I know it's been a good book when I feel disappointed that it's coming to a close. That's how I felt with this book - like I'd miss her and her new found family. I was initially surprised by this book's first person, present tense description of everything as it happens, right now, seen though the eyes of the girl it is happening to. At the start of the book, she's an angry character, that has no family left in the US, but by the time she gets to Holland and nervously approaches family she has never met and is warmly received... I feel relieved, making me realise just how effective this first person, present tense writing style has been.
It's also a bit of a 'who dunnit' - almost like a 'cold case', as the heroine, with the help of new found relatives to translate, plays detective and gradually picks up peices and examines them on a path to understanding just what happened to her grandfather during World War II. The writing style allows the reader to see an in-depth exploration of various clues in the heroine's mind, but without 'over-telling' the reader the conclusions they should reach from this. The main we get from this is an understanding of her reasoning behind each next step as her investigation unfolds.
I suppose the other reason it engaged me so quickly was because the stakes are so high for the main character. A letter she receives out of the blue could be the key to changing everything; she may not be the still-scorned descendant of a Nazi sympathiser after all, and she may not be as alone as she feels - she may have family somewhere else in the world.
Gary Williams
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