Sixty Blades
of Grass

Inspired by the author’s own family history, this novel of danger and betrayal explores what it takes to lay down one’s life for another.  

During the Second World War, Ria, a seventeen-year-old Dutch Resistance fighter, paints in fields overlooking the busy rail yards. Hidden in her artwork is information crucial to the Dutch Underground about the concentration camps and Nazi troop transports.

But Ria’s covert activities aren’t the only thing on her mind. In these uncertain times, even trusting family is risky. She suspects her father of collaborating with the Germans and is determined to uncover the truth.

Across town, her German-born father is also living a double life. But his desire to keep his daughter safe proves inadequate when he invites a German colonel into his home with terrible consequences . . . 

With no one to rely on or turn to, Ria knows her greatest challenge has only just begun as she must fight for her own survival . . .

The Real Facts

Ria (Rika)

I visited Ria (Rika) and her family during my study abroad program in college. When I visited her she told me her story and the story of our family during WWII. It was an emotional tale that stuck with me forever. Over time it became a story I fell in love with and decided to share in my book.

The Art

This is a painting Ria (Rika) gave me when I visited The Netherlands with my mother in 1978. I knew she had painted the trains taking the Jews out of the country in code, and feel this might be suggestive of the paintings she hastily did and hid for others in the Resistance to find. The aim was to document as much as they could about the transports so they could find their Countrymen when the war was over.