A Time for Defiance

In a gripping tale of sisterhood, survival, and resistance for readers of Kate Quinn and Pam Jenoff, a young woman in Nazi-occupied Holland joins a unique taskforce within the Dutch Resistance, wielding her youthful innocence and beauty to lure Nazis to their death.

May 1940: In the months since the war in Europe began, nineteen-year-old Aafke Cruyssen and her family have tried to carry on as normal--running their modest grocery store in Eindhoven, hoping that Germany will leave Holland alone as it did during the Great War.
But this time, Holland will not be spared. The invasion comes, swift and merciless, and Dutch forces are easily overpowered. In Eindhoven, a valuable transport and trade hub, Nazi soldiers swagger through the streets. Aafke’s one glimpse of humanity comes from a young German corporal who intervenes when a gang of looters tries to rob her family’s shop.

Aafke joins the Dutch resistance and is drawn into a relationship with its charismatic leader. Wanting more than the menial missions assigned to women, she and her friends create a taskforce of their own--a ＂dating club＂ where women target Nazis, luring them to their arrest or death. Discovery by the Gestapo will mean torture and execution. Just as dangerous is the reappearance of the soldier who once helped her family. Otto Berg is now an influential Nazi commando, intrigued by Aafke’s fragile courage.

As the conflict deepens, so does Aafke’s quandary. The tides of war continue to bring her and Otto into each other’s circles. And beyond the battles that make history are countless sacrifices and unthinkable choices she must make for the sake of the resistance, and to save her own life and those she loves.

James D. Shipman is the bestselling author of historical fiction, including the acclaimed novels Irena’s War, Beyond the Wire, Task Force Baum, and Before the Storm. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, he began publishing short stories and poems while earning a degree in history from the University of Washington and a law degree from Gonzaga University. Now a practicing attorney, he lives with his family in Washington State. Please visit him online at James-Shipman.com.