A Dutch book I've been reading to keep up my Dutch. I'm used to Pietje Puk and Dik Trom so this is quite the step up for me. It's more of a teen read and I'm used to reading children stories. I enjoyed the story though. The plot is interesting mainly as historical fiction, in terms of a novel it is not as exciting. The dialogue can be quite dry. At times the plot skips through longer periods of time quite quickly in order to get to the more eventful parts, which is much appreciated. I appreciate that it didn't try putting a happy ending to an historical event that was quite gruesome and horrific. At the same time, however, it is a wonderful story of how the people of Haarlem were able to withstand the Spanish siege for so long, especially through a Dutch winter and dwindling food supplies.
3/5 (=liked, it was good)