It is 1939. In Nazi Germany, the country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier - and will become busier still.
By her brother's graveside, nine year old Liesel's life is changed forever when she picks up a single object, abandoned in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, and this is her first act of book thievery.
So begins Liesel's love affair with books and words, and soon she is stealing from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library . . . wherever there are books to be found.
But these are dangerous times, and when Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, nothing will ever be the same again.
In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.
'Unsettling, life-affirming, triumphant and tragic. This is a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told' - Guardian
Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 9781784162122
Number of pages: 560
Weight: 377 g
Dimensions: 198 x 127 x 33 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Extraordinary, resonant and relevant, beautiful and angry' - The Daily Telegraph
'Unsettling, life-affirming, triumphant and tragic. This is a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told' - The Guardian
'A weighty novel worthy of universal acclaim' - The Daily Express
'A moving work which will make many eyes brim.' - Independent on Sunday
'Brilliant and hugely ambitious ... the kind of book that could be life-changing' - The New York Times Book Review
'A tonic much needed amid the ominous menace of an era of such calamity.' - FT magazine
'Absorbing and searing' - The Washington Post
'Deserves a place on the shelf with The Diary of Anne Frank' - USA Today
'Zusak makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable in the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in Slaughterhouse 5, with grim, darkly consoling humour' - Time
'One of the most highly anticipated young-adult books in years' - The Wall Street Journal
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“Why I loved reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak”
This book was initially recommended to me by a couple of friends, but at first I dismissed it. I guess I was too wary and afraid to read it, since the quick research that I carried out on it revealed to me that this... More
“Emotional, heartwarming, fantastic!”
The Book Thief is written by Australian author Markus Zusak. It is narrated by Death and is set in Nazi Germany, during a time when the narrator states he was very busy. It tells the story of a young girl, Liesel and... More
“Compelling”
Typically, I don't read books about the war, but made an exception for The Book Thief due to all the attention it was getting, and I'm glad I did!
It is very well written and pulls you into the story. It had...
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