This will certainly go down as one of my “best books”. I listened to the audio version and the reader was excellent: authentic German accent, different voices for the different characters – I honestly don’t know if my own reader’s imagination would have done as good a job. I will tell you thought that the tears were streaming down my face as I listened to the last CD.

Born in Sydney in 1975, Markus Zusak is the youngest of four children and the son of Austrian and German parents. He grew up hearing stories about Nazi Germany, two of which led to him writing “The Book Thief”.

The story is told by Death, who tries not to take too much of an interest in humans – sometimes, however, he can’t help himself. In “The Book Thief”, Death follows the story of Liesel Meminger – a young German girl he first meets in January 1939. Liesel is nine years old and travelling by train to Munich with her mother and brother, Werner. Liesel’s mother is having difficulty providing for her family and is constantly ill. In the hope of a better life for her children, she has arranged for them to be fostered with a family in Molching – a town close to Munich. Here, she hopes they will be fed and educated better than she could provide. Unfortunately, Werner doesn’t make it – he dies and is buried on the journey, giving Death his first meeting with Liesel. Werner’s funeral is where the Book Thief is born, when Liesel ‘acquires’ a copy of “The Gravediggers Handbook”. Her pilfering, naturally, doesn’t finish there – and it isn’t always restricted to books.

Liesel’s new family, the Hubermanns, live on Himmel Street in Molching. Liesel’s new foster-mother is the foul-mouthed and (apparently) permanently cross Rosa Hubermann. Even worse, her cooking is as bad as her language. Hans, Liesel’s ‘new’ father, is a different matter entirely. He’s a kind, loving and patient man, who works as a painter and is a WW1 veteran. His main pleasures in life are centred around tobacco and playing the accordion. He also teaches Liesel read and write – something Liesel is very keen on – with “The Gravediggers Handbook” being used as the starting point in her education. After Hans, two other men play a big part in Liesel’s life in Molching. One is her permanently hungry best friend Rudy Steiner, who is also a big fan of Jesse Owens. (This is just the sort of thing that could get you in trouble in Nazi Germany). Although Rudy is always on the lookout for food, there’s only one thing he’s truly desperate for : a kiss from Liesel. The Book Thief’s ‘other’ best friend isn’t introduced until a little further into the book : a Jewish man by the name of Max, who -like Liesel – is a fairly useful fighter.

“The Book Thief” was published in Australia as an ‘adult’ title, but as a Young Adult novel in America. The truth is, both age ranges will enjoy this story – it’s very easily read book, with very likeable characters – Liesel, Hans and Rudy particularly sttod out for me. Death proves to be a sympathetic, likeable and even, occasionally, witty character – something this Death has in common with Terry Pratchett’s Death. (Of course, there’s a lot less silliness and a good deal more sadness here than in one of the Discworld books). A beautiful book, well worth reading.

I thought this was an excellent story. It is the story of a German girl and her family and occurs during WWII. The narrator of the story is Death (which sounds odd but made the story more interesting.) It also shows how powerless the Germans felt under Hitler’s rule. I highly recommend it.