About this item
Twenty-five years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her role as UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. According to her son, Luca Dotti, "The war made my mother who she was." Audrey Hepburn's war included participation in the Dutch Resistance, working as a doctor's assistant during the "Bridge Too Far" battle of Arnhem, the brutal execution of her uncle, and the ordeal of the Hunger Winter of 1944. She also had to contend with the fact that her father was a Nazi agent and her mother was pro-Nazi for the first two years of the occupation. But the war years also brought triumphs as Audrey became Arnhem's most famous young ballerina. Audrey's own reminiscences, new interviews with people who knew her in the war, wartime diaries, and research in classified Dutch archives shed light on the riveting, untold story of Audrey Hepburn under fire in World War II. Also included is a section of color and black-and-white photos. Many of these images are from Audrey's personal collection and are published here for the first time.
About the Author
Robert Matzen is an American author who specializes in Hollywood history and World War II, combining meticulous research with spellbinding narrative. His ninth book, "Warrior: Audrey Hepburn," was written in collaboration with Hepburn's son Luca Dotti. "Warrior" complements "Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn in World War II" and captures a fearless woman who turned experiences learned as a teenaged Resistance fighter in the Netherlands into a quest to "give voice to the voiceless" as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in war zones on multiple continents. His previous books include "Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe," which shot to bestseller status during the 2016 holiday season and continues to earn media coverage, including national television appearances and an essay by Robert in the Wall Street Journal.Matzen leveraged his 10 years working at NASA Headquarters in aeronautics communications for his sixth book, "Fireball: Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3," which rose to #2 on the Amazon bestseller list for Biography, earned praise from the Smithsonian, and won the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Award for Biography. With every book, Matzen gets personal with history. For "Dutch Girl" this meant spending weeks in the Netherlands talking to the people who lived through the war with Audrey Hepburn. For "Mission" he flew in B-17 and B-24 bombers and walked the muddy fields of Jimmy Stewart's base at Tibenham, England. And for "Fireball," he famously climbed a mountain--Mount Potosi, Nevada--to explore the wreckage of TWA Flight 3.
