The Cut Out Girl cover art

The Cut Out Girl

A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found

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The Cut Out Girl

By: Bart van Es
Narrated by: Bart van Es
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About this listen

*** WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 ***

WINNER OF THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2018

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Cut Out Girl written and read by Bart van Es.

'A masterpiece of history and memoir' Evening Standard

'Superb. This is a necessary book - painful, harrowing, tragic, but also uplifting' The Times

Little Lien wasn't taken from her Jewish parents - she was given away in the hope that she might be saved. Hidden and raised by a foster family in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation, she survived the war only to find that her real parents had not. Much later, she fell out with her foster family, and Bart van Es - the grandson of Lien's foster parents - knew he needed to find out why.

His account of tracing Lien and telling her story is a searing exploration of two lives and two families. It is a story about love and misunderstanding and about the ways that our most painful experiences - so crucial in defining us - can also be redefined.

'Luminous, elegant, haunting - I read it straight through' Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

'Deeply moving. Writes with an almost Sebaldian simplicity and understatement' Guardian

'Remarkable, deeply moving' Penelope Lively

©2018 Bart van Es (P)2018 Penguin Audio 20th Century Military Modern Judaism War Western Europe Inspiring Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Fostering Holocaust

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All stars
Most relevant  
Apart from the main story which was so shockingly unacceptable to ever have happened the sub context of family - unresolved stuff spanning decades was perfectly captured.

The subtlety of family

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A must read account of war time experiences on a young child.
An amazing story of recovery.

Profound, emotional and disturbing

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V moving story of the trauma visited on the Jewish community told for me from a wholly new and enlightening perspective.
5 stars!

The hideaways - child victims of WWII

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If there is a story beyond Anne Frank, this is one to listen to. I was a 12-year resident of the Netherlands and the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands seems to orbit around the diary Anne Frank, hinting at many events but never too deeply, of collaboration with the Nazis, the Indonesia issue, the life of the war child and after.

This is the story of a girl who lived through it and the post-war issues of the Dutch that have rarely been touched on. The warmth of humanity that nurtured this survival adds to the narrative.

A compelling listening and revelatory account.

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The story of a young Jewish girl of 8 wrenched from her family because her parents sent her into hiding to evade Nazi deportation is heartbreaking and heartfelt because it is written by a younger member of her adopted family. This gives it an immediacy and poignancy that a more detached writer might have had. Mans inhumanity to man is always shocking and continues to this day, but when it is children who are caught up in this it is even more shocking. This is a beautifully written book about an ugly subject which he manages to infuse with humanity. Highly recommended.

A story for our time

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A staggeringly personal account of a life turned upside down by the Holocaust, from a perspective I've never heard before. A remarkable, heart-wrenching story of family, tragedy, survival, and renewal.

Poignant, personal, and heartfelt

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This is read stunningly by the author. It brought me to tears at moments and yet is more uplifting than anything. I heard it first on BBC radio four (which was well abridged I had thought) but this is absolutely something else.

Beautiful

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Fascinating and very moving. Would highly recommend .A story that will stay with you for a long time .

Memorable

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These are the books our children should be reading in secondary school. The history will soon be forgotten and it needs remembering- one day we might learn.

This was sensitively handled without the need for putting unnecessary drama into the story.

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Took me a while to get into it but once I was I couldn’t stop listening to it.
Sad but also uplifting.

Slow start turns into compelling listening

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