Review by Lisa Matthewson
Ronsdale Press, 2023
302 pages, paperback, $19.95 CAD, 9781553806745
Young Adult, Ages 12+
Action/Adventure, Historical Fiction
As I pick up the sock I’ve been working on from the knitting basket on the table, I can’t stop the trembling of my hands.
The wind howls, and the coals make settling sounds in the stove. The ticking of the grandfather clock accompanies the sounds in our otherwise quiet kitchen. I take a deep breath, glad nobody is talking, and even though I can feel Rosa’s eyes scrutinizing my face, I focus on my knitting.
“Klara, pour the tea, please.” Mother’s weary eyes meet mine, and for an instant, I wonder if she knows of the turmoil going on in my head? My hand trembles, and I spill tea into the saucers.
Klara has quite a few problems already, and it’s about to get so much worse. She lives on a subsistence farm in a conservative religious community, and at 16, she bears much of the day-to-day responsibility for her eight younger siblings. Recently, she’s been forced to quit school, and is expected to marry a wealthy but not at all nice local boy. Her dreams of studying poetry, of traveling, and of the freedom to make her own choices seem doomed to be unfulfilled.
Then the drama really begins. A vicious storm destroys the dike that protects the island Klara lives on, and a massive flood ensues. There is danger, suspense, and grief, and the aftermath indirectly leads to a long-buried and shocking family secret coming to light. There is also a first taste of teenage love, and maybe, just maybe, a chance at freedom for Klara after all.
This is a beautiful book that really has it all. Based on real and tragic events that took place in Dutch island communities during the 1950s, it is a gripping adventure story which offers a moving and detailed portrait of life at the time. The story’s protagonist is strong yet endearingly vulnerable, and it is impossible not to root for her. Although Klara’s lifestyle and its restrictions are very different from the experiences of most 21st century adolescent readers, her struggle for the right to self-determination is a timeless theme that everyone can relate to in some way.
Attema’s writing style is deceptively simple and understated. There is no flashy language or gaudy imagery here. The first-person present-tense point of view is a pleasing choice that brings immediacy to the action and enhances our connection with Klara. At the same time, other characters are presented with compassion. There are no outright monsters in the cast, and choices are not black and white. Attema’s world-building is also powerful. The author weaves a rich tapestry of this community’s daily life, and succeeds in placing the reader right in the middle of the action.
Klara is the same age as two well-known heroines in a different genre: Tris in Divergent and Katniss in The Hunger Games. Nevertheless, When the Dikes Breached will probably be most appealing to a slightly younger audience than those other titles. By virtue of her cloistered upbringing, Klara is more innocent than Tris and Katniss, and her battles are far quieter and more personal. In her own unobtrusive way, though, she’s just as unforgettable.
Lisa Matthewson is a sixth-generation New Zealander and a first-generation Canadian. She teaches Linguistics at the University of British Columbia, and hopes to one day bring parts of New Zealand history to life in fiction for middle-grade readers.
YOUNG ADULTING 