The Hiding Place is a first-hand account of life in a Nazi-occupied country during World War II. It is a story of family and love and faith, set against a backdrop of evil and hatred and terror. Corrie Ten Boom is a beloved figure in recent Christian history due to her writing and speaking about her experiences and the way that faith perseveres and is made stronger through adversity. The author’s writing is heartfelt, and her words are deeply emotional and draw the reader into sympathy as they travel with her, in a small way, through her story. The religious will find much to love in the way that Ten Boom’s story is one of faith, but even readers who are not religious but are interested in history will find this book interesting, as the eyewitness and experiences accounts of the Nazi occupation are a treasure trove of historical facts. Her story is one of horrific events and desperate, seemingly hopeless, circumstances, but through it all runs a theme of hope, forgiveness, and the love of Jesus Christ.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: None

Note: The word “retarded” is used to talk about mentally challenged individuals, in a descriptive/non-derogatory manner. The word “gypsy” is used a few times to refer to a person of Romani descent, which may offend modern audiences but was not meant in a derogatory manner when the book was written. Neither of these are tallied.

Violence/Gore: A few reports of deaths by natural causes; many reports of murders; report of a fight; a character has injuries after being attacked; a baby dies, and children see and touch its corpse; a discussion about death; characters hear bombings and dogfights a few times; a man has bloody injuries after a fight; report of a house of worship destroyed, with implied arson; a few reports of property damage, some including entire towns or infrastructure; report of animals killed; a character dies from exposure to the elements; characters consider whether or how to kill a person; a few verbal threats; people, some of them helpless, are beaten a few times; characters have wounds after being beaten and tortured in a few instances; people are tortured with environmental factors (cold, filth, lack of or spoiled food, vermin, etc.) many times; a few reports of a babies dying; hundreds are killed in a mass execution; a few reports of deaths without specifics; characters hear screams and the sound of beatings a few times; a vehicle containing people is shot at; characters find corpses a few times; people are taken away, and other characters know they are going away to be killed, a character coughs blood while ill; characters have bloody wounds after a bombing; a character throws a bloody bandage at another.

Sex/Nudity: Report of woman forced to be naked; a father and child have a brief and vague discussion about sex; report of female relative having a talk about sex with a woman before she is married; a girl has a crush on a boy; characters flirt verbally; report of prostitution; women are naked in a non-sexual context a few times; report of a punishment where the person is naked.

Mature Subject Matter:

World War II and the Holocaust; extermination camps; Nazism; religious, political, racial, and cultural discrimination; terminal illness; death (parent, relative, friend, child, sibling, spouse, pet); arson; murder; theft; kidnapping; imprisonment; torture; prostitution (reported).

Alcohol/Drug Use:

Characters use drugs in a medical context; poison is used.