A debut novel based on the real and unforgettable life of Hannie Schaft, a young woman living in Nazi-occupied Holland who joined the Resistance, learned to shoot, and executed her Nazi targets with such precision that Hitler nicknamed her « the Girl with Red Hair ».

DIE BEAUTIFUL
by Buzzy Jackson
‎ Dutton, Winter 2023
(via The Friedrich Agency)

Hannie didn’t train to be a soldier — her youthful dream was to finish law school in Amsterdam and join the League of Nations. But Hannie’s volunteer work with the Red Cross puts her on the radar of key resistance recruiters, who spot her fearlessness and outrage, recognizing her for the heroine she’ll someday become. As the simmering menace of Nazi-occupied Holland reaches a boiling point, Hannie becomes ever more daring, assassinating powerful Nazis point blank, blowing up munitions factories, constantly improvising with last-minute Resistance orders. She also falls deeply in love at a tremendous cost. But throughout it all, Hannie’s greatest weapon is her determination not to become a monster herself: blijf altijd menselijk. Stay human.

Buzzy Jackson is the award-winning author of three books of nonfiction and has a Ph.D. in History from UC Berkeley. A recent fellow at the Edith Wharton Writing Residency, she is also a member of the National Book Critics’ Circle and writes for the Boston Globe and BookForum. Buzzy grew up in the mountains of California and Montana and now lives in Boulder, Colorado.