His books, The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, When Dogs Cry, The Messenger and The Book Thief have been awarded numerous honours ranging from literary prizes to readers’ choice awards to prizes voted on by booksellers.
The Book Thief Book Review
Markus Zusak has also written The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, When Dogs Cry, The Messenger and Bridge of Clay.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using this link. What follows is a poignant coming-of-age tale, in which the spirited young girl grows up against the backdrop of Nazi Germany. We witness her form a solid and strong friendship with local boy Rudy, develop a love for literature, fuelled by stolen books from the mayor’s wife’s library.
But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak Summary
I loved this TEDX talk, in which Markus Zusak explains how failure can often motivate us towards our greatest successes.
Markus Zusak is the author of five books, including the international bestseller, The Book Thief, which spent more than a decade on the New York Times bestseller list, and is translated into more than forty languages – establishing Zusak as one of the most successful authors to come out of Australia.
A beautiful, lyrical heart-wrenching and powerful tale, rich with ingenuity and imagination, The Book Thief is a love letter to words; to books; to their power for both good and evil and to friends that become family. It was well worth the wait.
Buy The Book Thief from Bookshop.org, Book Depository, Waterstones, Amazon or Amazon AU.
I’m well aware I say this about an awful lot of books that I read – and subsequently write about – on The Literary Edit, but I have been meaning to read The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak for absolutely yonks. First published sixteen years ago, I’ve owned various copies over the year – culminating one that Markus signed and dedicated to me after an event we hosted with him at Gertrude & Alice last year. I’ve genuinely lost count of the amount of the amount of people who’ve told me to read it over the years, but it was only when I recently recorded a podcast with Clay Zane Comber – author and owner of beautiful bookshop Bouquiniste – that I finally moved it to the top of my never ending TBR pile and sat down to read it.
Further reading
By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.
Markus Zusak author bio
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.
To date, Zusak has held the number one position at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, the New York Times bestseller list, as well as in countries across South America, Europe and Asia.
More Markus Zusak books
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It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.
Suffice to say that The Book Thief is the only story I’ve read that’s been narrated by death, and within the first chapter or two I was able to see why it’s been hailed by so many as a modern classic.
