The Assault

by Harry Mulisch

It is the winter of 1945, the last dark days of World War II in occupied Holland. A Nazi collaborator, infamous for his cruelty, is assassinated as he rides home on his bicycle. The Germans retaliate by burning down the home of an innocent family; only twelve-year-old Anton survives.

Based on actual events, The Assault traces the complex repercussions of this horrific incident on Anton's life. Determined to forget, he opts for a carefully normal existence: a prudent marriage, a successful career, and colorless passivity. But the past keeps breaking through, in relentless memories and in chance encounters with others who were involved in the assassination and its aftermath, until Anton finally learns what really happened that night in 1945—and why.

• ISBN10: 0394744209
• ISBN13: 9780394744209
• Publish Date: 12 March 1986 (first published 12 May 1985)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 16 April 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Pantheon Books Inc
• Edition: American ed
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 192
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780394744209

Reviews

[mary]

My reviews tend to be short. But overall I really enjoyed this book. Short, sparse, not melodramatic or overly sentimental, it tells the story of a boy who's orphaned during the Second World War. His family is slaughtered because of a misunderstanding, but it's the kindness of a stranger on that same night that overshadows the main character for life.