HAMLET’S CHILDREN

Kluger’s historical novel charts an American boy’s exciting experiences in World War II Denmark.

In June 1939, Terence Sayre lives with his mother, Katerina Mundt, a vivacious Danish-born dancer and entrepreneur, in Asbury Park, New Jersey; he’s looking forward to his upcoming 14th birthday. Their relationship is close—Terry’s alcoholic father dropped out of their lives years before. When Kate is mortally injured in a car crash, Terry must move to the picturesque seaside town of Riishavn, Denmark, to live with relatives he has only visited briefly before. His grandparents, Gideon and Helga Mundt, are popular and respected figures in the community and lead a large, loving, and energetic clan: Terry’s uncles Kurt and Torben, aunts Ingrid and Rikki, and cousins Jared and Louisa, who are about his age. The Mundts welcome Terry wholeheartedly and all pitch in to provide a rapid-fire immersion course in Danish language and culture—each presenting their own challenges for Terry, until now a typical American boy. Then, in September, Hitler invades Poland, setting off WWII. Debate rages among the Danes, who have no military, over whether to conciliate or confront German aggression. Opinions are sharply divided, even within close-knit families like the Mundts. When the Nazis invade and occupy Denmark, setting up a garrison in Riishavn, each family member, from the teens to the grandparents, navigates the tricky path of appearing to comply while secretly resisting in their own way. The author addresses the thorny choices facing Denmark as a nation and each of its citizens thoughtfully, questioning safety versus risk, compromise versus confrontation, and practicality versus principle. The issues emerge through the characters, providing a nuanced view of the motives and potential consequences of their actions as they grapple with the realities of living under an occupying force.

The story is told from the point of view of Terry, looking back on his growth from child to young adult in the midst of world-changing events—the most tumultuous and exciting time of his life—with the adult perspective he lacked while it was unfolding (“I was a stranger in a small kingdom by the sea, where I thought I had found a temporary haven from my brief life’s travails. With the invasion, that dream was over”). Vivid characters, including independent, unapologetic Aunt Rikki; Terry’s intellectual girlfriend, Nora; his wealthy, gentle friend, Bent; the enigmatic German commandant, Major Sigmund Holst; and others capture the reader’s interest with sharp dialogue and brave exploits. Rikki and Holst enter into an intriguing, ambiguous, off-and-on relationship that raises the question of exactly who is using whom. Kruger’s writing is crisp and descriptive—the plot moves quickly from one crisis to the next. For the first three-quarters of the narrative, covering 1939 through 1942, Terry’s story is both engaging and enlightening. Unfortunately, as the story moves into the next couple of years, it devolves into a summary of the rest of the war, including the amazing rescue of Denmark’s Jews, with an excess of logistical detail and too little human interest, churning through the end of the conflict, its aftermath, and Terry’s later life in the last 100 pages.

An engaging historical novel that addresses big questions—but should have been much shorter.