I learned some interesting details about Audrey Hepburn's early life in Robert Matzen's Biography. However, I must admit that I was expecting to learn much more. Certainly, it was fascinating to learn about her family's on again off again relationship to prominent Nazis and how when those relationships soured, her once privileged family lost everything.

What I was hoping for was more information about Audrey herself. Matzen's book focuses on her family, her community, and general background regarding how the Dutch fared during the Nazi occupation. I must admit, I was hoping to find more insights into her personal feelings, memories, etc. I suppose that she never revealed those to anyone or at least not to anyone willing to share them with Mr. Matzen.

This was a fascinating book, not only about a famous film star but also about Holland during World War Two. For me this was something I did not know a lot about. The detail of life in this Dutch village was moving. It took a lot of research, noted by the references. The author appears to try and be fair in his evaluation of the information available. I am not from this generation, so I didn't feel biased in any way. The book appeared to be lengthy and not one I could read quickly but I wanted to finish it. It would be difficult to say I liked it, as the content is disturbing but it did help me understand things and the next time I see a film with Audrey Hepburn in I will see that from a different angle.

I received this book in exchange for a honest review from NetGalley.

I absolutely adored this book! I have already suggested it to so many people and my library is planning to get a book club set. As the granddaughter of two people who were also children in the occupied Netherlands I think this story needed to be told. There are so few WWII books that delve into the lives of those in the occupied countries and especially the children. Both of my grandparents generally (much like Audrey) refused to speak of the occupation. This book has given me so much insight into how they may have lived and the hardships that they faced. Overall this book is phenomenal and everyone should read it.

Audrey and her family lived through the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and witnessed the terrible events of the war first hand, including the Hunger Winter of 1944-45. I knew nothing about her parents going in and their story is just as interesting given all of the circumstances. One thing that I didn't expect was the close connection between Audrey and Anne Frank - they were almost exactly the same age and lived fairly close to one another, but their lives were very different. It's easy to see how she grew to become the woman she did especially when it comes to work with children and UNICEF.

Thank you NetGalley, Good Knight Publishing and Robert Matzen for an e-ARC.of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Audrey Hepburn has always been an icon to me. She is pure beauty, with poise and talent beyond just on a cinema screen. I have always admired her charitable work, understanding the kind, caring person she lived to be. This book appealed to me as a fan of hers but through an interest in lives of people throughout the War. This book talks about Audrey's life before Hollywood...the years she lived under the Nazi occupation of Holland.

I admit that I never though of what she would have gone through during World War II in the Netherlands. My respect for her has increased so much since I finished reading this book.
I enjoyed this book tremendously, to discover how she was shaped by what she witnessed and suffered.
This is the first book by Robert Matzen that I've read but I will be interested in reading more.

There are a lot of us Americans who think we know poverty, we understand hunger, appreciate that life is hard and sometimes barren. Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II is a reality check for even those of us with memories of a rough childhood.

Most history's and historical novels don't more than touch on the effects of the Second World War on Holland. This biography by Robert Matzen brings to life the world of young wartorn Audrey, that remarkable actress of Sabrina and Breakfast at Tiffany's fame, that gamine face on the big screen that we feel like we know and love. After you finish this book, you will have to watch those old films again and know that you really do love that pretty smile and honor the memory of that girl.

I received a free electronic copy of this biography from Netgalley. Robert Matzen, and GoodKnight Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have voluntarily read and reviewed this book. This is my honest opinion of this work.

At its most basic, the Dutch Girl is the story of a Belgium born, girl named Adriaantje, later she would become Audrey Hepburn.
The book recounts the events which shaped Audrey Hepburn's life during her formative years. From her early childhood in Belgium to her education in England then to the Netherlands where Audrey continued her education but found that it was dance that most interested her and she excelled in it. She took lessons not far from her home in the Velp - Arnhem area where she lived with her brothers and mother, Ella. She began to perform at various venues through-out her neighboring communities.
The bulk of this book, however, is WWII . Ella was a Nazi sympathizer and somewhat infatuated with Hitler. When Nazi personnel work their way into the Netherlands, Ella welcomes them with open arms but things soon turn sour when the Velp - Arnhem region becomes their main area of command.
If the reader is not familiar with the the affects of WWII in this area, he or she will find this book enlighteining as well as horrifying . Also of interest, of course, was the lasting impact the war had on Audrey. She was struck by the imprisonment and assasination of her Uncle and the diary of a young girl, very similar to her in age, named Anne Frank.
Author, Matzen has written a wonderful portrayal of a much loved actress. Many readers who have enjoyed her as an actress may not have known just how much she had lived through during the years of World War II.
Thank you NetGalley, Good Knight Publishing and the author for an Advance e-ARC of this book.

Audre Hepburn is an icon, and learning about her through the eyes of Robert Matzen was fascinating. I thought it was a well thought out and greatly executed novel.

I spent a lot of afternoons watching movies with my best friend growing up, and one of our favorite screen stars was Audrey Hepburn. I can't count the number of times we saw Roman Holiday, Charade, and Breakfast at Tiffany's? Audrey Hepburn was the quintessential Holly Golightly. So when I saw that a book about her life during World War II had been written, I was really excited to read it, especially when I realized I knew nothing about Audrey Hepburn's off-screen life.

Robert Matzen has written a biography that focuses mainly on Audrey Hepburn life during the Second World War when she was living under Nazi occupation in Holland, with her Dutch family on her mother's side. Hepburn was only 11 years old when the Nazis invaded, and it would understandably have a deep impact on her. In fact, all through her adult life, Audrey was haunted by what much of what she witnessed and experienced during WWII.

Audrey was born in 1929 to a Dutch mother, Ella, Baroness van Heemstra and a German/English father, Joseph Ruston, but money problems soon meant Ruston would be gone a largely absent father. Audrey, her mother, and two stepbrothers, Alex and Ian, found themselves living in Arnhem with her Opa, Baron van Heemstra and his wife. Then, in the early 1930s, both Joseph and Ella fell under the influence of Sir Oswald Mosley, head of the British Union of Fascists, and both parents became strong supporters of Hitler. In fact, Ella wrote two published articles in support of National Socialism, she even attended the 1935 Nuremberg rally, and is present in a photo with Hitler and others at Nazi headquarters in Munich.

But after the Nazis defeated the Dutch in 1940 and began occupying Holland, life changed for everyone. With her country under siege, and life getting more and more difficult, Audrey threw herself into ballet. She had begun ballet while in school in London, and it remained her greatest passion throughout her life. Though her first performances as a ballerina were for German audiences, Audrey later used her increasing dance skill to raise money for the Dutch Resistance, evenings referred to as zwarte avonden or black evenings. She spent much of her time volunteering for Dr. Visser't Hooft, a leader in the Dutch Resistance, at his hospital It was he who encouraged her dancing in service of the resistance.

But Audrey's life during WWII wasn't all about dance. She took the death of her beloved Uncle Otto van Limburg Stirum, executed by firing squad with four other men in retaliation for resistance activities, very hard. Witnessing the Nazi's cruel treatment of Dutch Jews, and later their mass deportation was also seared in her memory. But it was the deprivation and starvation of the last year of the war, the Hunger Winter, that seems to have had the greatest impact on Audrey physically as well as mentally and influenced her relationship with food for the rest of her life, and perhaps even her decision to serve as a representative for UNICEF, the United Nations organization that provides world-wide emergency food and healthcare to children.

Matzen has written an intense, exciting biography of Audrey Hepburn. Interestingly, he has interspersed chapters about her later life as it relates to WWII. It appears that Audrey never quite reconciled her parents support of Hitler and National Socialism, but there was an unspoken agreement between mother and daughter to never speak of it in public, though she lived in fear that it would be discovered.

But Dutch Girl is more than just Audrey Hepburn's wartime experience. It is a very well-researched history of World War II, as it relates to the Netherlands. Holland was a peace-loving country that was traumatized by constant dogfights in the air between Allied and German pilots, heavy bombing and towards the end of the war, the particularly destructive V1 and V2 bombs meant for England but landing in Holland when they malfunctioned. And although Hitler thought the Dutch were Germany's Aryan cousins, as things intensified, they were treated with more and more cruelty.

Included in Dutch Girl are extensive photographs, maps, Chapter Notes, and Selected Bibliography.

On a personal note, I found Dutch Girl to be especially valuable because of my interest in the impact of war on children, part of the reason I began this blog in the first place. I was really glad Matzen included the chapters about Audrey Hepburn's life after the war, often quoting her. I could see the impact of WWII on her young life in a way that fiction often doesn't provide. It is very well written and organized, and I found I could not put this book down once I began reading it.

Dutch Girl is, I think, a book that will appeal to people interested in WWII history, more so that those who simply might be looking for a book about the glamorous life of a movie star.

This book is recommended for readers age 17+
This book was provided to me for purposes of review.

An interesting read with new insights to Audrey Hepburn that I was not familiar with. The book has clean and easy to follow writing. Though I could not seem to really immerse myself in this book, perhaps it's because this is not my usual genre (and thereby not a fault of author's). I would definitely recommend this to a friend.

I was fortunate to do a blog tour of this book on my blog at januarygray.net Very amazing woman! It was nice learning more about her than just the Hollywood glam side.

Since Audrey Hepburn’s passing many new biographies around her life and legacy have come out. It is in this book by Robert Matzen that I feel he has introduced a facet to her story that most would not believe. It was one of the reasons that I enjoyed this book so much that followed with support from her immediate family namely her sons. Audrey’s son Luca Dotti wrote a preface for the book and describes recollections his mother would tell him and his brother on her experience in the second world war. Through these recollections in which Matzen elaborates on creates a vivid picture of a young girl in the Netherlands and her immediate experience in World War II namely participation in the Dutch resistance. By looking further into her family history we find out young Audrey utilized her creative nature to survive, and assist in relaying information and supplies during Nazi occupation. It is to note that most of this information was received for the first time as many resources in this area have not been translated into English. Matzen did a superb job at looking at the inner-psychological impact the war had on Audrey Hepburn. As a casual reader to Audrey Hepburn’s life, this was an open window of information and showed an aspect of her personality only spoken of which related to her childhood upbringing and relationship with her mother and father. Matzen explores this relationship and the impact it had on her life and interpersonal relationships. In this novel do you learn of Audrey’s parent's involvement as a Nazi agent and Nazi sympathizer and the experience she had dealing with this information as she lived. Overall the novel examines not only the Hollywood actress featured in Breakfast at Tiffany’s or Sabrina but a woman who lived through one of the global atrocities of the early 20th century. It is a story of resiliency and one that should be read if you are a fan of this woman and want more information to her experience pre-Hollywood. I highly recommend seeing the photos featured for many were from Audrey’s personal collection and were published for the first time. I give this novel 4 out of 5 stars.

Really interesting non-fiction book regarding young Audrey Hepburn and her family during WWII. Packed with details.

In the early 1980’s, there was a successful advertising campaign centered on the phrase “where’s the beef” and it applies to this book as “where’s Audrey Hepburn”. Instead of focusing on Ms Hepburn’s actual life, there are long passages about her family (titled but broke), especially her mother, and the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Or at least that’s what I found in the portion of the book I was able to struggle through. I have to admit to making it only about 25% of the way in before giving up. There were many reasons for abandoning the book. Firstly, the writing is very dry and repetitive. Additionally, there were numerous turns of phrase that read like awkward English translations from another language. In the places where Ms. Hepburn actually appears, there’s too much “tell” and not enough “show”. The author and introduction by Ms Hepburn’s son led me to expect significant insights into her life during the war and I just didn’t find them (again, maybe it shows up later).

I really wanted to like this book. I am a fan of Ms. Hepburn’s work, and knew nothing of her background. It never occurred to me that she was Dutch, nor that she would have been a survivor of a 4-year long occupation of her homeland. And, though I’ve read a number of books about WWII in France, Britain and Italy, none have ever taken place in the Netherlands. I did learn some things about that occupation, but it simply wasn’t enough of interest to keep me going to the end.

I want to thank NetGallery, the publishers and author for a complimentary ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

really enjoyed reading this book. I found it really informative and learnt details about WWII which I did not know about. I was fascinated by all the effort and research the author put into the book and how he was able piece together so much of information about Audrey's, her parents and relatives.

I found the book a little long and wish it would have been condensed down a bit more than it was. But I imagine that was very challenging for the author considering the amount of research and effort that went into the book.

It is certainly a worthwhile read.

Robert Matzen is the author of Dutch Girl : Audrey Hepburn and World War II.
One of my all time favorite stories is Gigi!
Well known for her role in My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Roman Holiday,
Audrey Kathleen van Heemstra Ruston, also had a secretive past.
This book is an eye opening look into that hidden past.

This book reveals the turbulent childhood of Hepburn,
living in the Netherlands through the German invasion and occupation of 1939 -1944.
The details of the story presented in Dutch Girl are fascinating in that they
happened to Audrey Hepburn, but also this is a historical account of World War II from
the Dutch perspective that has not really been examined until now.
The book reflects on the five years that Hepburn and her family along with the
Dutch people lived under Hitler’s rule.
“Not that they had ever listened to his speeches or obeyed,
but it had been a life under the oppression of his terrible will
and his twisted soul that they had endured.” Audrey and her family
lived in the town of Velp, which when the British and Americans came to
liberate them had been under siege and everyone was living in hiding.

She was sixteen at the time of the liberation. Audrey and her mother went to live in Amsterdam.
This would later connect her to Anne Frank’s story.
Then onto London to start her career and leave her mother and her political troubles behind.
Her first success was as a chorus girl in High Button Shoes.
Then MGM came to town and Audrey won a screen test. Her stardom began in 1953.
The amazing part is that like Gigi and Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady,
Hepburn’s story is a similar story of unexpected success at something she was aiming toward.
In an 1965 interview she says, “I can safely say that unlike others
I simply stumbled into movies. And from one thing to another.”
It was never a career she wanted, it was a career that came easily to her -
she had grown into an exotic face that responded to makeup and lighting.
“My success - still bewilders me.” And she was - a great success!

“Dutch Girl,” by Robert Matzen, traces the pre-teen and teenage years of actress Audrey Hepburn. She lived under German Nazi occupation in the Netherlands, and despite early fascist inclinations of her mother (who eventually switched sides away from the Nazis), Hepburn risked her young life to help the Dutch Resistance. This was a highly researched, yet easily readable, book that should interest persons who like reading about classic Hollywood, world history, or World War II specifically.

I normally read fiction and lots of nonfiction doesn't pull me in. I found this book easy to pull you in. It was very informative and written well. I love how at the end the author went chapter by chapter explaining how the information was found. Overall a great book.

I was drawn to this book because I wanted to know more about Audrey Hepburn. Known mostly for the movies she starred in, Dutch Girl takes a look at another, much more personal of Audrey's life. I was very interested in the Foreword to this book which was written by Audrey's oldest son. I felt that this automatically gave it a very personal touch and I was moved by the way he talked about his mother.

I thought Dutch Girl would be about Audrey's roots and rise to stardom, but it is actually quite a humble story. Audrey and her family lived in Holland during World War II and she was a teenager at the time.

I knew nothing about her family, but here we learn that her mother was a great follower of Hitler and met him on more than one occasion. That made me feel uneasy but Audrey went for what she wanted in life and became a UNESCO ambassador and loved to help others. I was fascinated by the fact that she and Anne Frank were around the same age and was gripped by any part of the book mentioning diary entries, be that Audrey's mother's or Anne Frank's.

I have had a special interest in Anne Frank ever since I read The Diary of Anne Frank in my German class at school. It was so interesting seeing how their lives intertwined and overlapped.

The level of detail in this biography is impressive and extensive. I was interested in Audrey and her family but at times I felt distracted and overwhelmed by the pace at which so many different people were introduced so much so that it was hard to keep track of the characters and the plot at times.

Dutch Girl is a book to be cherished and I think it is a very unique biography given it is about Audrey and her family outside of Audrey's acting career. I would have loved to have discovered more bout that too and perhaps how the aspects of her past looked at in Dutch Girl shaped her decisions to become an actress and her experiences during her acting career.

However, I appreciate that the author wanted to show the world a different side of Audrey. The book is very heavy on historical facts and Nazi history yet is written in an accessible way. Overall, Dutch Girl is a good read for anyone interested in Audrey Hepburn. Having read it makes me want to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's again.

I love the cover of the book which I feel represents Audrey's true sense of style. And the title is mysterious enough to have made me want to find out more about Audrey. I'm glad I got the chance to review it and post for the blog tour. I am going to recommend this book.

Thanks to Robert Matzen for such a unique biography and to Smith Publicity for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

4 stars.

Audrey Hepburn was terrified. The teenage girl was returning from delivering a message to an Allied airman when she saw German soldiers coming towards her. She knew that she would not only be asked for her identity, but also what she was doing. This required fast thinking. Audrey started picking wildflowers, smiled sweetly at the soldiers, and told them that she was taking the flowers home.

This is just one of the many tales tells in this exciting, but extremely harrowing book about Audrey Hepburn’s time in the war. Although the star was quite a heroine, the war affected her so badly that she didn’t want to talk about it so she kept it mostly secret except from her sons. Also, her aristocratic mother was once a fan of Fascism and even met Hitler, misguided by her Irish husband, Audrey’s dissolute father. Her mother saw the light quite quickly, however, once the Nazis invaded Holland.

Although Audrey did manage to establish a fledgling ballet career during the war, she had a terrible time. Her beloved uncle was taken hostage and shot. She saw her older brother dragged to a Nazi camp and Jews taken away on the cattle trains. She lived in Velp near Arnhem and towards the end of the war, people were suffering from malnutrition, including Audrey herself. The war raged around them and they turned to despair when the Battle of Arnhem was lost. Audrey once said: ‘Don’t discount anything you see or hear about the Nazis’. She said that: ‘It was worse than you could ever imagine. She was once helped by UNICEF and never forgot it – this led to her becoming an ambassador for the organisation.

During this dreadful time, Audrey and her mother helped a doctor who worked for the Resistance, Audrey delivered a Resistance newspaper, and her family even hid an Allied airman! She also helped to raise funds for the Resistance.

This is a well-researched story which reads like a novel and might make people see the wonderful star in a different light. The only point that I would quibble at is that seems to give the impression that all of the Mitford sisters were pro-Nazi. Nancy was very much for the Allied cause and Jessica became a Communist and ran away to America.

I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.