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  • The Cut Out Girl

  • By: Bart van Es
  • Narrated by: Bart van Es
  • Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (284 ratings)
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The Cut Out Girl cover art

The Cut Out Girl

By: Bart van Es
Narrated by: Bart van Es
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Summary

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. 

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.

 

©2018 Bart van Es (P)2018 Penguin Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"Luminous, elegant, haunting, - I read it straight through." (Philippe Sands, author of East West Street)  

"Remarkable, deeply moving." (Penelope Lively)  

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

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What listeners say about The Cut Out Girl

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

A compelling listening and revelatory account.

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.

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Riveting story read by author

This book is for anyone who has very heard of the Diary of Anne Frank. It’s a retrospective diary of a remarkable girl, now a woman over 80, mixed together with fascinating historical research by the author, who has a very personal reason for unraveling the sequence. It is a story of one girl that also draws in many other people and also eloquently explains what happened to the Jews in Holland during and after the Second World War. I learned a lot from this book. Read it!

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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amazing story and very compelling.

cannot fault this great novel, its inspiring and pull at your heart strings .unable to put it down.

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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A humbling story.

A humbling story of how Dutch jewish children were "hiddden" during the second world war.

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4 people found this helpful

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Moving

An incredibly moving and revealing story. Written with much care and without judgement. Highly recommended.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful

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.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A very different kind of Jewish war story

Beautifully read by the author, this is an intimately gentle uncovering of his own family history in a way that illuminates without judgement.

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3 people found this helpful

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Fantastic human story

Historical human story highlighting the best and worst of humanity. Growing up myself in the Hague born from parents who were teenagers during the war it really resonated with me.

The pace of the book was just right and being dyslexic the audible version of the book was perfect for me.

Highly recommended.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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beautiful,

a beautiful read, deeply moving , you join them on the journey, a sensitive portrait of a young Jewess in Holland during the war, most importantly, after the war how children and survivors were treated, gives a fresh insight into the problems face and how there were overcome

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Not a story like Anne Frank

This was a factual type of story. Yes it was true. But not as exciting as Anne Frank.

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1 person found this helpful