David Verbocht, sentenced to death as a deserter, stands before the firing squad and looks back on his short and turbulent life. As a young man, David was sent away by his parents, after a tragic accident in the family, to become a schoolteacher in the remote village of Elverdinge. There he develops a special bond with a sensitive young student, along with feelings for the boy’s mother, until fate strikes again and the history of loss and guilt seems to repeat itself. With His Name Is David, van Toortelboom has written a beautifully atmospheric novel about love and tenderness in the face of brutality and war, in a sober and intimate style that shimmers with a restrained sensuality.

    Every day a fight for survival. Terror has gripped the beautiful city of Amsterdam, following the Nazi invasion. With the help of the Dutch Resistance, desperate mother Cilla is forced to send her young son and nineteen month old baby daughter into separate hiding places. Cilla’s own years in hiding are shadowed by fear about her children. Are they alive? Will her daughter remember her and will she even want to come “home”? A gripping story of love and loss in a world of turmoil. Based on a secret, true story told for the first time after seventy years. “One day soon I will get you back and I will never let you go again. Never.” “This is the most compelling Holocaust story I think my students will ever read/” Vivan Kesenbaum, high school teacher, Boca Raton, Florida “I loved this book. It was so vividly told and I absolutely loved the ending.” Izzy Pactor, aged 11, London “It’s a really great book that taught me a lot about the war.” Joelle Deutsch, age 12, London