First published 2004
Jacob Todd arrives in Amsterdam with a simple mission: place flowers on his grandfather's grave and see the city. The seventeen-year-old expects a straightforward trip to honor the man who died fighting in World War II. Instead, Jacob meets Geertrui, the Dutch woman who cared for his wounded grandfather during the war. Jacob has always known her as his grandfather's nurse, someone kind who helped a soldier recover. But Geertrui reveals a different story. She and Jacob's grandfather became lovers during those dangerous wartime months. Their relationship grew from medical care into something neither expected. As Geertrui shares her memories, Jacob confronts his own questions about love and sexuality. Two voices from different generations tell the same story across decades. Jacob discovers that his grandfather's war held secrets that mirror his own journey of self-discovery.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Period: World War II
Paperback · The Bodley Head Ltd