My longtime friends and fellow writers Jane Rubietta and Cleo Lampos have been vitally important to every book I have written. We have been meeting and critiquing each other’s work for more than twenty-six years, before any of us was ever published, and I’m quite certain that I couldn’t write a book without them.

My nonwriting friends Ed and Cathy Pruim and Paul and Jacki Kleinheksel are also irreplaceable and essential to my writing process. They allow me to air my frustrations, they pray with me, and they offer me spiritual insights and down-to-earth advice whenever I need it. I’m so grateful to all of these friends for keeping me grounded —and for getting me out of my office to go biking and have fun! I’m also grateful to Paul and Jacki for introducing me to Dutch friends who were willing to share their war stories with me, especially Mary DeBlaay, Jennie Vander Maarl, and Toni Vanluinen.

Christine Bierma is my assistant who is so much more than my assistant! She brought me into the twenty-first century with web pages and blogs and social media and all of that other technology that I still don’t fully understand. She’s the midwife who helps me launch each new book by acting as coach and cheerleader for my amazing launch team. Christine is a partner to me in every way, and I would not want to launch a book without her and her online business, Launch Right.

My publishing partners at Tyndale House have guided and shaped this book into a finished product. Stephanie Broene has been alongside me from the beginning stages and throughout the rewriting, cover design, and marketing processes. I so appreciate her insight and partnership. My editor, Kathy Olson, has patiently guided me through a new way of doing edits and has made it fun and painless. She also made this a much better book. I have loved working with Andrea Garcia and the marketing team, and with Katie Dodillet and the publicity team. You all excel at what you do. So does my amazing literary agent, Natasha Kern. The publishing world is changing so quickly and so dramatically that my writing career would be lost at sea without Natasha’s knowledge and expertise. But more than that, she offered valuable input into this story and gave me encouragement and advice when I needed it most.

I’m indebted to my many friends from Kok/Voorhoeve Publishing in the Netherlands for first introducing me to their beautiful country. They’ve shown me so many wonderful places on my book tours, taught me about their country’s history, and introduced me to the wonderful Dutch people. They helped provide the background and setting for this novel, including a very moving visit to the Westerbork prison camp. I’m grateful to all my Dutch friends who shared their families’ stories of life in the Netherlands during that terrible war.