Girl in the Blue Coat: Chapters 11–18

by Monica Hesse
As World War II rages, Hanneke is hired to find a Jewish teenager who disappeared from the house in which she was hiding. In the course of her search, Hanneke is drawn into the Dutch resistance movement secretly fighting the Nazis.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 6, Chapters 7–10, Chapters 11–18, Chapters 19–25, Chapters 26–34
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. foil
    a person or thing that serves to contrast with another
    Baby Regina wasn't a foil, hiding the illicit delivery. Baby Regina was the illicit delivery.
  2. perverse
    deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper
    The kind ones recognize, somewhere deep inside their starched uniforms, that there is something perverse about what they're doing.
  3. repugnant
    offensive to the mind
    I mentally piece together a story: The baby is sick, and the soldier mustn't get too close or he’ll catch the illness. That's what I'll say. Something repugnant, something with vomit.
  4. kindling
    material for starting a fire
    "I've carried it myself, a dozen times. I've been carrying around the same kindling for months. But it works. If I'm ever stopped, I just look like any other Dutch citizen, collecting firewood. It's not illegal to scavenge for wood scraps."
  5. imperceptibly
    in a manner that is difficult to discern
    He winces, almost imperceptibly, before answering.
  6. speculate
    talk over conjecturally, or review in an idle or casual way
    It's almost a relief, to have someone else speculate over the things I think privately.
  7. constituent
    a citizen who is represented in a government by officials
    "An attorney. And then a politician. City-level. He'd only want to hold offices where he could meet all his constituents. He'd sponsor socials and dances. He'd love his family."
  8. draft
    compulsory military service
    The draft didn't begin until men were eighteen, the officer said. In the army, they didn't even accept volunteers younger than that.
  9. barren
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    So much happened today: the hidden camera, and Ollie, and the horrible red glow of the barren stage at the theater.
  10. discrete
    constituting a separate entity or part
    Because when I first told Mrs. Janssen that I would find Mirjam, I had been viewing her as a discrete puzzle that I could try to solve.
  11. armoire
    a large wardrobe or cabinet
    Mrs. Janssen's armoire looks clunky and heavy, made of oak.
  12. profusely
    in very large amounts or quantities; extremely
    She thanks me profusely while dusting them off, and then adjusts them across her nose, and a minute later we’re sitting back at the table.
  13. farfetched
    highly imaginative but unlikely
    “It could be that all this means nothing,” I tell her, “but I do have a few names. People who might have known Mirjam well. It’s all far-fetched, but did Mirjam ever talk about her friend Amalia?”
  14. cryptic
    of an obscure nature
    Do I think it means something? Something like Mirjam running away from a safe place to try to find a boy she liked? Something like Mirjam risking her life for a relationship whose only evidence so far is a cryptic note, a dusty trail on jar lids, and some flowers Mina says Mirjam once received at school?
  15. pristine
    completely free from dirt or contamination
    I can imagine what Judith is thinking on the other end of the line: that she and Mina are Jewish, with Jewish names and Stars of David sewn onto their clothes, and they still risk their lives every day. I am blond-haired and green-eyed with pristine papers, and I still haven't agreed to help them.
  16. prospective
    of or concerned with or related to the future
    This afternoon I'd already arranged to meet with a prospective contact, a baker in North Amsterdam, so I cross the river by ferry and, after meeting the baker, go to a dental office in a tidy residential neighborhood.
  17. slink
    move or walk stealthily
    As soon as she disappears from view, I slink behind her desk.
  18. cheeky
    offensively bold
    The boy with the round face who winked at me at the Lyceum. The cheeky, nervy boy who reminded me of Bas.
  19. ail
    be unwell
    Maybe I should have been honest with Dr. Zimmer's secretary, or pretended to be concerned about the ailing Rosen family and asked where I could deliver a pot of soup.
  20. gawk
    look with amazement
    "Right. From Mrs. Janssen’s," I say, trying to ignore the gawking crowd.
  21. wiry
    lean but strong
    "Mr. Tof—Mr. Cool—aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" a wiry, donkey-nosed boy shouts from behind him.
  22. scrawl
    write carelessly
    I'm already taking out a pencil, using my knees as a table as I scrawl out a note.
  23. reproach
    disgrace or shame
    Whatever I write now must be beyond reproach.
  24. virtually
    slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
    Unlike Ollie, who I've known for years, I know virtually nothing about Christoffel.
  25. promptly
    with little or no delay
    I sit down on the stool I sat on last time, next to Sanne, who is obviously delighted that I've shown up and who promptly tells me to close my eyes and hold out my hands.
  26. valise
    a small overnight bag for short trips
    Before he can finish, the door bangs open and Judith tumbles in, carrying a valise and brushing new-fallen snow off her coat.
  27. wan
    pale, as of a person's complexion
    She looks wan and shaky.
  28. despicable
    morally reprehensible
    “It's despicable,” Willem says quietly.
    “It's worse than despicable,” Sanne says. “It's evil.”
  29. waver
    be unsure or weak
    Judith takes a wavering breath before answering.
  30. atrocity
    an act of shocking cruelty
    It's a horrible question: Is your cousin, the one with the bubbly laugh and the dimples in her elbows who takes secret photographs of German atrocities—is she now a prisoner of the same theater she worked so hard to rescue people from?
  31. banter
    light teasing repartee
    I try to remember what I would usually say to him, but our normal banter doesn't come easily to me.
  32. mundane
    found in the ordinary course of events
    It's an odd relief to be in my bedroom, sorting papers, while my parents do chores in the next room. It's familiar and mundane, and requires just enough concentration to distract me from what happened last night.
  33. flustered
    thrown into a state of agitated confusion
    I nod, flustered, but before I can figure out how to respond, Mama puts the birthday card down again, rising to her feet and brushing the dust off her skirt.
  34. perfunctorily
    in a set manner without serious attention
    She kisses the top of my head, perfunctorily.
  35. sentimentality
    extravagant or affected feeling or emotion
    Papa and I are both packrats: he because of sentimentality and me because I never want to throw away anything that could be worth something.
  36. gouge
    make a groove in
    The shears are sticking out of the floor, gouging a hole in Mama’s maple.
  37. sterile
    deficient in originality or creativity
    We looked at every square inch of that barren, sterile room, Mrs. Janssen with her bad eyes and me with my good ones.
  38. listless
    marked by low spirits; showing no enthusiasm
    Ollie is waving his hands listlessly, like he almost wishes I wouldn't see him and wouldn't stop.
  39. flail
    thrash about
    My arms flail out at him, wanting to make him take it back.
  40. quota
    a prescribed number
    They were looking for people whose names were on their list, but when they couldn't fill their quotas, they started taking anyone they found who had Jewish papers.
Created on Fri Jul 12 10:57:30 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Jul 30 13:14:39 EDT 2019)

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