Description
Book Synopsis'Life affirming, triumphant and tragic . . . masterfully told. . . but also a wonderful page-turner' Guardian
'Brilliant and hugely ambitious' New York Times
'Extraordinary' Telegraph
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HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE GOING TO DIE
1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.
Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.
SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH
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What readers are saying about The Book Thief:
***** 'I loved every page of this book. So many great quotes, observations on humanity and images...I just didn't want it to end.
***** 'I loved this book. It is not only one of the best I've read this year, it is one of the best I've ever read.'
***** 'This is the sort of book the restores your faith in humanity and leaves you feeling uplifted, even when it makes you shed a tear.
Trade ReviewExtraordinary, resonant and relevant, beautiful and angry. -- Lisa Hilton * Sunday Telegraph *
...a beautifully balanced piece of storytelling...Unsettling, thought-provoking, life affirming, triumphant and tragic, this is a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told. It is an important piece of work, but also a wonderful page-turner. * Guardian *
A moving work which will make many eyes brim. -- Marianne Brace * Independent on Sunday *
This is a weighty novel worthy of universal acclaim. A sense of dread prevades this beautifully written novel. As The Book Thief draws to a close, Death says: "There's a multitude of stories that i allow to distract me as I work." The story of the Book Thief, who tried to change the world in her own small way, proves one formidable and inspiring distraction. -- Lianne Kolirin * The Daily Express *
Brilliant and hugely ambitious ... the kind of book that could be life-changing * New York Times Book Review *
...breathtakingly good. -- Becky Stradwick, Buyer, Borders * The Bookseller *
A magical tale. * Elle *
...a fantastic book...it packs a huge emotional punch. -- Angela Lockton, The Golden Treasury, London * The Bookseller *
A tonic much needed amid the ominous menace of an era of such calamity. -- Alexandra Hamlyn * FT magazine *
Quirky, engaging and beautifully written * Woman and Home *
His faith in the transformative power of storytelling bestows this gentle but worthwhile novel with its own narrative strength and power. -- Claire Allfree * Metro *
Absorbing and searing * Washington Post *
A major achievement * People *
Deserves a place on the shelf with
The Diary of Anne Frank - set to become a classic * 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 *
Zusak's playfulness with language leavens the horror and makes the theme more resonant - words can save your life ...It's a measure of how sucessfully Zusak has humanized these characters that even though we know they are doomed, it's no less devastating when Death finally reaches them * Publishers Weekly *
One of the most highly anticipated young-adult books in years * The Wall Street Journal *
'Elegant, philosophical and moving. A work to read slowly and savour. Beautiful and important * Kirkus Reviews *
Both gripping and touching, a work that kept me up late into the night feverishly reading the last 300 pages * Cleveland Plain-Dealer *
Zusak's novel is a highwire act of inventiveness and emotional suppleness * The Australian *
