Postcards from No Man's Land

Postcards from No Man’s Land is a young adult historical novel by Aidan Chambers. First published in 1999, this Carnegie Medal winner is about a boy who visits his grandfather’s grave in Amsterdam, where he discovers that his grandfather’s past was more complex than he ever could’ve imagined. Alongside the Carnegie Medal, Postcards from No Man’s Land won the 2003 Michael L Printz Award and the Boston Globe-horn Book Award. It’s the fifth book in the Dance Sequence series. Although Chambers is now a bestselling author, he couldn’t read fluently until he was nine years old. Before writing full-time, he spent time as a monk and worked as a teacher.

The protagonist is Jacob Todd. Jacob is 17 and lives in England. He travels to Amsterdam where he plans on staying with family friends. While in Amsterdam, he wants to visit his grandfather’s grave. His grandfather served as a soldier during WWII. Jacob wants to honor him and learn more about the war.

Jacob doesn’t get off to a great start in Amsterdam. Someone steals Jacob’s backpack, and when he recovers it, he discovers a random matchbox and a condom inside. A message in the matchbox warns him to take care in Amsterdam because nothing is what it seems. Thoroughly freaked out, Jacob hurries back to where he’s staying.



The narrative jumps back to 1944, and a woman called Geertrui narrates the next chapter. She’s 19 and excited because the British recently landed in Amsterdam. The British should liberate the Netherlands from German control. However, nothing goes smoothly and it’s not long before wounded British soldiers descend on Geertrui’s home.

This is how Geertrui finally meets Jacob’s grandfather, also called Jacob. He’s too wounded to fight, and he stays behind in Geertrui’s house when his squadron leaves. Geertrui doesn’t want him to die but she knows there’s only so much she can do for him. The problem is that she’s falling for him, and when it’s time to evacuate, she can’t leave him behind.

We jump back to Jacob in the present. Before he makes it home after the theft, someone mugs him and steals all his money. An elderly woman finds him and takes him for coffee. She talks about how no one helps each other anymore. Everyone is selfish. She remembers how, during WWII, camaraderie, kindness, and social bonding got everyone through the hunger and the tough times.



Jacob finally finds where he’s supposed to be staying. He discovers that Geertrui is gravely ill and she won’t live much longer. Before she dies, she desperately wants to see Jacob. Apparently, Geertrui wants to tell him things about his family. Jacob feels like an intruder because Geertrui is so ill, but the others make him go and visit her.

Jacob arrives at the nursing home. He finds out that Geertrui has terminal stomach cancer. It’s so painful that she’s arranged to die early, in nine days, with medical help.
Although Jacob doesn’t know much about euthanasia, he thinks it could be a good thing. He’s sure of it when he first sees Geertrui, because she’s in terrible pain. However, Geertrui seems happy when she meets Jacob. He reminds Geertrui of his grandfather.

The next day, Jacob attends a memorial service for fallen WWII servicemen. It’s a somber and respectful occasion and it reminds Jacob how lucky he is to be alive. When he first sees his grandfather’s grave, his emotions overwhelm him. Although he never met his grandfather, seeing the gravesite reminds him that the war was real, and as terrible as it seems.



The narrative returns to 1944. Now, Geertrui and her family live in a farmhouse far away from their real home. They managed to get Jacob there, and he’s recovering in the farmhouse with them. The more time Jacob spends with Geertrui, the more he cares for her. It’s not long before they fall in love, despite the odds against them. They spend a few weeks together in bliss and Geertrui gives him her virginity.

One day, Jacob falls and doesn’t get back up. Geertrui goes to him, but it’s too late. No one knows how, but Jacob died suddenly. Geertrui mourns her lost love and the life with him she’ll never have. She can’t mourn too long, though, because Jacob has a wife back home in England, and all his belongings must be returned to her.

Two months later, Geertrui knows that she’s pregnant. She doesn’t know how to tell her family because she knows they’ll make her give the baby up. She marries another man called Dirk who loves her. Dirks wants her to pretend the baby is his. Geertrui agrees but only if Dirk promises to stay home and help her look after the baby.



Geertrui kept some of Jacob’s belongings. Now, she wants Jacob to have them because they’re family heirlooms. She doesn’t want Jacob to see her die in a few days, and he promises he won’t be there. She wants him to only have happy memories of her. Jacob returns to England and Geertrui passes away.