The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom

by Larry Loftis

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

Florida Book Awards Gold Medalist

New York Times bestselling author and master of nonfiction spy thrillers Larry Loftis writes the first major biography of Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch watchmaker who saved the lives of hundreds of Jews during WWII—at the cost of losing her family and being sent to a concentration camp, only to survive, forgive her captors, and live the rest of her life as a Christian missionary.

The Watchmaker’s Daughter is one of the greatest stories of World War II that readers haven’t the remarkable and inspiring life story of Corrie ten Boom—a groundbreaking, female Dutch watchmaker, whose family unselfishly transformed their house into a hiding place straight out of a spy novel to shelter Jews and refugees from the Nazis during Gestapo raids. Even though the Nazis knew what the ten Booms were up to, they were never able to find those sheltered within the house when they raided it.

Corrie stopped at nothing to face down the evils of her time and overcame unbelievable obstacles and odds. She persevered despite the loss of most of her family and relied on her faith to survive the horrors of a notorious concentration camp. But even more remarkable than her heroism and survival was Corrie’s attitude when she was released. Miraculously, she was able to eschew bitterness and embrace forgiveness as she ministered to people in need around the globe. Corrie’s ability to forgive is just one of the myriad lessons that her life story holds for readers today.

Reminiscent of Schindler’s List and featuring a journey of faith and forgiveness not unlike Unbroken, The Watchmaker’s Daughter is destined to become a classic work of World War II nonfiction.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, World War II, Audiobook, Holocaust, Christian

384 pages, Hardcover

First published March 7, 2023

About the author

October 18, 2024 - Thrilled to announce that INTO THE LION'S MOUTH is in development as a major motion picture, with Radar Pictures producing and Harald Zwart (The Karate Kid, Pink Panther 2, The 12th Man) directing.

News was posted on DEADLINE on Oct. 15, mentioning that I am writing the script (which is already finished and approved).

News coming soon about THE WATCHMAKER'S DAUGHTER.!

Happy reading, everyone!
Larry

Reviews

[Marquise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biographical facts are overall correct as far as I could see, and the new bits that aren't in Corrie's own memoirs (The Hiding Place, to which this can be read as a complementary book) as well as the photographs are much appreciated, but this biography suffers a lot from the terribly disorganised and choppy writing. It needed better editing, and to polish the phrasing that is awkward and repetitive in so many places that this isn't quite a smooth read because of that.

Additionally, I wouldn't have chosen such a novelesque title (there are other books with this same title that are fiction) that somehow subordinates Corrie to her father. All respect to brave Mr Casper ten Boom, justly recognised by Israel for his nobility of heart, but it's Corrie who is the world-famous one and, given that she herself became a good watchmaker on her own, I'd say she has merit enough to shine on her own. Besides, because the book also includes the story of the other ten Booms that were involved in the protection of Jews and who paid an even heftier price for it than Corrie (Casper and Betsie lost their lives in German captivity, Willem died after the war from illness he got in captivity) the book's title should've reflected them as well. It was a family effort, after all.

[Joey R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars — When I saw there was a new book being released on the life of Corrie ten Boom I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to read it. I read Ms. ten Boom’s autobiographical account of hiding Jewish people and underground workers in her home in the Netherlands during World War II when I was a teenager. That book, “The Hiding Place,” is the type of book that stays with you for the rest of your life. Ms. ten Boom’s Christian faith and goodness shines through every page. As she gives her first-hand account of what it was like to live in a country occupied by a foreign enemy whose sole intent was to eradicate the Jewish race from the face of the earth, and how she stared evil right in the eye and refused to back down, is in a word awe-inspiring. I asked myself, is there a need for a second book that retells her story. “The Watchmaker’s Daughter” is a more complete telling of both the backstory of the ten Boom family and the life of Corrie ten Boom after her release from the concentration camp. The family history of the ten Booms was not really necessary, and soon I was confused with the large number of people and their relationships with Corrie. However, I really enjoyed reading about Ms. ten Boom’s life after she was freed. It really is amazing how she used the remaining years of her life to be a living witness of the power of Christ in overcoming anger and hate. Her ability to counsel and forgive for all of the harm done to she and her family is absolutely amazing. The only other book that packed this type of impact on me as far as a living testament of kindness and forgiveness was Anthony Hinton in his book, ‘The Sun Does Shine’. This book would be a definite 5 star for those who have never heard Ms. ten Boom’s story before, but if you only plan on reading one book on this subject, ten Boom’s own first hand account in “The Hiding Place” definitely packed a more emotional and heartwarming punch than did the more ‘historical’ based “Watchmakers Daughter’.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-written, informative, inspirational biography of Corrie ten Boom. It is thoroughly researched and vividly describes the horrors, heartbreak and deprivation suffered by Corrie ten Boom during World War II. Her faith, hope, forgiveness, and good works are truly uplifting. The author's notes are insightful and are greatly appreciated.
I listened to the audio version of this novel, and the narrator, Ms. Christa Lewis, has a lovely voice and does an outstanding job.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

Corrie Ten Boom’s story is difficult to read at times, but so inspiring. What a heroine! I’m going to be honest, I struggled with how to rate this book. The writing wasn’t my favorite and I feel like it jumped around a lot with different characters it was hard to keep track of that at times, but because of how moving Corrie was, I’m giving it 4 stars.

Audio book source: Libby
Story Rating: 4 stars
Narrators: Christa Lewis
Narration Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Non-fiction
Length: 8h 49m

[Sewingdervish · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF - I made it to pg 132, ch13
Corrie Ten Boom is one of my heroes. I love her so much, this book did not do her justice. It is called The Watchmaker's Daughter but very little of the book is about Corrie (who was also a watchmaker in her own right.) The book jumped from person to person but if anyone is the main character of this book it is Hans Poley which makes so little sense. The author also brings Anne Frank and Audrey Hepburn to the story when they have no connection to the Ten Booms other than being in the Netherlands during the war. The book read at about a 7th-grade reading level (though I think it is aimed at adults) and it felt that way. It was also disjointed and hard to figure out what was going on. He kept referring to people hiding from the Nazis as 'divers' which was weird and distracting.
There are some interesting photos and informational tables in the book that help organize the events from The Hiding Place as that book was light on names, dates, and pictures.

If you want to learn about the resistance work Corrie did read The Hiding Place.
If you want to learn more about the details of Corrie's life read In My Father's House.
If you want to learn more about Corrie's ministry after the war read Tramp for the Lord.
If you want to learn about Corrie without the religious element, I can't help you, without God and the Ten Boom's Christianity there would be no story. Maybe check out Wikipedia?

[Tammy O · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not heard much about Corrie Ten Boom since the 70’s when her book, “The Hiding Place” was released. Her story is remarkable and inspiring. Her faith in God as she and her family faced the horrors of Nazi control amazed me. And her ability to forgive…hard to fathom. I really enjoyed the relationships between Corrie and her family members-especially Betsy.

Some meaningful excerpts from the book:

*** “Recognizing the effectiveness of the BBC and Radio Oranje, Seyss-Inquart issued a “Measure for the Protection of the Dutch Population Against Untrue Information.” It stated that the Dutch should be protected from “false news,” and that only Nazi stations would be officially sanctioned. As expected, the law declared that anyone caught listening to the BBC or Radio Oranje would be severely punished.”

*** “Hans wrote: “Many Dutch Christians faced radical changes in those summer months in 1943. Until then, lying, stealing, killing, and blackmailing were crimes before God and before Dutch society. But a demonic regime had taken hold of our country and our civilization, and we had to choose: follow their evil directives or suffer the consequences; help those in need or stand disinterestedly on the sidelines. However long one tried to avoid a choice . . . the moment of truth would finally come.”

*** “Because I had lived so close to death,” Corrie remembered, “looking it in the face day after day, I often felt like a stranger among my own people—many of whom looked upon money, honor of men, and success as the important issues of life. Standing in front of a crematorium, knowing that any day could be your day, gives one a different perspective.”

*** “In this haven each resident learned that countless others had suffered just as they had. All of them needed the same healing, too. “Each had a hurt he had to forgive,” Corrie recalled, “the neighbor who had reported him, the brutal guard, the sadistic soldier. Strangely enough, it was not the Germans or the Japanese that people had most trouble forgiving; it was their fellow Dutchmen who had sided with the enemy.”

Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.

[izzy of the hollow †]

⋆˚࿔ dnfed at 33% 𝜗𝜚˚⋆

i had to finish this for school a while ago & I'm only like 1/3 of the way finished 😑😭 hopefully writing a review on goodreads motivates me to read this 🎀

xx 💌 izzy ౨ৎ ₊ ⊹

[Kelly Is Brighid · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF after 63 pages. It reads like a seventh-grade boy’s choppy book report, copied from an older brother’s assignment from years ago. Boring and disorganized. And hey, Loftis, stop with the misogyny: the heroine was 50 during WW2 so dispense with a title about the father.
This copy was an uncorrected proof courtesy of HarperCollins.

[Lilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a well written biography and memoir of Corrie Ten Boom. It goes into so much detail and background that Corrie’s own works (such as “The Hiding Place”) don’t include.
It not only details the life of the Watchmaker’s daughter but also includes many details about her relatives and the people who were involved in her life and the underground Resistance in the Netherlands.
Her life was such a shining testimony of the power the Lord has through a child of His in full surrender. As Corrie herself came to realize several years after she was released from the concentration camp and the war was over, forgiveness to those who put her through that “hell on earth” -as the concentration camp was referred to- and wronged her in countless ways took the power of God to not hang on to bitterness and hate.
It brought alive the horrors of the war and camps without being too descriptive on the despicable things that were done. It makes me so thankful to live in a country that is at peace. To live without an oppressive environment.

[Christina DeVane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very familiar with Corrie ten Boom’s story having read The Hiding Place and watched the movie several times.

This book was published in February of 2023, and in many ways is similar to The Hiding Place. However, it does give more information before and after the main story so many are familiar with. And I felt like a learned extra nuggets throughout.

➡️ The book tells how Corrie became the main apprentice in watchmaking instead of her older brother.
➡️ They helped some German defectors and took their uniforms in exchange. They were able to use these uniforms to rescue abandoned or orphaned babies in a hospital awaiting “transportation” most likely to termination. It is estimated they saved 80-100 babies! ❤️
➡️ The Jews hid in the Hiding Place for several days and when rescued there were still German patrols happening downstairs. 🤯
➡️ Betsy dreamed of a house where they would help people after the war, and that’s exactly what Corrie did.
➡️ She ran 3 convalescent homes for those traumatized by the war. She even helped those who had fought with Germany.
➡️ The hardest people to forgive were their fellow Dutchmen who had betrayed them and sided with the Germans.
➡️ She traveled the world sharing her journey as new levels of forgiveness were needed as she met former German guards and the man who betrayed their family to the Gestapo.

Quotes:

📖 “Are we going to die? How wonderful it is to know that our future is secure. Heaven is awaiting us.” - Papa ten Boom

📖 “It is God’s will that I should be alone with Him right now.” -Corrie in prison

📖 “Teach me Lord to bear the burden in this dark and weary day.
Let me not complain to others of a hard and lonely way.
Every storm to thee is subject storms of earth or mind and heart.
Only to Thy Will submitting can to me thy peace impart
So to suffer, so keep silence, so be yielded to thy will.
So in weakness learn thy power, teach me Father, teach me still.”
- Poem by Corrie in Ravensbruck, 1944.
📖 “She found her true hiding place was in Christ.”

🎧 Listen FREE on Hoopla!

❤️ Highly recommend even if you have read The Hiding Place. So inspiring and motivating! My problems really are minuscule compared to the life she lived.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I firmly believe that books about WWII, including the Holocaust, need to be read and the topic needs to be learned and remembered, so we can at least hopefully notice when something similar is taking place and try to do something to stop it (I'm looking at you China re: the Uyghurs).

Now, I do have a beef with the title. It seems like the daughter in question is young, maybe on the cusp of marriageable age (for back then, maybe early 20s) and that her father was a watchmaker, which implies that she was not.

However, during the period of time that this book focuses on, she is in her 50s and she is the FIRST female watchmaker in ALL of Holland. So why is the title showcasing her father and her relationship to him when this story is about her and she was a watchmaker too?

That little rant aside, this was not a bad book. It took me so long to finish it because I kept coming across parts that had me so tense, I couldn't keep reading, even though I knew how the story ended.

It was kind of odd how Anne Frank, her family and Audrey Hepburn's experiences were brought up in the book with no real connection to Corrie and her family's story. And the other stories were brought up only a few times, leading me to feel that it was just filler and didn't really tie into the story being told.

I also didn't feel any of the urgency when describing Corrie's time in the various prisons and the concentration camp that she was in. It didn't have that immediacy that something of that magnitude should have felt like.

Also, the one prison supervisor who helped her and her family and who was Saved and became a Christian met with Corrie after the war and he had mentioned to her that he had been in prison himself, but didn't say what for and why he was let out. Was he found out to be helping Jews and he was imprisoned by the Nazis? Was he imprisoned after the war for war crimes by the Allies? No explanation.

I guess I'm just used to listening to and reading Holocaust memoirs, where everything is more personal and first person, causing the listener/reader to really feel what the narrator went through, because this book, while interesting, fell flat on occasion.

I do own a memoir by Corrie Ten Boom, The Secret Place, which I plan to read soon. I was debating which one I should read first and decided on this biography and then I would compare to the memoir.

3, solid but didn't overly knock my socks off, stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any book on the Holocaust will ultimately contain stories which are hard to comprehend. The Watchmaker's Daughter by Larry Loftis contains such a story but in a different way. For those who have read Loftis's other books, they are thrillers centered around resistance fighters in World War II. Corrie ten Boom is also a resistance fighter but this book is much more focused on religion and forgiveness than any other of Loftis's books. Sure, you still have the nuts and bolts of hiding from the Gestapo, but the ten Boom family and their relationship to their faith is front and center.

Loftis is a gifted writer and I enjoyed the book very much. I would caution readers that, as I mentioned, this book is not as action packed and closer to an examination of faith in the worst of circumstances. Also, the book is not purely about Corrie ten Boom until the final few chapters. Before that, the whole ten Boom family and various friends are the focus as they try to hide from the Germans.

To avoid spoilers, I won't mention too much about how the ten Boom's Christianity is tested and how their hope is incredible under the circumstances. Anyone looking for a story about faith overcoming all odds will not be disappointed.

(This book was provided to me as an advance copy by Netgalley and William Morrow.)

[Teresa “Teri” · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must have been 13 years old when I first read about Corrie Ten Boom in her amazing book, “The Hiding Place”. I grew up in a family who bought few books but, read incessantly from those in our library. However, my Mom had heard her speak and bought this book.

The first time I read it I was unfamiliar with the Holocaust. I remember being disturbed by Corrie and her sister sleeping on straw that was full of fleas! Obviously, this was the least of the horrors they would go through!

I’ve since read her book at least twice and, I’ve seen the movie at least as many times.
Now, I unfortunately know much more about not only The Holocaust but, about Holocaust deniers and the irrational hatred of Jews. At this time in history, antisemitism has raised its ugly head higher than usual.

I really liked the added details and information that the author made available in this wonderful book. He did an excellent job. However, he had an amazing Lady to write about.

She was certainly a brave woman who understood the importance of saving Jewish lives. Sadly, history seems to want to repeat these horrific atrocities.

[Trace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic and I highly recommend. I hesitated starting it because of how much I love The Hiding Place. Corrie Ten Boom is one of the greatest heroes of our time. I wondered how this book would compare with her autobiographical one. The author himself had the very same thought, saying "Yet I hesitated because The Hiding Place has sold millions of copies and is almost sacred within Christian circles. "

Well fans of the ten Boom family will absolutely love how well researched this is. There are many added details that are not contained in The Hiding Place. I will be purchasing a copy for my personal library.
10/10

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was familiar with Corrie ten Boom’s name and the name of her book, The Hiding Place, but didn’t really know anything substantive about her. If I had known more, I might have realized that this book would have way too much religion in it for my taste. Still, it added another story to my recent reading about WWII in the Netherlands.

[Gabrielle Houweling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ten Booms story is so incredible, but "The Hiding Place" is hands down the best version to read about it. However I enjoyed Loftis' version as a follow up, and to learn a little more about the other "characters"

[Adrie Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Like the steadfast chimes of a grandfather clock, Corrie ten Boom’s legacy continues to sound out her message of faith, hope, love and forgiveness.”

Jesus, help me to live a life of faith, hope, love and forgiveness, no matter the circumstances.

[BooksNCrannies · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspirational and complete look at one of WWII's greatest heroines — Corrie ten Boom.

✏️ Review ✏️

If you're looking for something inspirational, educational, and motivational to read, then The Watchmaker's Daughter needs to go on your TBR right now! Larry Loftis combines thorough research and energetic writing to create the most complete survey of the life of Corrie ten Boom. By tapping previously unused primary sources and doing extensive archive research, Loftis was able uncover a plethora of never-before known facts about Corrie ten Boom's life. As Loftis points out in The Watchmaker's Daughter, Corrie ten Boom's most well known publication The Hiding Place contains less than 10% of Ms. ten Boom's overall story! That's just one among other interesting facts that Loftis's biography contains.

The Watchmaker's Daughter is such an amazing look at God's mercy, love, protection, and guidance. I fully recommend this biography for everyone to read.

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

📊 A Quick Overview 📊

👍🏼 What I Liked:
•The complete look at Corrie ten Boom's life combined with the presentation of new factual discoveries.
•The writing style — it has a simplistic feel but flows quite well even with all the historical facts presented.
•The overarching themes of God's goodness and grace.
•The photographs included in the book (there's at least over 25).

👎🏼 What I Did Not Like:
•The inclusion of Audrey Hepburn and Anne Frank's story in this biography. It's only a few paragraphs that show up now and then; and while this may help to connect Ms. ten Boom's story with other people's lives, I found it to be a bit disconnected at times.

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

📖 BOOK BREAKDOWN 📖 (Overall: 4/5)
~Fundamentals {Nonfiction Version}: (1=worst; 5=best)
— 📑 Didactics: 4/5

— 📝 Writing: 3.5/5

— 👀 Engagement: 3.5/5

— 🧩 Clarity: 4/5

~Content: (0=none; 1=least; 5=most)

— 🤬 Language: 0/5

— ⚔️ Violence: 2/5

•Some mildly gruesome descriptions of brutality and suffering.

— ⚠️ Sexual: 0/5

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📣 Random Comments 📣

•Be sure to read the endnotes from each chapter located in the back of the book. These notes contain many more interesting tidbits and facts that you won't want to miss.

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💬 Favorite Quotes 💬

•(None)

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a biography of Corrie Ten Boom who was a Dutch resistance fighter, along with her family, during WWII. She survived after being captured and spending time in a concentration camp. This biography reads like a novel so it held my interest and the photos of the family during the war were appreciated. It is sad and depressing at times but Corrie’s strong faith played a major part in her perseverance and survival.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally well crafted and deeply affecting.
I have long admired Corrie Ten Boom since first reading her Memoir as a middle schooler and often quote lines from that book. She is a true hero of mine. I was delighted to learn even more about her family, their watch shop, and her father in particular. What an extraordinary man and a lasting legacy for all those who knew them. How they cared for one another and the Jewish men and women they hid, no matter the cost, was nothing short of extraordinary. They felt such a kinship and kindness towards God’s chosen.
Otto, Betsy, and Corrie will not soon leave you… and you won’t want them to.
Fantastic!!!

[Berd ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel so….🧍🏼‍♀️ when I don’t like books like these ‘cause this is someone’s real life but I didn’t really feel much?
— I don’t get the point of the title when to be honest that’s the least interesting fact about Corrie.
— There were so many other characters povs, it didn’t really feel like it was just Corrie’s story.
Also why were Anne Frank and Audrey Hepburn mentioned when they were in no way related to Corrie?? Never interacted.. don’t think they even walked the same street but yet their povs were included??
I should’ve just read Corrie’s books.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story about an amazing woman!! Full of facts and such a heart warming story of triumph, survival and how faith can carry you through.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Corrie Ten Boom's story is so inspiring! This book, like many others written by and about her, shows how God sustained her, gave her great faith, and used her in many people's lives to bring them to Christ.

I see in other reviews some think that this book includes too much info about other people during this time period, but I personally enjoyed all the little side anecdotes about others.

[Amy | Foxy Blogs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the account of Corrie ten Boom's remarkable life. As a Dutch watchmaker, she courageously jeopardized herself and her family by sheltering Jewish individuals in their home to protect them during the Holocaust. Eventually, she was apprehended for harboring Jewish people and was sent to the concentration camps. The narrative spans both that challenging period and the aftermath.

While I have reservations about the writing style, which occasionally felt disjointed and made it challenging to follow, my admiration for Corrie ten Boom compels me to give this story a rating of 4 stars.

Audiobook source: Hoopla
Narrator: Christa Lewis
Length: 8H 49M

[Julie Gentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

My bar was set high since The Hiding Place is one of my very favorite books. But The Watchmaker’s Daughter did not disappoint. Larry Loftis’s account of Nazi-occupied Netherlands, the Dutch Resistance, and particularly the ten Boom family’s story, read like a novel and filled in so many details of Corrie ten Boom’s life during and after WW2. I appreciated that Loftis added in information of others living during that time, such as Anne Frank and Audrey Hepburn. I still recommend reading The Hiding Place first (and I love The Diary of Anne Frank too) for the fullest, most moving experience, but then you must read this one!

[Johnnie Each · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely biography of the Ten Boom family. This story is such a surreal encouragement; I was close to tears several times. However the writing was nothing special- it was mostly the events that were moving- and if you're either going to read this or The Hiding Place, I'd point you to The Hiding Place.

[Star Gater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: History | Nonfiction (Adult) | Religion & Spirituality
Published: 03/07/23

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for accepting my request to read and review The Watchmaker's Daughter.

Once again I am humbled by a beautiful piece of history. The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom is one that people think they know, myself included. This book reads like a history textbook possibly upper middle grade to teen, early young adult. The author touches on the atrocities without the brutal details -- starving can be interpreted differently based on age and life experience. I appreciated being able to see her life and what she went through in what felt like real time.

This would be a nice gift to a young reader transitioning into nonfiction. It is a nice book for adult readers who are familiar with a name.

[Melanie Dulaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Corrie ten Boom, Righteous Among the Nations recipient, is the person I find most inspiring. She and her family put themselves at risk to save others when they could have played it safe during World War II and likely avoided the loss and suffering that their Resistance activities virtually guaranteed. Holland was supposed to be allowed to maintain their neutrality as Hitler began his land grab, killing or imprisoning those he deemed unworthy to be part of his Germanic kingdom. But eventually, citizens in the Netherlands had to either bury their heads, flee, or take action against the evil that was sweeping Europe and THE WATCHMAKER’S DAUGHTER is story of a family that put their own lives at risk so that others could live. Many will remember Corrie ten Boom’s own account of the family’s actions in THE HIDING PLACE, a best seller from the early 70s, and may fear that this work is merely a rehash of that powerful book; that was my fear when I started it. But Larry Loftis spent countless hours researching far beyond the scope of Corrie’s own account, including more about the background of the Jews hidden in the ten Boom home, the Resistance efforts by other ten Booms, and adds much more of the military history of the time. He also fits Anne Frank’s timeline into Corrie’s story as well as observations and experiences of Aubrey Hepburn. While that may seem a bit off topic, those additions are seamlessly integrated into the main focus.

The publisher lists this title as an “adult” book but it would fit into the WWII section of junior high and high school libraries easily. The violence is not graphic, sexual assaults on prisoners are not included, and there is no profanity. Corrie ten Boom and her family attribute their motivation to do all they could to rescue those in need and their ability to endure the Nazi persecution to faith in God. This faith is an integral part of their lives and Loftis includes the depth of this faith in THE WATCHMAKER’S DAUGHTER.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure why this book was written. Corrie ten Boom was a spiritual giant and a great heroine of the 2nd World War, but her own books already told her story of a life well-lived. The Watchmaker's Daughter, aside from the reductionist title, (Corrie was a professional watchmaker - one of the first women to qualify in her country - in her own right. While her father was a powerful influence on her, she should not have been described in such a patronizing way) was not really her story. Most of the book dealt with history and other people's experiences. Only a couple of brief chapters focused on Corrie and they barely scratched the surface. While other Dutch Resistance workers, like Hans Poley, are worth discussing, they should not have occupied so much space in a book supposedly devoted to Corrie ten Boom. I found it particularly annoying that the author kept inserting bits about Anne Frank and Audrey Hepburn, neither of whom ever met any of the ten Booms, just because they both lived in the Netherlands during the war. The material was interesting enough that I read it all, but I kept hoping for more depth and focus. I have not read any of Larry Loftis's other books and I will not bother after this one. Disappointing.

[Danette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook and it reads like a spy novel. The Watchmaker's Daughter reveals much more of the life and work of Corrie ten Boom than what she wrote in The Hiding Place. I was inspired by the ten Boom's family's faith and how they shared the gospel with everyone they crossed paths with—even seeing Nazis come to faith in Christ. What a testimony!
Loftis writes about Corrie's work in the Dutch Resistance. I didn't realize how much the whole family was involved. Her work after the war to help victims heal was inspiring as well as her teaching on forgiveness.
The author also weaves in a little of the experiences of other famous Dutch citizens such as Audrey Hepburn and Anne Frank.

You won't regret spending time with the ten Boom family by reading this book.

2024 A biography