Glowing Book Reviews for The Truth Was Different

A Compelling and Unapologetic Portrayal of a Flawed Woman’s Life and Choices

Crocker recounts the life of her grandmother in the Netherlands before and during World War II. The subject of this biography is the author’s paternal grandmother, Marie Johanna “Rita” Ouwerkerk-Wallig…

Rita was born in 1908 in Amsterdam and spent much of her life in the Netherlands, where she was raised by a strict mother and self-absorbed father. She eventually married a man named Frederik and became a mother. When Freddie fell terminally ill in 1938, Rita … made the difficult decision to place her sons in a children’s home in Driebergen.

Everything changed in 1940, when she awoke to the sound of German planes flying overhead. When…Jewish people were required to register—Rita chose to defy the order (“You…might get away with it. You have a Gentile surname and don’t look Jewish”). This decision kept her from being identified as Jewish, but it did not spare her from food shortages, financial hardships, and the chaos and tragedies unfolding around her.

While she navigated a new and complicated relationship with a man named Ernst, Rita’s brother and his family disappeared into the camps; Rita remained unsure of their fate as she fought to keep moving forward.

Crocker’s biography brings to life the story of a complicated and intriguing woman. Readers will find themselves rooting for Rita in one scene in which she stands up for herself against oppression, only to be shocked by how she speaks to her children in the next.

The complexity of Rita’s character, and her relatable humanity, render the story compulsively readable for anyone interested in history and unreliable narrators.

Praise From an Influential Messianic Jewish Leader

How we respond to tragic figures reveals a lot about ourselves. It is all too easy to superimpose present-day morality on the past and pass judgment on sin and vice from a white tower of holy-than-thou integrity. Likewise, it is all too easy to excuse the moral failure of present-day reality by laying the blame in the past. Perhaps it is best that we each, in honesty, lay all our cards on the table, knowing that we are all the products of our history; the question really is: can we learn from it? Rita’s story is a lament of adverse lived experience. Rita is a tragic figure, caught in a story of lovelessness. Abandoned by her parents, with the father’s literal move to the Dutch East Indies and the mother’s emotional selfishness, the story of Rita is not a sweet one. But life isn’t full of sweet stories that turn reality into fantasy. This true story unfolds as a diary, giving it a real-life lived experience. Born from lovelessness, Rita’s life is one of forbidden love in forbidden relationships set against the dark shadow of the Nazi rise to power.

 Having read Rita’s story, I feel like I have walked alongside her, watching her rebellious, irreverent, and wild nature blend with a wondrous hope, a desire for light to shine in the darkness. At times, wanting to shout at her as she made some terrible decisions. At others, anticipating that this next chapter would bring fresh hope and light. The reader is challenged by a story where so much is beyond the central characters’ control. And yet each character bears responsibility for their own decisions. This is a story of very real characters, flawed and not perfect, much like ourselves. We all reap what we sow, and yet, the Christian hope is that there is always more.

 Can we see God at work in Rita’s life? Like in the book of Esther, God remains hidden for much of the story. He is rarely spoken about except in desperate prayer, often in the bitter night when prayer is truly needed. Faith was never brought to Rita through her immediate family. Yet His unseen hand is revealed at the conclusion of the book, as Caroline talks with her grandmother and an unwanted portrait, long forgotten, reunites past with present. Reminding us that faith and the Divine presence can never be removed from any human story. A loveless history leaves us longing for a world where love reigns eternal—the hope of every believer. Rita’s story also challenges us about the nature of forgiveness. I commend you to read her story and be challenged by the book’s final question: How can Jesus forgive me when you don’t know what I’ve done? The Lord’s answer that breaks through every tragedy is … ‘it doesn’t matter’!

 Caroline has retold her grandmother’s story in a truly amazing and challenging way. A crafty blend of tension, despair and hope. Rita’s story is her story and the way Caroline told it makes it our story, too.

–The Revd. Dr. Aaron Eime, General Director of The Church’s Ministry among Jewish People

A Glowing Book Review by a Psychologist

The Truth Was Different offers a compelling example of how extreme circumstances shape both character and behavior. Through Rita’s life in the occupied Netherlands, Caroline Crocker reveals that history is not only about what happened to people, but, more importantly, about who they became because of it.

The book evokes sadness, compassion, frustration, and hope as readers struggle with Rita’s choices while gradually understanding the experiences that shaped them. It avoids easy judgments and invites readers to hold personal responsibility and human compassion together. Trauma does not merely produce symptoms. It can become woven into identity, changing how people understand themselves, relate to others, and give or receive love.

I recommend The Truth Was Different to readers interested in World War II history, trauma, resilience, complex family relationships, and generational patterns. It will be particularly valuable for book clubs, faith communities, clinicians, educators, and families seeking a deeper understanding of identity, responsibility, forgiveness, and healing.

–Jonathan Hartiens, PhD, MBA, Clinical Psychologist, Dept of Veterans Affairs

A Book Review by a Bishop

The Truth Was Different is a moving and at times difficult story of suffering, survival, and the choices people make in the complexities and traumas of life. Caroline Crocker tells her grandmother’s story with honesty and compassion, neither minimizing her failures nor ignoring the extraordinary circumstances that shaped her. In doing so, she reminds us that we rarely know the whole story of another person’s life, and that we should therefore be slow to judge and quick to extend mercy.

What moved me most is the question that quietly runs beneath Rita’s story: can a person be truly known with all her wounds, failures, and regrets and still be loved? For Christians, that question takes us to the very heart of grace. The Truth Was Different is a compelling, carefully researched, and courageously told story.

–The Rt. Revd. Chris Warner, Bishop in the ACNA