ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Verstegen, Jeska

I'll Keep You Close

176 pp. | Levine Querido/Em Querido | October, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-64614-111-1 $17.99
(2) 4-6 Translated by Bill Nagelkerke. Jeska lives in the Netherlands in the 1980s. Her parents are secretive about the family's past and the reason for her mother's periods of self-isolation. When her grandmother becomes ill and confused, her mentions of an unfamiliar relative and then of Westerbork lead Jeska to make connections with what she's learned in school about World War II. She comes to realize that her family is Jewish and that her mother and grandmother are Holocaust survivors. The smoothly translated first-person prose has a hushed feel to it, with the details in Jeska's observations lending immediacy ("Classical music and warm air compete for space; this car is far too small for piano music, the stifling heat, Mama, and me"). The close adherence to the point of view of an eleven-year-old who's been kept in the dark makes watching her work things out for herself all the more poignant: "Is it a Jewish face that looks back at me? It doesn't feel Jewish. But how does that actually feel? I have no idea." Ultimately, she concludes that what her mother has hidden is worth remembering. An afterword explains that Verstegen "adapted the facts" of true events from her childhood "to be able to tell a well-rounded story." An emotional glimpse into the effects of the Holocaust, long after its end.
Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

RELATED 

INTERMEDIATE FICTION

The Republic of Birds
by Miller, Jessica
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Atlantis
by Mone, Gregory
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

It Doesn't Take a Genius
by Rhuday-Perkovich, Olugbemisola
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls
by Rivera, Kaela
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Soul Lanterns
by Kuzki, Shaw
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?