The Jøssing Affair is a historical novel by J.L. Oakley about the last months of the Nazi occupation of Norway during World War 2. It focuses on Fjellstad, a small fishing village on Norway’s west coast, and how the Nazi occupation affected its people. The central character is Tore Haugland whose alias is Jens Hansen. Haugland/Hansen is a Norwegian, trained by the British, whose mission is to keep the British informed of Nazi activity in and near Fjellstad, while also recruiting other Norwegians into the resistance movement.Haugland/Hansen is masquerading as a deaf fisherman, even though he is not deaf. Fishermen were an extremely valuable part of the resistance movement as they were able to bring agents, weapons, and supplies into Norway from the sea, while also using this same network to smuggle those in danger out of Norway.Most of the people in Fjellstad were ordinary Norwegian’s trying to survive a tough time. The novel illustrates their hardships very well. While most were supportive of the Jøssing’s even Fjellstad had some Quislings. Some actively collaborated with a fervor equal to the most rabid Nazi, while others were unknowingly seduced into aiding the Nazis not realizing they were betraying their country and neighbors until it was too late. The book does an outstanding job of illustrating this social dynamic and its consequences as it follows the characters and the community through the eventual capitulation of the Nazis and capture of the Quislings.World War 2, Norway, and the resistance movement have always been of interest to me. I have read most of the factual accounts that are available in English. I stumbled on this book by accident, and I am so glad that I did, as it aided my understanding of what the Norwegian people went through during World War 2.In summary, The Jøssing Affair is a historical novel, sharing a story about an extremely heroic people surviving under the extremes and terror of Nazi occupation. It is a story that more people need to know as authoritarian and tyrannical governments are again threatening humanity and all that is good in the world. If we do not understand and learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat it. While the book is long, I would not want to miss any of the detailed images it creates of the epitome of both good and evil. I give The Jøssing Affair five stars - *****.VOCABULARY & HISTORICAL NOTE: The word Jøssing originated during World War 2 as a label for a Norwegian patriot, the opposite of a Quisling, the word used to identify a Norwegian traitor or an individual that was collaborating with the Nazis. The term Quisling came from the name of Vidkun Quisling, Norway’s most infamous Nazi traitor, who was later convicted of treason and executed. The Jøssing label was the result of an event that occurred on February 16, 1940, in the Jøssingfjorden, when the crew of a British destroyer freed prisoners being held on the Admiral Graf Spree, a German cruiser hiding in the fjord. The Norwegian traitors tried to neutralize the use of the word Quisling as a synonym for traitor by attempting to popularize the word Jøssing to label “anti-Nazis.” Instead of helping the cause of the traitors, the majority of Norway’s population, who were anti-Nazi, used the term Jøssing with great pride as a recognition of their patriotism and commitment to Norway’s resistance movement. The Quisling government banned the word Jøssing from official use.