This book is a minor classic in Friesland, the northwest part of the Netherlands. It was originally written in Frisian, a language restricted to that tiny corner of the world.

The book is an uncompromising look at the life of a poor fisherman and his encounter with Nazi occupiers during WW II. The fisherman has (almost against his will) sheltered some Jews and Allied pilots in his shack. He is found out by the Frisian version of a Quisling. Arrested by the Germans, he resists, then is crushed when he sees his son's few possessions in the office of an interrogator. But it is too late; he is shot.

Not fun reading. But if you want to get a feel for the lives of poor people in the thirties and forties, this gives it to you straight. If you want to feel the horror of the trap closing on the man, you will feel it. [By the way, the title of this book in Frisian translates as "The Fish Trap;" it is an apt title as fish traps are easy to enter but difficult to escape.]

Try this book. It is clearly, beautifully, and bleakly written. You will remember it. I did.