Seventeen-year-old Karel has been dreaming for something, anything, to shake up his humdrum existence. Soon his wish will be granted​.​ ​​​ When Hitler launches an invasion of the Netherlands,​​ Karel ​is almost killed in an air raid and falls in love for the first time, with a Jewish girl. But the bliss this passion brings is short lived, as his new love and her mother are forced to flee for their lives before the Nazi advance... Inspired partly by Kouwenaar's own experiences under occupation, this rediscovered literary gem tells a heart-breaking, witty and deeply empathetic story of a teenager's coming-of-age at the outbreak of war.