The Book Thief

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

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