Harry & Sieny
Overleven in Verzet en Liefde
A narrative of survival, resistance and love during the Second World War.
View book
Narrative non-fiction
Stories carried forward.
Esther Shaya is an Amsterdam-based author whose work preserves and shares stories from the Jewish community in the Netherlands.
Through narrative history, biography and archival research, she brings individual lives back into view and connects them with the wider history of the Netherlands.
Featured book
Harry & Sieny
Overleven in Verzet en Liefde
A story of survival, resistance and love, told through meticulous research and deeply personal history.
Published work
Books and historical narratives
Esther Shaya’s work centres on lives shaped by Jewish history in the Netherlands. Her publications combine archival research with intimate, accessible storytelling.
Wacht Maar
Het veelbewogen leven van Henriëtte Pimentel
A narrative account of the extraordinary life of Henriëtte Pimentel. (Co-Author: Frank Hemminga)
View bookAgenda
Upcoming events
Lectures, interviews and conversations about history, remembrance and the stories behind Esther’s books.
Approved press quotation will appear here.
Awaiting exact quotation and named source
Meet the Author
Esther Shaya is an Amsterdam-based author, dedicated to preserving and sharing stories of the Jewish community in the Netherlands. She is the author of two acclaimed Dutch-language books, Harry & Sieny: Overleven in Verzet en Liefde and Wacht Maar; Het veelbewogen leven van Henriette Pimentel (with co-author Frank Hemminga). In early 2027, her newest book, Angels of Amsterdam, co-authored with Susan B. Katz, will be published by Hachette's Little, Brown imprint.
From 2015 until 2025, Shaya has served as a board member, editor, and author for the Jewish Houses Foundation, contributing to its annual publications that document the lives of Dutch Jewish families before the Second World War. She has written eight historical narratives for the foundation's book series.
Shaya has been interviewed on Dutch national radio and television and has spoken on numerous occasions in the Netherlands, the United States, and Australia. She lives in Amsterdam.
Read the full biographyContact
Contact Esther
Enquiries and invitations
For speaking invitations, interviews, literary events or general correspondence, please get in touch.