Girl in the Blue Coat: Prologue–Chapter 6

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. falter
    be or become weak, unsteady, or uncertain
    His grin falters as his hand flies to the pendant now dangling just below his collar.
  2. frayed
    worn away or tattered along the edges
    With the way I'm standing, my dress has risen above my knee, and the soldier notices. It's navy, already tighter than it should be, frayed at the hem and several years old, from before the war.
  3. naive
    marked by or showing unaffected simplicity
    It’s a difficult balance, to sound the right amount of naive. My words need to have enough innocence in them that he can't justify getting angry with me, but enough sharpness that he’d rather get rid of me than keep me here and interrogate me about what I’m carrying.
  4. illicit
    contrary to or forbidden by law
    Most people would say I trade in the black market, the illicit underground exchange of goods.
  5. foyer
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    When Miss Akkerman comes back to the foyer, I pretend to consider the two dresses she's brought, but really I'm watching the wall clock.
  6. ersatz
    artificial and inferior
    The only way she would have real coffee is if I'd brought it to her, and I hadn't, so when she says she has coffee, she means she has ground acorns or twigs. Ersatz coffee.
  7. haphazard
    dependent upon or characterized by chance
    Outside, it’s cloudy and overcast, Amsterdam winter, as I ride my bicycle down our narrow, haphazard streets.
  8. anesthetic
    a drug that causes temporary loss of bodily sensations
    Mrs. Janssen's coffee is scalding and strong, a soothing anesthetic.
  9. abreast
    alongside each other, facing in the same direction
    They're in a row, three abreast, matching big ears and knobby necks.
  10. ornate
    marked by complexity and richness of detail
    It’s more ornate than the one in the pantry, the wood smooth and varnished and still smelling faintly of lemon furniture oil.
  11. stricken
    affected by something overwhelming
    He is blushing again and looks to me, stricken, for help.
  12. accost
    approach and speak to someone aggressively or insistently
    "You're late.” She accosts me at the door; she must have been watching through the window.
  13. ingenious
    showing inventiveness and skill
    I didn't believe that part of the story when he first told it, but then he showed me a book: People had managed to cross the Wire of Death in all kinds of ingeniously idiotic ways, using tall ladders or padding their clothes with porcelain to deflect the shock.
  14. deflect
    prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening
    I didn't believe that part of the story when he first told it, but then he showed me a book: People had managed to cross the Wire of Death in all kinds of ingeniously idiotic ways, using tall ladders or padding their clothes with porcelain to deflect the shock.
  15. graze
    scrape gently
    This time when he tried to cross, his shoe grazed the wire and he plummeted to the ground, and that was how my father immigrated to Holland.
  16. flout
    treat with contemptuous disregard
    Because the Nazis were the ones who made us have rations to begin with, and if I flout their system, then I am also flouting them.
  17. entail
    impose, involve, or imply as a necessary result
    Back at work, Mr. Kreuk has actual work for me, the kind my official job entails. T
  18. undertaker
    one whose business is the management of funerals
    Sometimes I think he became an undertaker because it was easier for him to spend time with the dead than the living.
  19. pry
    be nosey
    “I'm sorry. I guess I'm a little distracted.”
    He doesn't pry.
  20. voracious
    excessively greedy and grasping
    People read the resistance papers voraciously, then passed them along.
  21. waylay
    wait in hiding to attack
    "Is your neighbor across the street home?" I ask her. "Mrs. Veenstra? The one whose son got waylaid?"
  22. jamb
    a vertical side piece of a door or window frame
    Age and the settling of the house have warped the door completely, so that the top half of the door bulges away from the jamb.
  23. regal
    belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler
    She's in her thirties, with regal features, two irritating twins, and a husband who publishes a ladies' magazine and spends so much time at work that I've met him only once.
  24. periphery
    the outside boundary or surface of something
    Mrs. de Vries is one of those people who behave as if the war is a nuisance happening in the periphery around her.
  25. aloft
    high up in or into the air
    "Hanneke, would you get us some more biscuits from the kitchen?" Mrs. de Vries calls, picking up a crumb-filled plate and holding it aloft until I walk over and get it.
  26. solemn
    dignified and somber in manner or character
    A pair of solemn eyes stare at me from around the corner.
  27. refined
    suggesting taste, ease, and wealth
    The neighbor is vile. They both are, with their oily, refined support of the Nazis.
  28. traipse
    walk or tramp about
    She hands me a few bills, and I don't even bother to count out her payment before putting it in my pocket and leaving, traipsing wet footprints over her parquet floors.
  29. parquet
    a floor made of a patterned wood inlay
    She hands me a few bills, and I don't even bother to count out her payment before putting it in my pocket and leaving, traipsing wet footprints over her parquet floors.
  30. enormity
    the quality of being outrageous
    I am exhausted by the enormity of the day. I am exhausted by the things I'm always exhausted by: the soldiers, the signs, the secrets and strategies and effort.
  31. wary
    marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    She's taller than I am but looks only a few years older, with sharp, wary eyes and her hair piled in a knot on top of her head.
  32. composure
    steadiness of mind under stress
    The composure I had fifteen minutes ago is coming undone, thread by thread.
  33. recourse
    something or someone turned to for assistance or security
    But she won't report me. Who could she report me to? A Jewish woman wouldn't want to draw attention to herself for any reason, even to report a crime. She doesn't have any recourse.
  34. errant
    straying from the right course or from accepted standards
    Mama isn't the type of person to think of errant celebrations, at least not anymore.
  35. convey
    make known; pass on, of information
    "You made the chocolate." I return to a safe topic, both for something else to say and because the rude part of me wants to convey that I don't think Ollie's visit warrants it.
  36. chastise
    scold or criticize severely
    It's the voice I used with Mrs. Janssen, to chastise her for writing down Mirjam's story, and I'm irritated that Ollie is using it on me.
  37. pedantic
    marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning
    Because Ollie might be pedantic and boring, but he could never be a Nazi.
  38. curator
    the custodian of a collection, as a museum or library
    Too bad for the soldier that when the war broke out, curators removed The Night Watch from Het Rijksmuseum, rolling up the canvas and trucking it to a castle in the country somewhere.
  39. suture
    a seam used in surgery
    I’ve lost my composure in front of a stranger, and ripped open the sutures of my Bas-shaped wound, all over again, because they never seem to heal.
  40. auburn
    (of hair) colored a moderate reddish-brown
    "What about you? Which do you prefer?” the blond friend asked me, and I still don’t know how I was so bold, because I looked past both of them to where Bas was sitting on a ledge, and his auburn hair caught in the sunlight.
Created on Fri Jul 12 10:55:49 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Jul 30 13:14:53 EDT 2019)

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