The Cut Out Girl

Bart van Es’ The Cut Out Girl was the winner of the prestigious Costa Book of the Year in the UK this January. It is both the true story of a young child’s struggle to survive in war-torn Holland, as well as an account of the author’s quest to uncover his family’s secrets. Bart van Es, Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, set out to discover the fate of the little girl, Lien, hidden by his Dutch grandparents in Nazi-occupied Netherlands. The result is a harrowing, haunting, and ultimately uplifting book. “A masterpiece of history and memoir, concluding on a note of reconciliation and hope.” (London Evening Standard) Chaired by Belinda Gergel, former President of the SC Jewish Historical Society.