The Field
Aart and Lies, a young Jewish couple, flee the Netherlands on the eve of the Second World War and settle near the Moroccan city of Tangier. With their young son and the six refugee children they have taken under their wing on their journey south, they set about making a new home for themselves, living in a caravan and trying to farm an abandoned field. The subtle and unsentimental narrative recounts the growing pains of the children, as they struggle to hold their own in the face of incredible challenges.
FictionPrint
Original title
En de akker is de wereld
Author
Dola de Jong
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Of all the books to come out of World War II, none reveal with such terrifying clarity the nature of demoralization. Written with a realism that suggests Flaubert, The Field is tender as well as well terrible. A beautiful job of writing.
Associated Press
Dola de Jong
Dola de Jong was born in the Netherlands in 1911 but fled the country in 1940 and ended up in the United States. She was a novelist and a writer of children’s books, short stories and columns.