The Cut Out Girl cover art

The Cut Out Girl

A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found

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The Cut Out Girl

By: Bart van Es
Narrated by: Bart van Es
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About this listen

*** 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.


'A masterpiece of history and memoir' Evening Standard

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

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.

'Luminous, elegant, haunting - I read it straight through' Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

'Deeply moving. Writes with an almost Sebaldian simplicity and understatement' Guardian

'Remarkable, deeply moving' Penelope Lively

©2018 Bart van Es (P)2018 Penguin Audio
20th Century Biographies & Memoirs Military War Western Europe Inspiring Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Fostering Holocaust
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What listeners say about The Cut Out Girl

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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The subtlety of family

Apart from the main story which was so shockingly unacceptable to ever have happened the sub context of family - unresolved stuff spanning decades was perfectly captured.

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  • Overall
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Profound, emotional and disturbing

A must read account of war time experiences on a young child.
An amazing story of recovery.

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  • Overall
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The hideaways - child victims of WWII

V moving story of the trauma visited on the Jewish community told for me from a wholly new and enlightening perspective.
5 stars!

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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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A story for our time

The story of a young Jewish girl of 8 wrenched from her family because her parents sent her into hiding to evade Nazi deportation is heartbreaking and heartfelt because it is written by a younger member of her adopted family. This gives it an immediacy and poignancy that a more detached writer might have had. Mans inhumanity to man is always shocking and continues to this day, but when it is children who are caught up in this it is even more shocking. This is a beautifully written book about an ugly subject which he manages to infuse with humanity. Highly recommended.

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Poignant, personal, and heartfelt

A staggeringly personal account of a life turned upside down by the Holocaust, from a perspective I've never heard before. A remarkable, heart-wrenching story of family, tragedy, survival, and renewal.

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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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Extraordinarily Graceful

An intimate story, gracefully and respectfully retold. Thank you so much to Lien and to Bart for sharing these details with the world. Lest we should forget.....

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1 person found this helpful

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Excellent...a personal journey bravely shared

The gift of finding answers to so many questions and unknowns through never giving up the research intellectually but letting the heart speak true is the authors gift...and i thank him for another view into such a painful and misunderstood time in history.

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