When Jan is seven, Nazis attack and take over Holland. At first, not much changes. Soon, though, war starts taking things away: important things like neighbors and friends, trust and respect, even clothing, fuel and food. Through it all, Jan is still a boy, finding ways to play with friends and paddle his sailing canoe in the canals. But he must also filch food and help protect his father's "guests" from the enemy. Then the enemy takes his father away. Jan and his mother are on the run. They dodge bombs, sleep in haystacks, work for their food... all the while desperately searching for refuge and hoping for normal life—and Pa—to someday, somehow, return.
Jan de Groot was born in 1932 in The Hague, Holland, and now lives in Langley, British Columbia. He regularly contributes articles to boating magazines, and he writes for De Krant, a Dutch newspaper distributed throughout the world.