Jacob Todd, a British soldier wounded in World War II, falls in love with Geertrui, a Dutch teenager who hides him from his pursuers in 1944. Now his 17-year-old grandson, also named Jacob Todd, has traveled to Holland to visit the grave of the grandfather he never met. Upon arriving in Amsterdam, Jacob is not prepared for the perplexing experiences of the city, seeing Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam, or for the shocking story that reveals family secrets. Two stories, Jacob Todd’s and Geertrui’s, from two different times are intertwined throughout the book and raise some very thought-provoking questions.
