Reviews

The Dutch Orphan by Ellen Keith

jenbrewha's review

emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

daae's review

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

jbaronn's review against another edition

inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

sofiakavita's review against another edition

it wasn’t bad i just don’t have the energy for this right now

smalltownbookmom's review

4.0

A moving historical fiction novel about two sisters and their lives in the Netherlands during WWII. I didn't know too much about what the Dutch went through during the war and this book did a great job highlighting their experiences. Johanna and Liesbeth find their relationship tested as one is married to a Nazi sympathizer and the other works for the Resistance and secretly adopts an orphaned Jewish baby. Great on audio and recommended for fans of books like Kristin Harmel's The Paris daughter.

CW: opioid addiction, infidelity

winterreader40's review

4.0

We follow two Dutch sisters, Johanna and Liesbeth during the World War II occupation of Amsterdam. Johanna helps organize the artists' resistance and Liesbeth's husband supports the Nazi's though she herself does not. We get to see how the sisters choices effect each other and other people. When Johanna loses her baby she takes in a Jewish baby who's parents have died but doesn't tell her sister the truth about her. Liesbeth's marriage starts to fall apart and she has an affair with a member of the Dutch Fascist Party and in a panic divulges information that does a lot of damage.
These two are alternately amazing and exasperating depending on where we are in the story and it's quite emotional towards the end.

tennisgirl27's review

4.0

Audio format

vi_holmes's review

I couldn't finish it. On page 74, she has the only named Jewish character react to the Nazi bans on Jewish people (where they could go, work, etc) that took away his livelihood with "C'est la vie" and had the Dutch main character come up with the scheme to save the day. Absolutely disgusting. 

I really wish I had read the reviews before picking up this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

this book is incredibly antisemitic. don't read it.

elysia_laila19's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

caiken4's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0