Journey Through the Night
Encyclopedia
Journey Through the Night (orig. Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

: Reis door de nacht) is a novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

, originally in four volumes (1951–1958), by Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

 author Anne de Vries
Anne de Vries
Anne de Vries was a Dutch teacher and author. In the Netherlands he became particularly famous for his novels. He was married to Alida Gerdina van Wermeskerken, the couple had five children. In 1972, de Vries got national recognition when his novel Bartje was made into a television series by Willy...

 centering on the impact of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 on a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

family. It was translated by Harry der Nederlanden in 1960.

The book is divided into 4 parts:
  • Part one : Into the Darkness
  • Part two : The Storm Rises (published in English under the title The Darkness Deepens)
  • Part three : Morning Glory (published in English under the title Dawn's Early Light)
  • Part four : The New Day (published in English under the title A New Day)

The main character is Jan (in the translation John) de Boer. He is the eldest son of the family. During World War 2, the 5 year German occupation, he gets involved in the Resistance.

The Storm Rises

Two years have passed. The family is getting used to the war. But father De Boer joins the Underground Resistance. Jan and his sister Guusje (in the translation Tricia) also get involved. At the end of the chapter a meeting has been thwarted by the Germans and the family must go underground.
During the end chapter, Uncle Gerrit holds up the house from germans while the rest of the family escape. He is forced to use the houses tunnel to escape from the germans into the forest. The de Boer family house in destroyed by a german grenade and burns to the ground.
The book finishes with the de Boer family hiding in a forest as the germans destroy their house.

Morning Glory

After the Germans have destroyed the house of De Boer, Jan is hiding. But an old friend joins a Fight Force (Knok Ploeg (KP)). After his adventures by the FF the force has been betrayed and Jan must go into hiding again.
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