Hidden In The Shadows - Imogen Matthews

As someone who devours historical fiction (especially fiction set during WW2), and who lived right in the Veluwe (Apeldoorn to be exact) for a few years, I was really interested in reading Imogen Matthew’s novel Hidden In The Shadows. Partially based on true stories, Hidden In The Shadows is the sequel to the author’s first novel, The Hidden Village. The Hidden Village ends with a secret hideout in the Veluwe woods being discovered by Nazis, and Hidden In The Shadows begins right where The Hidden Village left off. The story is told through the voices of two narrators, Wouter and Laura, who became separated while fleeing the Nazis. Wouter’s narrative is mainly focused on finding Laura, while Laura’s is more focused on surviving the war in general.

All in all the story is well written and engaging, although I found Laura’s use of present tense a little jarring, especially as Wouter’s voice uses the past tense. I also found it a bit hard to understand when certain events happen as there is a time delay between both narrators. There is no clear indication of date at the top of each chapter, so it can sometimes be a little confusing (especially as the time hops all over the place between chapters). I also found the characters a little one dimensional; especially Wouter. His story doesn’t always make complete sense, and he just seems self-absorbed and just kind of boring really. There were other characters who deserved more attention in my opinion (Emil for example). And there are also a few loose ends that should have been tied up (Klaus for example - his story needed a conclusion in my opinion).

I loved that the story is set in a part of The Netherlands that we don’t read about often, and also talks of how the general population suffered at the hands of the Nazis during the occupation. It’s important to remember the stories of the everyday people who hid those persecuted even though they barely had enough food to survive themselves, even though they risked death if discovered. For most of the novel Laura is on the run, staying in different places frequently. This was a great way for the author to show how the Dutch population survived the war, how some readily joined the resistance, some collaborated with the Nazis, and some just reluctantly did what they had to to survive.

As I hadn’t read The Hidden Village I did feel a bit lost at first - I had no idea who all the characters were and struggled to imagine what the hidden village looked like. So I do think that the reader will probably get more out of Hidden In The Shadows if they read The Hidden Village first. I personally think that both books deserve to be together as one book, with some parts of the plot and some of the characters fleshed out a little more. I would have loved to read more about Emil for example!