4/5 ⭐️| Beneath the Canopy by Lynda Riggers

"Beneath the Canopy" is a powerful work of historical fiction that follows two Dutch children, Johanna and Rein, through the final years of Nazi-occupied Netherlands. Inspired by the author's real-life in-laws, the novel alternates between their perspectives as they navigate starvation, loss, and impossible moral choices. Twelve-year-old Johanna flees Arnhem after a devastating bombing, walking twenty-eight kilometers with her pregnant mother while carrying guilt over her baby sister's injuries. Meanwhile, eleven-year-old Rein survives alone in Apeldoorn, stealing bread from a Nazi bakery and forming an uneasy alliance with Heinrich, the Oberführer who feeds him in exchange for labor.

The novel's greatest strength is its refusal to offer easy answers about good and evil. Heinrich is not a one-dimensional villain but a conflicted man coerced into his role to protect his own family, and Rein's struggle to reconcile his kindness with his complicity creates genuine moral complexity. The historical detail is meticulously researched, from the sawdust-laced government bread to the chaotic food drops following liberation. Johanna's counting compulsion, a coping mechanism for trauma, feels achingly authentic and speaks to the psychological toll of war.

The pacing in the middle section occasionally drags, and some secondary characters feel underdeveloped. The romance between Johanna and Rein, while sweet, sometimes seems convenient given their circumstances.

The author's note is devastating. Riggers reveals that Rein's brother Johannes died of tuberculosis in Dachau just two weeks before liberation, and Rein waited seventy-six years to learn his fate. This revelation transforms fiction into testimony and underscores the book's mission: to preserve history truthfully for future generations. "Beneath the Canopy" is a necessary, heartbreaking read that reminds us why we must never forget.

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