Michael Joseph pre-empts real-life story of WW2 heroine

Penguin Michael Joseph has pre-empted a fictionalised retelling of the life of Hannie Schaft, a Dutch Resistance fighter during the Second World War, by début writer Buzzy Jackson.

Publisher Jillian Taylor acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to The Girl with the Red Hair from Molly Friedrich and Lucy Carson of the Friedrich Agency. The UK edition will publish on 11th May. Maya Ziv of Dutton will publish simultaneously in the US. 

The publisher said the novel was told through the voice of a young heroine "so notorious that Hitler himself personally ordered her assassination". 

The synopsis reads: “Hannie Schaft didn’t train to be a soldier. Nineteen years old, she has dreams of her own. But dreams die in wartime and Hannie’s closest friends are no longer safe. Hiding them is not enough. Hannie may be young but she won’t stand aside as the menace of Nazi evil tightens its grip on her country. Recruited into the Dutch Resistance, she learns to shoot, quickly becoming notorious for never missing her targets.

“As Hannie is drawn deeper into a web of plots, disguises and assassinations, whispers spread like wildfire among enemy and friend alike. They all know her name. She’s the Girl with the Red Hair, a match for any Nazi soldier. A true threat. A target.”

Jackson said: “I was inspired to write The Girl with the Red Hair after a research trip to the Verzetsmuseum (Resistance Museum) in Amsterdam. I discovered the story of a girl who quit college to fight fascism and became the most wanted woman in the Netherlands. Somehow, in the midst of all this, Hannie also risked her life to shelter two of her best friends and fellow law students, both Jewish, in her childhood home. Hannie’s remarkable evolution from shy college student to bold guerrilla soldier was only possible because she had the courage to ask herself the same question we all face, whatever our circumstances: how far would we go to help a fellow human in need? Hannie’s was a life cut short. I am honoured to tell her story as best I can.” 

Taylor said: “The Cemetery of Honour in Bloemendaal is the final resting place of many men but only one woman lies among them. She is one of the Second World War’s greatest heroines but much of the world has yet to hear of her— until now. Working from the truths and remnants of history that outlived her, Buzzy Jackson’s electrifying storytelling brings Hannie’s heart-renching bravery back to life. The Girl with the Red Hair is an unputdownable novel of love, loyalty and the limits we confront when our deepest values are tested. Its themes are as urgent today as they’ve ever been.”