What Did You Do In The War, Sister?: How Catholic Nuns in Belgium Defied and Deceived the Nazis in World War Two is a World War II Historical Fictionnote novel by Dennis J. Turner. Despite the nonfiction-sounding name, the book is a fictionalized, composited account of real events documented by the records of the nuns of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
in occupied Belgium and Italy during the war.
Sister Christina is an American member of the Sisters of Our Lady Of Namur, and by unfortunate circumstance finds herself choosing to stay in German-occupied Belgium for most of the duration of the Second World War. What follows is a tale of guile and resourcefulness which wouldn't be out of place in a bog-standard WWII story, only with quick-witted nuns instead of grizzled army men as Sister Christina and her convent do everything in their power to help those in need.
This book contains examples of:
- Composite Character: Most of the things which happen to Sister Christina over the course of the book in actuality happened to various different nuns in separate convents who were corresponding with each other during the war, and she exists as a way of showcasing these events happening to a single character to make the narrative flow more clearly.
- Creator Provincialism: Sister Christina was raised in Ohio and has experience as a farmhand, which not-so-coincidentally happens to be the same upbringing as the author of the book, Dennis Turner.
- Fictional Counterpart: The Sisters of Our Lady is a stand-in for the real life Sisters of Notre Dame, to make more clear the divide in the book between fact and fiction.
- Last Chance to Quit: Downplayed. Mother General has the power to suggest that Sister Christina return to America as things in Europe are heating up in 1938, but she does not make such an ultimatum. However, Sister Christina still passionately requests to stay in her convent in Namur, and she acquiesces.
- Naughty Nuns: Exploited. When Sister Christina is tasked with distracting German officers inspecting the convent to prevent them from discovering hidden refugees, she is instructed by Sister Ursula to appear as though she is flirting with them in order to buy the refugees precious seconds to hide. Sister Christina protests due to her vow of Chastity, but Sister Ursula abates her concerns by explaining she is not doing it with an immoral intent.
- Nun Too Holy: Defied. Multiple nuns in the book perform (and are sometimes forced to perform) somewhat unsavory actions, but they always make a point of not doing anything which would actively go against their faith. Sister Christina has quite a few such moments, but always manages to reconcile with herself in the end that she is carrying out God's will.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Zig-zagged. Most of the events in the book are verifiable fact, but they did not all conveniently happen in the same place and time for a single character to experience them. One of the largest aspects of this is that despite the entire story focusing on Belgium, quite a few of the described events transpired in convents in Italy.
