Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort whereupon I am thankful to have such a diverse amount of novels and non-fiction titles to choose amongst to host. I received a complimentary copy of “The Tulip Resistance” direct from the publisher Bonneville Books (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Interested in Reading:
I have been consistently reading war dramas during the first two World Wars, dipping a bit into the Civil War and Revolutionary War respectively. It isn’t often that I find a story that is written from a different perspective for one of the World Wars, as I had not realised the implications and the merit of what the Dutch Resistance had to go through during WWII. Too often I think war dramas take us down familiar corridors and do not oft explore new points of view to a war era we are already reading in earnest.
As far as Resistance fighters, my first introduction to this chapter of war history was by Mosse who wrote Citadel; a novel which truly took me to the edge of what I could handle inside a war drama. Reviewing her story was quite difficult as my heart was in full breach of my pummeling emotions as her words were so guttingly honest about what was happening during that time.
What inspired me to read this novel was the empathsis on ‘hope’ on the front cover, as truly the best part of reading war dramas is finding the hope which remained alive for everyone who was affected by the conflict itself. Without hope, it is hard to find a way to transition yourself forward through the tides of adversity life will bring to you. I think when we sit down to read stories about the war eras, we have to remember to find the stories underwritten by light and hope; if only to give the past a kindness it might not have had when the events were happening originally. To remember is to honour those lives which were lost and those lives which survived unthinkable odds.
The Tulip Resistance
Marieka parked her bike next to the fence as Miss Remi opened the door, holding a cloth to her cheek.
"Miss Remi, what happened? Where are your chickens and pig?" Miss Remi pulled Marieka inside and shut the door. "The Germans came. They said they had a right to confiscate the pig and chickens to feed their army. I protested, but one of them struck me."
Caught up in a war she doesn't understand, sixteen-year-old Marieka Coevorden has been living peacefully in the Dutch countryside. With her friends and family at risk, Marieka wouldn't dream of resisting the Germans. But everything changes when a wounded German soldier - a defector - needs her help.
This tense historical drama delves into the intricacies of the Dutch resistance during World War II. Join Marieka as she summons the grit to defy orders and hatches a plan to do what's right.
This is a book you cannot stop reading - a perfect mix of drama, romance, and adventure.
Places to find the book:
on 12th May, 2015
Format: Paperback
Pages: 248
Published By: Bonneville Books (@BonnevilleBooks),
an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc (@CedarFortBooks)
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook
Converse via: #TheTulipResistance
About Lynn Leatham Allen
Lynn Leatham Allen grew up in Orthello, Washington. After thirty years as a professional cake decorator, she retired. She attended Ricks College and married her husband, Ross, in the Idaho Falls Temple in 1970. They have six children and now are empty nesters and live in Wellsville, Utah.
She loves writing and sewing. She's an artist of charcoal, pastel, colour pencil portraits; oil landscapes; and acrylic tole painting. She is a self-taught artist and seamstress and has many hobbies including cross-stitch, hardanger, crochet, knitting, candy making, cooking, gardening, and reading.
Her writing career began with jingles and then graduated to humourous poems. Three years ago she wrote her first children's book The Sugarplum Fairy's Little Sister , which was awarded an honourable mention at the LUW writing contest in 2012.
Frogo and Turnip also received honourable mention at that time, and The Courtship of the Ice Queen received first place. She joined the LUW and has been writing ever since. The Tulip Resistance is her first novel. She is working on the sequel, with the tentative title Operation Tulip .
My Review of The Tulip Resistance:
An innocent scheme to scare a sister out of her skin turnt the tables on her older brother, of whom hadn’t quite foreseen (nor that of his best friend) how when a wicked deed is cast to play out, sometimes the folly curtails a bit to reveal a greater revenge. For me, watching Abram and Bastiaan (Marieka’s brother) getting their up-comings after conniving such a dearly horrid plot against Marieka was quite a foot of humour to open up a dramatic war novel! It sets the tone and stage to understand Marieka’s upbringing on the farm and how her idyllic life will soon become upturnt by the presence of soldiers during the German occupation of WWII.
With the Germans occupying the village, the tender innocent life which was once known there was shattered the night of a festive dance where one of the youth was found murdered. His life was taken by the arrogance of an officer who acted on impulse and forsaked the consequences; his heart bled with prejudice and hate. The curious bit for me, is how Allen wrote the response of the German army was one not of celebration on his actions but rather, she painted the picture that there was compassion for the dead boy and alarm to the actions of the officer. This proved there was equal tension on both sides of the war, and perhaps, a bit of humanity in regards to how people were being treated during that time.
Before long, Marieka is caught up in her own small Resistance movement, as her family farm begins to host passengers in the night; first a friend of her brothers, and then an errant soldier who doesn’t want to return to his command. Young Marieka starts to witness the shocking horror of war and what war can do to the people around her; her eyes are taking in much more than they can process, yet she keeps a level head in emergencies. It’s her goodness to see the person with her humanity that truly sets her apart, rather than to fear everyone due to the war itself affecting every inch of her life as she once knew it.
As time wears on, everyone in this small towne starts to feel the pain of war – from homes being burned down to Resistance fighters being caught or hunted down for their efforts to counteract the oppression. As I was reading this story, I was reminded dearly of my readings of Mosse, so much so, I had to gloss over a few chapters, as I believe I have to be a bit more careful in my choices when it comes to reading war dramas that involve interrogations and the focus on those who are trying to help those in need during war as it leads to a harder reading for me.
It’s not that the subject matter is too much for me, but on the surface it is one thing to believe you can handle a story and another to be right dead to center inside it realising it’s going a bit further into the difficulties war survivors faced. It’s such a gutting period of history, and although, there are moments of hope throughout The Tulip Resistance a lot of the harder bits to read are equal to the stories of the Deep South in regards to the Underground Railroad. Your quite on pins to see if anyone you’ve become endeared to will survive and if they survive, will they live a life close to the one they lost before the world turnt upside down?
On the writing style and footnote inclusions on behalf of Lynne Leatham Allen :
It isn’t very often you have a delighted joy in finding the answer to your query at the footnote of the page your reading, but Ms Allen took the extra mile for a reader’s curious tendency to want to know something before they even realise the question has pitched forward in their mind – the blessing of the footnotes is that the words which might go lost on the reader are translated and defined. Not every page, but where it is important to add a bit of a note, there is a footer to guide your way. I appreciate this as most contemporary writers are adding leagues of information in the Appendixes (of which I am a happy reader when I find them so extensive!) but do not denote a bit of the information throughout the text as well. I must admit, I prefer a bit of a balance – of the necessary bits in-line and step with the story whilst a more broad stroke can be expanded in the Appendixes.
Allen is giving a broad stroke of history within The Tulip Resistance where you can settle inside the shoes of different characters at different marks of time. She gives you a bit of something to ponder too, not just about the side of the Dutch but the German offense as well. Nothing is quite as you were predicting it to be inside her novel, as she gives new perspectives on both sides of war. This enables you to think about things you may have overlooked in previous stories of the same era. I appreciated how she pulled back some of the horror of the hour but gave enough details to make it convincing and real. This isn’t a graphic novel in how she depicts war but rather a psychological overlook at how war can change people and change how life is altered during an occupation.
This Blog Tour Stop is courtesy of Cedar Fort, Inc.:
Visit the Virtual Road Map of “The Tulip Resistance” Blog Tour:
This review was meant to post in June, however due to health reasons in May/June, I was unable to post my review on the tour. I had to postpone this review until November due to the after effects of severe lightning storms in July and August led to a full month of September to fix the damages. The lightning unfortunately nearly destroyed my equipment and getting back to my blog took quite a bit longer than I originally felt it might. I regret I wasn’t able to post this sooner than now, however, I am thankful I can finally share my thoughts with both the publisher and the author; inasmuch as my readers.
Don’t miss the following:
A.L. Sowards hosted an Author Interview with Ms Allen for the tour!
For those readers who are seeking non-fiction stories about war, I recently reviewed a memoir on behalf of a war widow whose husband died during Vietnam. This was my first reading about Vietnam and her story was truly uplifting to read, due to how introspective and compelling she wrote the book. Visit my review on behalf of Those Who Remain by Ruth W. Crocker. To find which war dramas I have been reviewing, kindly visit my Story Vault.
Also of interest, I was recently interviewed during #Bloggerthon! Read more info about the event!
Revisit my reviews via Cedar Fort in 2015!
Visit with me again soon!
Reader Interactive Question:
Have you read war dramas set against the Dutch Resistance?
If so, which stories gave you the most joy to read which illuminated a part of the war era you had previously not known about?
{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis and Book Cover of “The Tulip Resistance”, Blog Tour Badge and Cedar Fort badge were provided by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media and used with permission. Ruminations & Impressions Book Review Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Sergey Zolkin. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Comment banner created by Jorie in Canva.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
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