Three Ordinary Girls | Tim Brady

Title: Three Ordinary Girls

Author: Tim Brady

Tim Brady's Three Ordinary Girls brings to light the astonishing, bone-chilling courage of Truus Oversteegen, her sister Freddie, and Hannie Schaft--three teenage Dutch freedom fighters who spent World War II seducing, sabotaging, and assassinating Nazi occupiers and collaborators. On paper, this is an absolute blockbuster of historical non-fiction. These were literal teenagers riding bicycles through the Netherlands with pistols tucked into their coats, carrying out hits for the Dutch Resistance. It should be impossible to make that boring.

Yet, somehow, the narrative structure almost manages it.

The primary drawback of the book is its execution. Brady's research is undeniably thorough, but the prose often reads less like a propulsive narrative thriller and more like an academic log of logistics. The pacing tends to stall, turning what ought to be heart-pounding, high-stakes undercover operations into a somewhat listless sequence of events. Reading it in long stretches becomes a bit of a chore; it is the kind of history book that leaves you constantly checking how many pages are left in the chapter, which is a shame given the incredible material Brady had to work with.

That said, the underlying history carries the book through its driest patches. Beyond the sheer shock value of young women executing enemy agents, the text raises heavy, fascinating moral questions. Brady doesn't shy away from the murky ethics of civilian resistance, assassination, and sabotage. When you are fighting an enemy as monstrous as the Nazi regime--one committing systematic, state-sponsored genocide--the traditional lines between terrorism and righteous warfare blur. The book forces you to sit with the grim reality of what it takes to resist an existential evil, and the heavy psychological toll it exacts on those who pull the trigger.

Ultimately, Three Ordinary Girls lands right in the middle of the road. The prose might lack the vivid energy these heroines deserved, but the extraordinary sacrifice and bravery of Truus, Freddie, and Hannie make it worth pushing through the sluggish narrative moments.

Three out of five stars.