Guy Simonis

Her Majesty's Boy Scout: at Home, Behind Enemy Lines Guy Simonis

Mark Zonder, a boy scout from Leiden, attends the 1937 World Jamboree held near his home town in the Netherlands. From there, he meets Frans van Zandt - the volunteer director general of the Boy Scout movement, who also happens to be Queen Wilhelmina's royal 'fixer'. As the war nears, van Zandt is charged with carrying out several royal 'initiatives' and recruits Mark to join his organization in pursuit of the Queen's objectives. As the second world war envelops Europe, Wilhelmina moves the seat of the Netherlands government to England, Mark is swept along and is tasked with establishing and recruiting agents to form a Dutch Resistance movement. Then, his ultimate mission. He himself is dropped into occupied Netherlands in 1941. For the first time since war broke out, he is at home... but behind enemy lines. And so begins his cross continental pursuit eluding German forces and American FBI agents, accompanied by a twelve year old boy who must be protected ¬- at all costs. Her Majesty's Boy Scout offers an insightful look at the war from a civilian's perspective and a colourful characterization of Europe and the war period. The cast of fictional characters is interspersed with real historical counterparts. The story unfolds as a sub plot among the factual historical events that made world headlines. The combination is compelling and makes for an intriguing 'what if' scenario that readers will ponder long after putting the book down.