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The Dutch Wife

Written by: Ellen Keith
Narrated by: Abby Craden, Eric Jason Martin, Charlie Thurston
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Publisher's Summary

A sweeping story of love and survival during World War II

AMSTERDAM, MAY 1943. As the tulips bloom and the Nazis tighten their grip across the city, the last signs of Dutch resistance are being swept away. Marijke de Graaf and her husband are arrested and deported to different concentration camps in Germany. Marijke is given a terrible choice: to suffer a slow death in the labor camp or - for a chance at survival - to join the camp brothel.

On the other side of the barbed wire, SS officer Karl Müller arrives at the camp hoping to live up to his father’s expectations of wartime glory. When he encounters the newly arrived Marijke, this meeting changes their lives forever.

Woven into the narrative across space and time is Luciano Wagner’s ordeal in 1977 Buenos Aires, during the heat of the Argentine Dirty War. In his struggle to endure military captivity, he searches for ways to resist from a prison cell he may never leave.

From the Netherlands to Germany to Argentina, The Dutch Wife braids together the stories of three individuals who share a dark secret and are entangled in two of the most oppressive reigns of terror in modern history. This is a novel about the blurred lines between love and lust, abuse and resistance, and right and wrong, as well as the capacity for ordinary people to persevere and do the unthinkable in extraordinary circumstances.

©2018 Ellen Keith (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
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What listeners say about The Dutch Wife

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Resilience and commitment is the heart of this story...

It was woven with intrigue and sensitivity to the characters.
The three characters we learn are fragile. Their lives are robbed from them so early. We learned what ideologies shaped them into being and who they were.
In the end our compassion and hatred towards their actions reminded me to never forget the injustices of World Ii. I never saw the twist in the end...worth reading to the bitter end. Well done Ellen 🙏

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Captivating but...

Overall I quite enjoyed this book. I thought the readers did a good job at capturing the emotion of the story. However, I feel like Luciano’s story could have been left out. His character is way underdeveloped and did nothing to enhance the story. Only at the very end is there a brief mention of his connection to one of the main characters, but can be easily missed if you’re not paying close enough attention. I am curious to know what was going on in Argentina in the 1970s and how that relates to the Nazis on the run.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

loved it!

loved it for the most part! It taught me alot of what it was like to be alive during the second world war (also personal interest as my heritage is dutch). some of the plot lines lost me though.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

good story

Good historical story lines, with thoughtful parallels between the oppression of the Nazis and the junta of 1970s Argentina. The producers should have found an actress with a Dutch accent, instead of what seemed to be a Slavic (?) accent. I also found the other readers flat or forced in their narration.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Almost Excellent

Only in my opinion, I give this 4 out of 5 stars. The story is told from three points of view. I did not quite understand the need for Luciano other than to tell the rest of Karl’s story, of how he was never quite the same. I’m going to have to reference a history book or page to find out what was going on in Luciano’s time, what he was victim of. Otherwise, this book is captivating, an emotional roller coaster that gives you a view of German occupation and camp life as a prisoner rather than an outsider. I didn’t personally search out this book, Audible recommended it, but I am so happy it did and I have no regrets! Performances were spot on, except I wish parts of women were read by women and parts of men by men. But that’s on my personal preference, not the performance.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Well written, interesting, intriguing

It was good, I can't say, I wasn't able to stop because it captured me. Mareka's story captured me more... Only because I know more about ww2. I am nit sure what was going on in Argentina in 70's. Good read.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

great performance but

love the performance and I think the story has a lot of potential but the luciano's part of the story sound like easy and predictable...

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A beautiful, intertwined story

I really enjoyed this story as it progressed. I felt very wrapped up in the lives of the characters and had trouble putting the book down. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the reading. I didn’t like the force accents that the readers used and the mispronounced words when reading Luciano. I feel like accents should be done well or not at all. That said though, I was able to get over that because I found the story carried me away.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good book but lacking something

This was an enjoyable, easy read. Good for the beach or vacation. However, I did feel like the story fell sort of flat at the end and the characters lacked depth. One for the 3 characters in the story, Luciano, is seriously underdeveloped and should have either been left out of the story or been given more depth. Also, if you are looking for a true historical representation, this isn't the book for you. They really glossed over the atrocities of the Nazi war camps. #Audible1

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

very good story!

I liked the different points of view of their individual journeys they had to overcome. Such an awful time for people to go through!!!! great story!

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