❤

“The authors interpret so harmoniously, are so guided by respect and common sense, that these reconstructed lives just hum with authenticity.”
Ernest Hillen, Globe and Mail

“A full-bodied, moving story of a battered populace that refused to be annihilated.” Kirkus

“A fascinating, informative, beautifully written book.”
Winnipeg Free Press

“The quintessential Canadian story.”
The Ottawa Citizen

“Intimate history: the writers recover not only the facts, but the tastes, smells, and lived experiences of events that today almost defy belief.”
Quill & Quire

“If this book were less carefully crafted … it would be mere family history. Instead, it’s also the history of a country — and of a people who lived in it during a terrible time.”
The Montreal Gazette

“A ‘must read’ for students of modern history and anyone who grew up in Europe in the Second World War.”
Waterloo Region Record

“We come to know the den Hartogs so intimately we feel we are seated at the dinner table, sharing their meagre meals.”
The Vancouver Sun

“Den Hartog and Kasaboski have captured a time and a people, writing with an honesty and compassion that draws the reader so completely into Cor and Gerrit’s neighbourhood that readers cannot help wondering what they would have done if faced with the same terrible wartime situation.”
The Daily Gleaner

“The den Hartog family history is laced with suspense…. Their story of war, dislocation and survival is well and evocatively told.”
London Free Press

“A must read! … an extremely well-written book with a personal, fascinating, emotional family touch.”
De Nederlandse Courant

“In this excellent book, the horrifying facts of World War II seem to have even greater impact when placed as backdrop to the lives of individuals struggling stoically to survive.”
The North Renfrew Times

“In this heroic gesture of recovery of family history, the authors not only recreate their grandparents’ world, but the horror of life in Nazi Occupied Holland. History is retold in relentless detail through the tragedies lived by people who become as real to us as our own family. The Occupied Garden is a triumphant refusal to accept the silence that erases the past.”
Rosemary Sullivan, author of Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and a House in Marseille

“A dramatic and moving account of the World War II occupation of The Netherlands and its subsequent liberation by Canadian troops as seen through the lens of one Dutch family’s experiences. The Occupied Garden is a fine read.”
Mark Zuehlke, author of Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary Campaign, September 13-November 6, 1944