![]() ![]() Despite Corrie’s simplicity of style, or perhaps because of it, she tells her life story with eloquence and cogency. She is unfashionable, unworldly, narrating in a simple style, which belies her intelligence and wit. ![]() Corrie is a middle-aged spinster who lives with her father and sister, Betsie. The protagonist, Corrie ten Boom, begins her narrative on the eve of World War II with a joyful tone, which makes her appear blissfully ignorant of international politics. She can hardly believe that her uneventful life would change so quickly or that her childhood lessons would be of great use to her. Moreover, God uses these experiences as preparation for future tasks. She reflects that memories are more important for the future than the past. Most of the group tries to make Gutlieber feel comfortable and less awkward, while some hope that the police will restore order in Germany.Īt the close of the day, Corrie lies in her bed and remembers her childhood. Willem explains to Corrie in Dutch that the man escaped from Munich in a milk truck after teenagers set fire to his beard. As everyone stares at the man’s burnt face, Willem introduces him as Herr Gutlieber in German. Suddenly Willem enters the room, accompanied by a thirty-year old Jewish man in traditional broad-brimmed hat and long black coat. Someone claims that war will not affect Holland, while others depend on German trade and would suffer. Corrie listens to conversations in the house about Hitler’s intentions and the threat of war. Most of the Jewish watch suppliers have gone mysteriously out of business. Back in 1927, Willem saw the growing evil and rising contempt for human life and wrote about it in his doctoral thesis. Now there are young Jewish refugees looking for shelter against the rising threat of Hitler and the Nazis. He works as head of the Dutch Reformed Church’s program for Jewish outreach, raising money to house elderly Jews in his town. An ordained minister, Willem lives with his wife and children about thirty miles away in Hilversum. Corrie jokes with Peter and wonders where her older brother Willem is. Pickwick arrives, initially scaring people with his face, but eventually winning them over by using his stomach to hold his coffee cup. Nollie excitedly promises that the whole family, including Corrie’s favorite nephew Peter, will come to the Beje soon.īack at the house, Father is busy playing with the children who enjoy listening to the dozens of watches ticking, which the jovial old man carries with him to regulate them. In her present voice, Corrie remarks that she can hardly believe that so much suffering - including the death of her father and disgraceful treatment of his sister - would follow such happiness.Īfterwards the whole of Haarlem shows up to celebrate with this well loved family and Corrie has to go to her sister Nollie, her husband and six children’s house to fetch more coffee cups. The group then reminisces about Mama ten Boom and her delight in special occasions such as these. He arrived at the shop years ago after being a traveling clock repairman. ![]() Christoffels, the repairman arrives midway through, surprising everyone with a brand new suit, although he normally wears shabby clothes. Afterwards they have scripture reading according to tradition. The two sisters arrange the flowers in a room full of ticking watches, as Corrie reflects that the family is finally catching onto more effective advertising methods although they are too generous to make much money from the business.Īt 7:45 Hans the apprentice arrives, at 8:00 Toos the book keeper comes and as he does every day at 8:10 Father ten Boom comes down to breakfast. A beloved family friend who is generous and kind, Pickwick gets his nickname from the work by Charles Dickens on account of his incredibly ugly face. In her party finery, Corrie hurries to answer the doorbell, receiving the first of many bouquets of flowers, rather than Herman Sluring or Pickwick as she expected. Nevertheless, Corrie dresses in relatively modern fashions compared to her mother’s generation who wore black from the neck down. Unmarried and forty-five years old, she feels less graceful and slender than her sister Betsie who is seven years older. In a small house called the Beje in Haarlem, Holland, Corrie gazes in the mirror, waltzes to her closet and gets into her new maroon dress, while reflecting on the changing times. Corrie ten Boom wakes up one early January morning in 1937 to discover that there will be exceptionally sunny weather for her family’s watch shop’s one-hundredth birthday party. ![]()
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