The Dutch revolt led to mass migration in Europe and displaced thousands of people from different confessions, but historians have hitherto paid attention exclusively to the exile experience of Protestant groups. Geert Janssen studies the flight, exile and return of Catholic refugees from the Low Countries and thus draws attention to this long neglected group. From 1572 onwards, several thousand Catholics fled from rebel-held territories to Catholic cities such as Amsterdam, Douai and Cologne. In Douai and Cologne, Catholic priests and former Habsburg office-holders encountered a more militant form of Catholicism promoted by the Jesuits. Here their paths also crossed with Catholic refugees from England. Throughout the book Janssen rightly emphasises the transnational dimensions of Catholic exile. The shared fate with exiled English Catholics, correspondence networks, glorification of martyrdom and active exile printing presses in these asylum towns shaped a shared discourse on exile as well as a vibrant and militant Catholic identity. The exile experience of Catholics, as Janssen masterfully argues, is key to understanding the emergence of two political entities in the Low Countries with very different religious and cultural outlooks. The Counter-Reformation in the Habsburg Netherlands was not simply implemented through top-down initiatives, but supported by returning Catholic exiles. Yet by looking at former Catholic exiles in the Dutch Republic, he also carefully argues that exile need not imply militancy; there were other possible outcomes. This original study combines insightful overviews of scholarly debates on the Dutch revolt, Catholic Reformation and exile, with new archival and comparative research. It is a stimulating book, which will appeal to both students and specialists in these respective fields.