Imogen Matthews is an award-winning author, best known for her historical fiction novels that are often set in Holland during the Second World War. Matthews, who currently resides in Oxford, England, has a deeply personal connection to the subject matter of her books. She was born in Holland to a Dutch mother and an English father and moved to England as a baby. Despite the change in countries, Matthews maintained a strong connection to her Dutch heritage, and her frequent holidays to Holland with her husband and two children served as the inspiration for many of her novels.
Matthews' first foray into historical fiction and young adult novels was with "The Hidden Village," a story set in the Veluwe woods, a beautiful part of Holland that she has visited frequently over the past 30 years. It was during one of these visits that she discovered the story of a real hidden village that provided shelter in underground huts for Jews during WW2. This discovery, combined with her mother's vivid stories of life in WW2 Holland, served as the inspiration for many of her novels about bravery, courage, resilience, and love.
Following the success of "The Hidden Village," Matthews went on to write "Hidden in the Shadows," a novel that tells the story of two young people who are brutally torn apart and must find a way to be together against all odds. She also wrote "The Girl Across the Wire Fence," a novel based on the unforgettable tale of two young lovers who risked everything to keep hope alive in the very depths of hell - the little known Dutch concentration camp called Kamp Amersfoort. "The Boy in the Attic" is a dual timeline novel in which Anna discovers a bent sixpenny coin on a silver chain amongst her father's possessions that leads her on a journey to discover the grandmother and grandfather she didn't know she had in wartime Holland. "The Dutch Girls" is a new series based on the true story of three female activists who worked in the Dutch resistance. The first book in the series, "The Girl from the Resistance" was published in October 2023. Matthews' WW2 novels are published by Bookouture, a digital imprint of Hachette.