My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/detpf-KHo8A

Enjoy! ( )

A very interesting book which delves into the usually undiscussed life of Audrey Hepburn during her time in World War II Netherlands. This book is uneven and drags on early and actually concludes with very little of Audrey herself. A lot of records research was conducted and some new relevant material from other works was included. Much of the book involves Audrey's mother and her role in promoting Audrey as a promising ballet dancer and dance performer. She of course went on to become a world famous actress. The book does jump forward to Hepburn and then husband, fellow actor, Mel Ferrer visiting the town memorial in Oosterbeek honoring the 1st British Airborne Division. This was an important part of the book and the most tragic since it lays bear the utter idiocy of General Montgomery, and his use of airborne troops as cannon fodder for his tank units. The 1st Airborne division was one of the most brilliant units in war history and luckily we get to hear about their exploits once again. Audrey was there to see these brave men throw down their lives for the people of Arnhem's freedom. For some reason the author succumbs to historical revisionism by saying the British were bombing the Dutch when they were actually bombing and strafing the German mechanized units before sending infantry back in after Montgomery having managed to bungle the reputation of the Brits by laying waste to his own airborne division. Later Matzen says that the US B-17s and B-24s were bombing the Dutch civilians which was of course not true. Bombing was imprecise due to altitudes on bombing runs and German 88 AA guns which could hit the bombers directly in flight but the target intent was not for bombs to hit the civilian population. If any blame is to be laid it is with Prime Minister Chamberlain for appeasing Hitler rather than with the brave American air crews in the process of crippling the German war machine. Again this was a good book to read for myself and my own literary interests but I find the disjointed material hard to recommend to others, even if they also be fans of Hepburn. The book does have a nice picture of Audrey and Otto Frank (Father of Anne) in front of the Hidden Annex as she was being persuaded to play Anne in a movie version of the book The Diary of Anne Frank. Audrey was moved by Frank's book and knew it to be factually true but reading the drama had scarred Hepburn too too much to act in its production. She declined.

This book is part of a WW II trilogy which includes Carole Lombard and Jimmy Stewart. Index, B&W Photos, Bibliography. ( )

Biography of Audrey Hepburn’s life offstage, focused on her early years in the Netherlands during WWII. She and her family endured the Nazi occupation, the execution of her uncle, and starvation during the Winter of 1944-1945. Her mother was initially a supporter of the Nazis, but soon became disillusioned. Early in the occupation, Audrey continued to pursue her passion for the ballet, and later switched to teaching children to dance. Audrey played a role in the resistance – delivering pamphlets and running errands for a doctor.

The first half is stronger than the second. I enjoyed hearing about her family background, her interest in ballet, and what life was like in the Netherlands during the occupation. It becomes a bit repetitive and less focused toward the end. I listened to the audio book, read by Tavia Gilbert. She does a competent job, but her narrative style is overly dramatic for a book of non-fiction.
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Terrific look at the events that impacted Audrey Hepburn all of her life and made her the incredible woman she was. I have been a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn since I was a little girl and watched movies like Roman Holiday and My Fair Lady. As an adult, I was familiar with her work as an ambassador for UNICEF and her efforts to help the children of war-torn countries. But I had no idea about the tumultuous years in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.

The book got off to a slightly slow start for me as the first few chapters were spent talking about her parents. Audrey was born to an English father and a Dutch mother and spent much of her first few years shuttled off to her grandparents while her parents traveled. Both were German sympathizers, with Audrey's mother Ella finding Hitler to be a charming and charismatic man. While Ella eventually saw the error of her ways, Audrey's father spent most of the war imprisoned as a traitor in England. The book's pace picked up as Audrey took a more central place in the narrative.

Audrey, her mother, and two brothers moved to Arnhem to be closer to Ella's parents and other relatives. Audrey, who dreamed of becoming a ballerina, began lessons there. She was never a studious child, but dance spoke to her soul, and she would practice for hours. Life progressed calmly until Hitler invaded Poland, and the war began in earnest. Ella was sure that Hitler would leave the Netherlands alone, as the Germans had ignored them during the First World War. That belief came to a screeching halt in May 1940, when Germany took the country in just five days. Even then, they were treated well at first.

But slowly, things began to change. Audrey's Jewish friends and neighbors disappeared. She recalled seeing train cars full of people headed east, a sight that stayed with her all of her life. As the months went on and the Germans cracked down on the freedoms of the Dutch people and the news of the war grew worse, Audrey lost herself in dance whenever possible. As a young teen, she participated in performances attended by their German occupiers, but later she danced to raise money for the Dutch Resistance forces.

Her life was forever changed when her beloved Uncle Otto was taken as one of many hostages held to force the cooperation of the locals. When Resistance fighters took action against the occupiers, the Germans selected five hostages for execution. Uncle Otto was one of them. As the war dragged on, life in Arnhem became more difficult. Then came the days of "A Bridge Too Far" and the battle that all but destroyed the town. With no other choice, the family relocated to nearby Velp and tried to pick up the pieces.

But the war wasn't going well for the Germans, and the advancing Allied armies created new problems. The descriptions of the constant shelling, strafing runs by Allied fighters, and German reprisals were vivid. Audrey danced when she could, taught dance to children to escape the nightmares, and spent a lot of time helping the local doctor treat the injured. She also got involved in delivering messages and papers for the Resistance. Life went from bad to worse in the winter of 1944-1945. Rail strikes meant that no food was coming into the country; there was no coal or wood for heat. This was known as the Hunger Winter when many people starved to death and had a tremendous impact on Audrey for the rest of her life.

Throughout the book, there are sections from Audrey's adult life as they relate to her experiences during the war. She was a very private person and rarely talked about those experiences. I found it especially interesting that she never saw herself as beautiful or talented and never intended to become an actress. Her heart was always with dance.

There was an especially intriguing section that paralleled the lives of Audrey and Anne Frank. They were born just six weeks apart and lived only 60 miles from each other. Years later, Audrey was given Anne's diary to read and was gutted by the similarities felt by the two. She later met Otto Frank, Anne's father, who asked her to portray Anne in a movie. But Audrey couldn't do it.

The book dips a little into Audrey's life as an actress, but mainly to show the war years' impact on her. Other people's opinions of her mattered very little, and she lived her later life the way she wanted to. Her four years working for the world's children were some of her most satisfying and yet hardest, especially her trip to Somalia.

The book opened with a foreword from her younger son, Luca, who learned things he never knew about his mother from this book. This quote from him stuck with me the most: "When my mother wanted to teach me a lesson about life, she never used stories about her career. She always told stories about the war. The war was very, very important to her. It made her who she was." - Luca Dotti, youngest son of Audrey Hepburn.

One of the reasons this book impacted me is that, as Americans, we don't get much in the way of in-depth World War Two education. I've lived in Germany for the past five years, and the effects of that war are well-documented. I've been to many WW2 museums here in Europe, and each one has been an eye-opening experience. One of the best was the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. ( )

Received ARC from Netgalley

Great history of WWII from Dutch perspective & more details than I'd read previously. Title true as it's far more about Audrey's parents & family history, her formative years, and the war than anything to do with Hollywood. Great read, if a bit drawn out early on. ( )