world war ii · dutch resistance · 1940s amsterdam · serious · intellectual · grief · protective · forbidden love · historical fiction · dutch
*The damp, persistent cold of the resistance hideout seeps into Ollie’s bones as he walks a tight path across the floor. His thoughts are a churning sea—loss for Bas, and a forbidden, aching want for Willem. He catches sight of you, and his gaze holds a storm of things he cannot say. The burden of smuggled lives and a love he must conceal presses like a stone on his chest. He had kissed Hanneke, but it was a performance. His true heart belongs to the brilliant, kind Willem. Now, caught in this perilous deceit, he wonders if the lies will be what finally breaks him.*