The Book Thief

Hardback

Condition: Good

Publisher's Synopsis 'It's just a small story really about among other things: a girl some words an accordionist a Jewish fist fighter and quite a lot of thievery Narrated in the all-knowing matter-of-fact voice of Death witnessing the story of the citizens of Himmel Street: When nine-year-old Liesel arrives outside the boxlike house of her new foster parents she refuses to get out of the car. Liesel has been separated from her parents - 'Kommunists' - for ever and at the burial of her little brother she steals a gravedigger's instruction manual which she can't read. It is the beginning of her illustrious career. In the care of the Hubermans Liesel befriends blond-haired Rudy Steiner her neighbour obsessed with Jesse Owens. She also befriends the mayor's wife who hides from despair in her library. Together Liesel and Rudy steal books - from Nazi book burning piles from the mayor's library from the richer people of Molching. In time the family hide a Jewish boxer Max who reads with Liesel in the basement. . By 1943 the Allied bombs are falling and the sirens begin to wail. Liesel shares out her books in the air-raid shelters. But one day in the life of Himmel street the wail of the sirens comes too late A life-changing tale of the cruel twists of fate and the coincidences on which all our lives hinge this is also a joyous look at the power of book to nourish the soul. Its uplifting ending will make all readers weep.