The Book Thief: TikTok made me buy it! The life-affirming international bestseller - Softcover

Zusak, Markus

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784162124 ISBN 13: 9781784162122

Publisher: Black Swan, 2016

Synopsis

The New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller
Over one million copies sold in the UK alone

'A novel of breathtaking scope' Guardian

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

This new edition features an amazing early chapter from Markus Zusak's brand new literary novel BRIDGE OF CLAY.

About this title

Review:

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak was the best-selling debut literary novel of the year 2007, selling over 400,000 copies. The author is a prize-winning writer of children's books, and this, his first novel for adults, proved to be a triumphant success. The book is extraordinary on many levels: moving, yet restrained, angry yet balanced -- and written with the kind of elegance found all too rarely in fiction these days. The book's narrator is nothing less than Death itself, regaling us with a remarkable tale of book burnings, treachery and theft. The book never forgets the primary purpose of compelling the reader's attention, yet which nevertheless is able to impart a cogent message about the importance of words, particularly in those societies which regard the word as dangerous (the book is set during the Nazi regime, but this message is all too relevant in many places in the world today).

Nine-year-old Liesel lives with her foster family on Himmel Street during the dark days of the Third Reich. Her Communist parents have been transported to a concentration camp, and during the funeral for her brother, she manages to steal a macabre book: it is, in fact, a gravediggers’ instruction manual. This is the first of many books which will pass through her hands as the carnage of the Second World War begins to hungrily claim lives. Both Liesel and her fellow inhabitants of Himmel Street will find themselves changed by both words on the printed page and the horrendous events happening around them.

Despite its grim narrator, The Book Thief is, in fact, a life-affirming book, celebrating the power of words and their ability to provide sustenance to the soul. Interestingly, the Second World War setting of the novel does not limit its relevance: in the 20th century, totalitarian censorship throughout the world is as keen as ever at suppressing books (notably in countries where the suppression of human beings is also par for the course) and that other assault on words represented by the increasing dumbing-down of Western society as cheap celebrity replaces the appeal of books for many people, ensures that the message of Marcus Zusak’s book could not be more timely. It is, in fact, required reading -- or should be in any civilised country. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

"Extraordinary, 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)

About this edition

• Publisher: Black Swan
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1784162124
• ISBN 13: 9781784162122
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 560