Alta Halverson Seymour

A fictionalized portrait of the floods of 1953 in the Netherlands, when the dikes in several parts of the country failed and the sea flooded back into reclaimed lands. Sanitized (there is worry about character death and at least one tragedy, but all off-screen), and with younger characters serving as heroes-- both the teenager who wants to leave the farm to become an engineer who labors "manfully" at rescue and at the dikes, and the (younger? older?) girl who searches for her missing aunt-by-marriage in a small boat.

Reading it in 2022, years after the floods of Hurricane Katrina and other climate-fueled displacements the resilience of the family and their neighbors strikes a somewhat sour note, but it's a 1970s kids' book. It's also true that pre-1950s housing was more easily reclaimed from water damage, but the farmers would absolutely be struggling to rescue their fields from the salt damage, as described in the book.… (mais)

From: https://bethlehembooks.com/tangled-skein-e-576?sku=141-E where they have an eBook available.

"For years Norway has been under Nazi occupation, but now that World War II is finally over, Solveig Strand is returning home. As a ten-year-old, she had been sent to Scotland five years before, and in all this time she has received no letters from her parents, brothers, sister or beloved grandmother, Besta. Are they even alive? On the boat sailing to Norway are other Norwegians from Solveig’s village of Helsing, including Einar Utgaard and Ragna Skolvold, who had both been friends of her older sister and brothers. The returning refugees do not know exactly what awaits them at home, but all are eager to begin the rebuilding of their lives. Upon their arrival in Helsing, Solveig is distressed to find the Strand house empty and partially destroyed, but she is even more shocked by the cold and malevolent suspicion surrounding the Strand name. Circumstances of accusation and distrust continue to pile up one upon another, until Solveig is reminded of her Besta’s words about untangling a snarled skein of yarn, “Just get a hold of one end and start working.” Confronting, at first, the doubt of even her friends, Einar and Ragna, Solveig sets herself to follow Besta’s advice. Normally quiet and shy, Solveig determines to take whatever action is necessary to find her family and to discover the real story about their activities during the Nazi regime. But there is a risk in this pursuit, for though the occupation is officially at an end, deadly malice is yet at work—malice now aimed directly at Solveig. This tale of loyalty and betrayal is vividly played out against the background of a country struggling to start anew after the devastation of war.

Original publication date: 1946, Original book: 247 pages"… (mais)

From cover: "How the wind blows tonight! As if it wants to tear the house up by the roots," says Tante Anna. But the van Rossem family isn't worried. Isn't their house strong and solid? And the dikes that hold back the sea--aren't they strong, too? That very night they waken to the shriek of sirens and the clang of church bells. They hear an even more frightening sound, too--the rush of water flooding the house. And then comes the cry that strikes terror into the heart of every Dutch boy and girl: "Get to your attic. The dike gave way!"… (mais)