Description
Fictionalised but based on true events, Song of a Blackbird has two intertwined timelines: one is a modern-day family drama, the other a thrilling true story of a WWII-era bank heist carried out by Dutch resistance fighters.
Emma is a young student about to be drawn into what will become the biggest bank heist in European history: swapping 50 million guilders' worth of forged treasury bonds for real ones - right under the noses of the Nazis. Emma's life - and the lives of thousands, including a little girl named Hanna - hangs in the balance.
Almost seventy years later, Annick discovers something surprising about her family. Her grandmother needs a bone marrow donor but none of her relatives is a match. In fact, they are not even related. Desperate to find a living blood relative, Annick dives into the past, aided by her grandmother's only childhood possession, five copper etchings, and the name of their maker: Emma Bergsma.
In this stranger-than-fiction graphic novel, Maria van Lieshout weaves a tale about family, courage and the power of art. Deeply personal yet universal, Song of a Blackbird sheds light on a remarkable WWII story and sends a powerful message about compassion and resistance.
Review
This is an incredible story told in alternating chapters of the Second World War in Amsterdam from 1943 to 1945, and descendants tracing their history in 2011 to 2012. It shows the effects of war on one family and those associated with them, and then on their descendants as they try to understand what happened to their ancestors. It depicts their loss and, ultimately an incredible reunion 70 years later, when a girl is trying to find a bone marrow match for her ailing grandmother.
It is beautifully told with wonderful illustrations, as well as numerous pages of documentation and photographs of the real events and people from the war.
There was so much of my own Dutch heritage wrapped up in this inspirational story that I couldn’t help but love it. The author comes from the same town that my Mum grew up in, and my Dad’s parents did what they could to help the Dutch resistance and also adopted a war orphan, so this setting was close to home for me - although it is also a wonderful tale that I am sure it will be greatly enjoyed by readers without that personal link to it as well.
Containing themes of family history and intergenerational trauma, the Holocaust in WWII, the Dutch resistance and family history, this is a wonderful graphic novel that is perfect for all secondary aged readers.
