Despite its theme of loss, The Book Thief is a surprisingly uplifting story of hope and resilience.
Loss, death and the intricacies of Hitler’s Germany aren’t usually associated with optimism. Somehow, though, The Book Thief, narrated by Death himself, is a work with hope, resilience and the power of reading at its heart. ‘Death, in this narrative, is almost a love letter to life,’ says Folio Fiction Editor Sinéad O’Callaghan. ‘It is a serious topic, but it is part of what it means to be alive. Markus Zusak presents the character of Death as life-like, and that makes the concept of it all slightly less scary – not something that we want to embrace with open arms, but something that is part of the human experience.’ For Liesel Meminger, the book thief of the title, loss comes early. Her communist father has been taken away by the Nazi regime; next, Liesel’s brother dies. And after a funeral amid a snowstorm, Liesel steals her first book, a copy of The Gravedigger’s Handbook. Real and imagined books continue to punctuate the narrative, including a volume pulled from a bonfire of banned literature, a new book written on a painted-over copy of Mein Kampf and, eventually, the one that Liesel writes herself.
When she snatched that book from beneath a steaming
heap of ashes, Liesel was a girl made of darkness
Whenever they had a break, to eat or drink, he would play the accordion
‘The first book is an object, a talisman, linking her to her dead brother and the past. She doesn’t understand the power of words and their ability to transport you to another place,’ says O’Callaghan. ‘But as the story unfolds, how she views the books she steals changes. Liesel begins to want to know more about the world around her, about life, about love, and about literature.’ Since The Book Thief was first published in 2005, more than 17 million people have wanted to know about Liesel’s world. The book has been translated into 63 different languages, made into a film starring Geoffrey Rush and adapted as a stage play by Jodi Picoult.
Carefully, he climbed to the dying man
Almost 20 years later, this melding of emotion, history and expert storytelling remains as relevant as ever. ‘Engaging with histories like this, whether fiction or non-fiction, takes you beyond the statistics and raw facts. They force you to recognise the normal people with ordinary lives, trying to go about their day and remain true to their beliefs in a world that can feel very binary and very segregated,’ says O’Callaghan. ‘It reminds us that there are always good people, even if they are hidden in darkness.’ And then, of course, there is the fact that The Book Thief is an incredible adventure, brilliantly told. ‘At Folio, we want to publish books for people who love books like we do,’ says O’Callaghan. ‘And, with The Book Thief, we have created something that emulates everything there is to love about literature.’
'This beautiful Folio Society edition is the perfect edition to anyone's collection' - Markus Zusak
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Experience the magic of The Book Thief with this enchanting Folio Society limited edition. We worked closely with author Markus Zusak on this edition which features beautiful illustrations from Alexis Deacon and an exclusive personal letter from author to reader. Limited to just 250 copies don’t miss the chance to own this exceptional edition.
