Review: I'll Keep You Close
I'll Keep You Close
by Jeska Verstegen
Levine Querido
Category: Middle Grade
Reviewer: Beth L. Gallego
How does one honor the memory of those who died during a time one wants
to forget? Debut novelist Jeska Verstegen examines the toll secret grief
took on her own family in this poignant volume, originally published in
the Netherlands as Ik zal je bewaren and translated from the Dutch by
Bill Nagelkerke.
In snapshot vignettes, eleven-year-old Jesje presents, at first,
unremarkable days in the ordinary life of a girl in 1980s Amsterdam.
Perhaps her mother is unusually anxious, but that’s just how Mama is.
Bomma, Jesje’s maternal grandmother, is in a nearby nursing home,
suffering from dementia that has taken a turn for the worse. During a
visit, she calls Jesje by someone else’s name, Hesje, and Mama refuses to say more
than that it is the name of someone from far in the past.
Curious, Jesje investigates, gathering information from other family
members and a trusty encyclopedia, puzzle pieces that when put together
reveal a stunning picture: Mama does not talk about the war because
while she and Bomma survived, many of their extended family did not.
Even the fact that her mother’s family was Jewish is a revelation to
Jesje. Over the course of the novel, Jesje considers what this means for
her own identity, and how she will honor those lost family members in
her own life.
In an afterword, Verstegen shares that the events of the book are true
to her experience, though some adaptations and name changes have been
made. A photo of Hesje described in one of the later chapters is also
included.
This is a beautifully told story of family, secrets, and growing up. The
Jewish content is most significant in its seeming absence: Jesje has no
idea that her family is Jewish, let alone that they are Holocaust
survivors. These are facts that have shaped her life without her even
knowing it. Whether she incorporates Judaism into her identity later is
outside the scope of the narrative.
A lovely, poetic,
stand-out coming of age story.
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