Two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France. Two different paths are chosen, and yet both of them are so brave. The choices that a mother makes for the survival of her children, the choice a single, independent woman makes to assure that pilots are allowed to fight another day. I LOVE this book.
Once you figure out that the narrator of the book is Death it makes a lot more sense! It is actually a very cool and different angle.
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.
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.
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.
Such beautiful, well developed characters. I LOVE this book!
