slightly frustrating as I wanted the story to move on a bit and for new things to happen but then I realised the necessity for this as it helped provide and consolidate the overall picture of Wouter and Laura’s story from when they had to flee the hidden village. It did go on a bit recapping things so perhaps this aspect could have been shortened.

This book continues on from where the first left off and I found myself quickly refamiliarising myself with the plot, the characters and the setting. I enjoy that the books are set in Holland because prior to this I hadn’t read anything set in this country during the war years. It gives the reader a good perspective on how Holland dealt with its occupation by the Germans and how so many people sacrificed so much to take part in resistance work to try and aid those less fortunate then themselves. These people being Jews and other sections of society deemed worthless by Hitler.

We first encounter Wouter as he is fleeing from the village hidden deep in the forest in the area surrounding Kampenveld. Someone had given away the location of Berkenhout which had been so painstakingly constructed and kept secret by a resistance group. German soldiers had arrived unexpectedly and tried to kill as many as possible. Wouter is not Jewish but didn’t want to be sent to Germany to work in a factory so that is how he came to be living there. Being high up in the ranks created by the village he should have stayed to help people flee. Escape routes had been planned and drills in case of discovery had been carried out but all this goes out the window when the attack happens and he runs for his life.

Wouter carries the guilt of his wrong doing throughout the book. He knows he should have stayed to help especially as the whereabouts of the young girl Laura that he loves remain unknown. The last time they had seen each other there had been an uneasy tension between them with things left unsaid and misunderstandings occurring. Now Wouter feels he will never have the opportunity to express how he really feels. Will he ever see her again? Will he have the chance to tell her that he loves her and wishes to be with her? He experiences such remorse throughout the novel as we journey with him as he navigates the days which turn into weeks following the destruction of the village. He knows Laura is out there some where but given the dangerous situation they find themselves and with Laura being Jewish the resistance network has kept her moving on from place to place to get her as far away to safety as possible. The country is in a constant state of fear and anxiety with so many people hiding and so many others doing their best to keep people safe.

I found that the chapters throughout the book were very short and flitted between characters very quickly. Just as I was getting to grips with where Wouter was and what he was doing the chapter concluded and then we were back to Laura and so forth. I don’t think the book ever found a steady rhythm where the reader could fully engage with what was going on. I admit I found Wouter to be quite spineless in that at the first sign of danger his instinct was to escape instead of thinking about others also. So perhaps he deserved to feel the guilt and upset that plagues him throughout the story? We follow Wouter as he tries to find Laura but at the same time he is trying to redeem himself and so helps with the network in whatever way he can. But is it too little too late? When push came to shove was that the time when he should have showed his metal and determination or will he persist and demonstrate resilience and courage and keep going to find Laura?

To be honest I wasn’t overly enamoured with Wouter as a character but I appreciated the journey he went on. I found it interesting to read of the people he meets and the secret work they were all involved in. A small network could achieve so much because they were all united for one common cause. I found the secondary characters to be more interesting as they highlighted the brave work of so many and put their lives in danger when they needn’t have. They could have gone through the war, keeping their heads down and just making it through to the end unscathed. They choose not to and for that they deserve admiration and respect.

Laura’s aspect of the story took less prominence than Wouter’s and I found myself wanting to read more of her and to try and really get into her head. They were glimpses of this occurring but it didn’t happen enough. Her journey takes her far away from the village and from Wouter and she has no choice but to go along with it. She really does put her life and her future in someone else’s hands. As a reader you just can’t imagine having to do this. She relies on the kindness and compassion of others and she goes through some very dark periods before hopefully reaching a place of sanctuary or does fate have more in store for her? You do desperately want her to reunite with the man she loves but it’s like a game of cat and mouse. They always seem to miss each other and it’s like Wouter is always one step behind and that reuniting is so far from becoming a reality. Laura really went on a journey of transformation throughout the book. I felt she was the one who grew the most and she did things she never thought she was capable of. But again, some aspects of her story fell flat in that I needed to read more of her instead of the male perspective dominating too much.

Overall, I was glad I read Hidden in the Shadows because I felt book one left many unanswered questions. I remember finishing book one and wanting to know what happened to those who escaped from the village and here is where I got those answers. Yet, the story overall was a bit of a mixed bag for me in that there was too much going over what occurred in book one instead of pushing the story forward. A few paragraphs of recapping would have sufficed. Hidden in the Shadows is an interesting read but the first book is the better of the two as it gives you the background to the setting up of the village whereas here the connection between Laura and Wouter I didn’t always care so deeply for them as I should have done. None the less I am glad I read this book and to see if the pair find their way back to each other then I suggest you give this story a read.

Holland, 1943, Laura, a young Jewish woman is hiding in a village in the woods. Staying hidden is the only way she can survive. Hiding during the day and traveling at night is her only option. Soon Laura meets and falls in love with Wouter. He is a resistance fighter and her only hope. Laura is also responsible for the safety of six young children in her care. And when the village is overtaken by the Nazi’s, Laura and the children bravely flee the village and run and hide in a church in a nearby town. Wouter loses track of Laura’s whereabouts and doesn’t know if she and the children made it out alive. Wouter continues his mission to deliver food to people and helping them get to a safe place. I was on the edge of my seat while reading this amazing story. I found myself wondering and hoping that Wouter and Laura would somehow one day, be reunited. I felt my pulse racing as Laura and the children were running to safety. And I held my breath with every step of Nazi’s boots crunching on the ground. This story was both heartbreaking and inspirational. This book hit every emotion and I found it to be unputdownable. This ‘read in one sitting’ book is an absolutely captivating must read.

Thank you Imogen Matthews for such a wonderful and inspiring book. This is truly an unforgettable story. I highly recommend this book.

I have read the first book The Hidden Village but for the life of me I couldn’t remember Wouter or Laura so I felt lost with this book because I had no idea who the characters were and what the background was. Since I am Dutch I love reading about the WWII in The Netherlands and all the brave men and women who helped people. It was very dangerous to do.. I really enjoyed this part.

To be honest I didn’t really connect with Wouter or Laura.

This is the second book In the Wartime Holland series. Woulter and Laura are separated. Will,they ever be reunited? Told in altering chapters from both their perspectives, it’s a heart pounding read as their perilous journeys continue. Hiding, dodging, not knowing who to trust, even discarded by family members, the subterfuge takes a toll on both.
Even when the war ends, there are unraveled seams that have to be addressed.

I really enjoyed the first book "The Hidden Village" , not only for its concept of a hidden village in a Dutch forest for the Jews during such a tumultuous time, but I really loved the characters...particularly Sofie and the young boys she was friends with (their names escape me now). So when HIDDEN IN THE SHADOWS came up I was excited at the prospect of continuing the journey after the harrowing time Sofie faced when the hidden village was ambushed. However, this book took a slightly different journey, focusing on Sofie's friend she met in the village Laura and Wouter, a young Dutch man who refused to join the Germans' fight. While we do meet up with some of the characters who had a starring role in the first book, they don't feature quite as heavily in this one.

The story follows Laura and Wouter from the moment the village was ambushed and having to flee. Although both of them were on the verge of some form of relationship or other - or whatever it might be in their self-imposed prison hidden away from the Germans - they each fled in different directions instead of looking for the other to flee with. At the time the instinct was basic - get out or die. Throughout the story Wouter chastised himself for failing to look after Laura in getting her and the others out safely, with questionable character Henk doing so in his place. Wouter, on the other hand, fled and found himself in the company of another somewhat questionable character I didn't entirely trust named Klaus. Together they bunked in barns and outhouses or under the stars in their bid to flee the Germans but Wouter's guilt would not let him forget what he left behind and how he failed the other villagers. Despite this, Wouter continued to help the resistance but never stopped his search for Laura.

Meanwhile, Laura was passed around like unwanted baggage, at first with two young brothers with whom she escaped and continued teaching them as she did in the village to help keep their minds occupied and stop them missing their family. However, the woman hiding them found it impossible to keep both boys as well as Laura and so she found someone else who was willing to take them in and keep the brothers together. They had lost everyone and everything else, at least keep them together. But it wasn't long before Laura too had to move on and it was Henk who silently came to transport her. Should she trust him? Or was he handing her over to the Germans? Throughout her journey, Laura never stopped thinking of Wouter, wondering if he got out alive and if so where was he now. She couldn't help wondering about her dear friend Sofie who took her under her wing when she first arrived at the village from Belguim and what had happened to her. The truth of Sofie's horrendous experience would become known to her, and again it was heartbreaking.

There is so much involved in this story working in the background just as it was in the first book. The resistance network of people transporting and offering shelter and aid to those in need...specifically the Jews. How frightening it must have been not only for those fleeing but for those who put their own lives on the line by hiding and helping them. Had they been discovered, they would be shot without question. The Germans spared no one and never showed mercy. The romance between Laura and Wouter was secondary to the rest of the story as each of them were left wondering if the other survived the ambush.

Do Wouter and Laura find each other? Will it be ‘happily ever after’? Was forester Henk hero or villain? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

HIDDEN IN THE SHADOWS is a story of bravery, of survival, of fear and of hope. It should have been as enthralling as the previous one but it wasn't. I couldn't connect with Laura or Wouter's narratives or really anyone else's and wasn't invested in them as I had been with Sofie, Oscar and Jan who were just adorable, especially mischievous Jan. But I felt none of that in this book. I missed the other characters that were the focus of the first book and only a couple featured briefly in this one. Not only that but "The Hidden Village" did have an ending of sorts by jumping twenty years ahead...and then this sequel just rewinds back to 1944 again.

I was disappointed with HIDDEN IN THE SHADOWS given how much I enjoyed the first book, though it is still a good story. There has been a lot of research done to enable Ms Matthews to pen such a story based on fact and she has done an incredible job of bringing the story to life. Unfortunately, I just didn't enjoy this one as much as the first one.

You can read this book without reading the first, but again, the first one is the better story of the two as you get the history behind the building of the hidden village and everyone's part that they played. You also get to meet adorable characters that were missing from this one.

Overall, HIDDEN IN THE SHADOWS is an interesting follow-up to "The Hidden Village" but generally falls flat. However, don't take my word for it as many others have enjoyed this one far more than I did. You might too.

I would like to thank #ImogenMatthews, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #HiddenInTheShadows in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

3 Stars

One Liner: Interesting backdrop and side characters. The rest falls flat.

Sep 1944
The hidden village has been discovered and destroyed by the Nazis. Wouter, who should have been guiding the survivors to safety, panics and runs away to save his life. He feels guilty for his reaction and worries about Laura (his love) and others. Wouter manages to track some of them, though he has no information about Laura. He is determined to right the wrong and find her… if it’s not too late.
Laura is a Jew and knows that her chances of being alive are zero if found by the Nazis. She is moved from one place to another, hidden in the cellars and attics, and transported in the dark. She doesn’t know if she’ll ever get to stay in one place for long. Moreover, she wonders what happened to Wouter and if there’s any chance of having another chance at love.
Will Wouter and Laura find each other and be united? Can their love triumph in the bleakest of times?

What I Like:
• The book is less than 300 pages and has a decent page. It deals with Holland during wartime and how the locals did their best to hide/ save Jews from being caught by the Nazis.
• The side characters are more impactful and active in the book. They are the ones who take responsibility and get the job done.
• There is little violence in the book. What’s there is not graphic and is only mentioned. It was a relief, especially since this is my third book (back to back) in the WWII setting.

What Didn’t Work for Me:
• Sigh! I know this book takes off where book one ends. I didn’t read it. That wasn’t a problem either. My issue was with the narration.
• The story moves between Wouter’s POV in the third person and Laura’s in the first person. Now, I should’ve connected to at least one of them. Instead, I liked Else, Kiki, Oliver, Dick, Bets, Henk, etc. Go figure!
• I hate to say this, but neither of the lead characters impressed me or made me worry for their safety. The distance between me and the lead characters was too vast and continued to grow wider. After a point, I just wanted the book to end.
• The timeline is also not smooth. The events happen before or after in one timeline, and we get to know if it is in the other. I don’t know if I would have felt differently if I read book one. The narrative style doesn’t seem to work for me.
• The saving grace was the network of the Dutch people who took a brave stance of defending the Jews in ways they could despite the dire circumstances and constant threat to their lives.

To sum up, Hidden in the Shadows uses an interesting theme, but the lead characters fail to make an impact. Those who read the first book loved this more, so you might want to pick that up before this one.
Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I definitely wanted to know what happened to the inhabitants of The Hidden Village (the first book) after the Nazis discovered them. I was not disappointed! I found particularly fascinating and priceless to read about how the Resistance worked/was organized, about the incredible number of people helping those in need of a hiding place. The romance between Laura and Wooter took too much room when stories about other people in hiding would have interested me. The end of the story ended too abruptly for me, as if rushed, hence a 3*.
I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Imogen, for letting me read your novel.

One Step Ahead

A tragic and heartbreaking romance set in WWII. A Jewish girl named Laura and a resistance fighter named Woulter live in a village of huts hidden in the middle of a forest in Nazi Occupied Holland. They are hiding from the German Nazi soldiers and maintained by the resistance. Slowly Laura and Woulter fall in love with each other. He promises to save her if the German soldiers find the village. This is a second book to the first The Hidden Village. It can be read as a read alone.

They should have been safe, they took every precaution to keep the village secret. One day the German Soldiers found the village and stormed it. Laura grabbed the children and ran one direction toward a village and a church. Woulter panicked and instead of running to find Laura he ran for the forest in the opposite direction.

Woulter helped the resistance feed and hide the Jewish, but he never stopped looking for Laura and he never forgave himself for not finding her when the Nazi's came to the village. He needs to know that she escaped and is still alive.

Thus the story of Laura and the story of Woulter and the resistance that helped them both after the village is compromised. The journey's they both took and the people they met along the way. The tight escapes, and the fear they always carried staying just one step ahead of the enemy.

This is a story of love and survival, of fear and hope and of the romance that doesn't die between two young people. Will they find each other or will one or the other perish in the horrible war raging on or the famine which has spread across the land.

I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it.

Thanks to Imogene Matthews for writing a great story, to Bookouture for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me.

Hidden in the Shadows is a World War 2 historical novel. It is beautifully written with emotional accounts of courage and resilience during a tumultuous and scary time. Having to trust strangers and question your acquaintances was written in a passionate way that conveyed genuine emotion, heartache, and tender moments.

#HiddenintheShadows #NetGalley @Bookouture

A massive thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for allowing me an ARC of the book for an honest review.

This was such a beautifully written story based on event during ww2 and the Holocaust. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the holocaust and the events that happened around it. It is such a beautiful book about love, betrayal and most importantly sacrifice that had me in tears wishing I could reach into the pages and help both of the characters.
The Jewish community in this story show a high level of bravery when they do everything that they can to hide from the Nazi's.
The bravery of Laura and Wouter is truly inspiring and watching the characters grow whiles following there journey through alternating chapters is inspiring especially as the grow, find strength and courage during such a challenging and dangerous time.
For me this book was a real page turner that i just didn't want to put down and although this is the second book in a series it can be read as a standalone.
I can't wait to read others by this author!

Imogen Matthews - Hidden in the Shadows - Wartime Holland Book 2

Soon we can expect them again, - our heroes, now fragile and vulnerable men, many of them well into their 80s and 90s.
Given their age, it will most likely be their last and final ‘farewell’ when they participate in the celebrations on Liberation Day (May 5th), to mark the freedom of the Netherlands, with parades of veterans and (music -) festivals throughout the country, and although we owe them our freedom, this story is not about them.

This story is about very ordinary people, young, old, people in love, farmers, housewives, people like you and me, who tried to live life as well as they possibly could during these dark years.

Most Dutch are familiar with the story of ‘het verscholen dorp’ or ‘Pas-Op Kamp’ as it’s also known, near Vierhouten (the Hidden Village). Here, about a hundred people, who were fleeing from the German occupier, found a safe place here in varying compositions between April 1943 and October 1944. The camp provided shelter for Jews, resistance members, allies, a Russian and a German deserter.
The camp consisted of 9 huts, some semi-underground, others completely above ground.

Hidden in the Shadows is somewhat fictionalised, based on a true story. Author Imogen Matthew has turned it into a gripping, heart-wrenching and emotional read, which should be read by everyone.

Having grown up with stories about the resistance, and the war - my grandfather on my mother’s side had to go into hiding to avoid ‘Arbeitseinsatz’, while at my father’s parental home there were people hiding; one of the ‘onderduikers’ became family when he married my father’s sister after the war - I was moved to tears by this particular story about young Wouter and Laura. From the very start, I entered their world of misery, danger, hunger and the fear of perhaps never seeing each other again, moving from place to place, staying with strangers, in the hope of finding a place to shelter, be safe, get some food.
With simple, yet powerful language, this impressive story became quite an emotional roller-coaster as well, as the two protagonists, Wouter and Laura, are about the same age as my son and eldest daughter.
The story brought back other memories as well, and in my mind, I was once again with my dear, sweet ‘oma’ (nan) sharing her own stories about the war; I once asked her why she dared to do such things (bringing food and fake distribution coupons), and her answer was; ‘simply, because it was necessary.’

I would like to thank Bookouture, and Netgalley for this advanced reader’s copy, and for bringing back sweet memories. This opinion is my own.
This gripping, and emotional story about two young people in times of war comes highly recommended. Read it. Just do.
***** 5 stars.

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For those interested in the Hidden Village, here is a link https://www.verscholendorpvierhouten.nl/kopie-van-het-onderduikerskamp
It's in Dutch, but if you click on site, it'll take you to the photo gallery. The current huts are replicas, since the originals have rotted away since.

This book really got to me. I don't know if it's because of what is going on at the moment in the world. But I felt this I thought it was really fresh and raw. It was really well written and gripping I couldn't put it down and I was literally in tears reading this.

This was such a heartwreching read, I loved it. It was well written with a great storyline and well dveeloped characters. I couldn't put ti down it was completely captivating and I didn't want it to end.

A different WW2 story inspired by true historical events this time set in the occupied Netherlands. Wouter is in hiding as all young men are being recruited by the Germans and being forced to work in Germany. Laura is Jewish and hence in hiding herself. They met whilst in the hidden village, deep in the woods but then got separated when it was raided. Chapters alternate between Woulter, Laura and occasionally Else and tell of their survival and hiding, hardships and terror. This is the second book in the series but does stand alone (I hadn't read the first one) as things are well explained. This tells of the network of not only the resistance but those who wouldn't be ground down by oppressors and just wanted to do right by their fellow man offering help, shelter and food to those on the run in fear of their lives. Even some of the recruited Germans were sympathetic, they themselves having had no choice over their position at the time. A time of horrors and trauma, very well portrayed and one to keep the pages turning. Of bravery and defiance, of love and loss and believing in whatever keeps you going forward. An informative, interesting read


#blogtour

We all know how important it is to have a contingency plan. We all know how important it is to run through it again and again in our minds until we know exactly what to do should the circumstances necessitate it. What we can’t plan for is panic. It will repeatedly cause us to react irrationally. Wouter and Laura fall into this trap.

The Jewish girl in hiding and the German boy who refused to work for the Nazis fell in love, but are torn apart when Berkenhout, their hiding spot in the woods, is discovered in September 1944. In order to evade capture, they must run. Unfortunately, during the raid, they become separated in the chaos and confusion as the onderduikers run for their lives.

I liked that the author used secondary characters from book 1 as her main characters in this book. The common theme that ran through both books was how people in the town banded together to help their fellow citizens, regardless of religion. In book 1 they went to courageous lengths to feed and protect strangers as they hid in the village and in book 2 they are helping to hide and protect them as they flee from their village and attempt to evade the enemy. The push and pull of Wouter and Laura’s timeline is captivating. Readers follow Laura as she goes from one hiding place to the next and then trace Wouter’s steps as he takes each tip received and then dodges danger in his quest to reunite with her. As if this wasn’t agonizing enough, the two now face the atrocities that come with the Hunger Winter. If only they’d stayed together.

Matthews' plot is thrilling, engaging and heartbreaking. You’ll soon realize, like Laura and Wouter, that despite surviving the difficulties of life in the forest village, it still failed to prepare them for what destiny lay outside. Matthews shares with us the myriad of ways the Dutch survived the invasion, including joining the resistance and collaborating.

In giving us a unique lens with which to view the bravery of the Dutch people during WW2, the author allows us to see the humanity shown to strangers, friendships made, love gained and lost, and the determination of everyday citizens just to live another day.

I was gifted this advance copy by Imogen Matthews, Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Nazi-occupied Holland, 1943: In a makeshift village in the middle of the woods, hiding from Nazi soldiers determined to find them, a beautiful young Jewish woman named Laura thought she was safe. By day she remained silent and out of sight, but as darkness fell, she began to fall in love with a resistance fighter named Woulter. I cannot wait to read more by this author. This author has now become a go-to author. To have a book that is well written as well as entertaining is a delight. Reading is about escaping your world and entering another one. The word building was phenomenal in this book.