About the Author: Markus Zusak
Markus Zusak was born in 1975 and is the author of five books, including the international bestseller,
The Book Thief
, which is translated into more than forty languages. First released in 2005,
The Book Thief
has spent more than a decade on the New York Times bestseller list, and still remains there to this day.
His first three books,
The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe
and
When Dogs Cry (also known as Getting the Girl)
, released between 1999 and 2001, were all published internationally and garnered a number of awards and honours in his native Australia and the USA.
The Messenger
(or
I am the Messenger
), published in 2002, won the 2003 Australian Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Award (Older Readers) and the 2003 NSW Premier's Literary Award (Ethel Turner Prize), as well as receiving a Printz Honour in America. It also won numerous national readers choice awards across Europe, including, in 2007, the highly regarded Deutscher Jugendliteratur Jugendjury prize in Germany, which he won again for
The Book Thief
in 2010.
It is
The Book Thief
, however, that has established Markus Zusak as one of the most successful authors to come out of Australia. To date,
The Book Thief
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. It has also been in the top five bestsellers in the UK and several other territories. It has amassed many and varied awards, ranging from literary prizes to readers choice awards to prizes voted on by booksellers. It was the only book to feature on both the USA and UK World Book Night Lists in 2012, and has been voted as Australian readers’ favourite book by iconic independent bookstore, Dymocks, three years running.
In 2013,
The Book Thief
was adapted to screen, directed by Emmy Award-winning Brian Percival (Downton Abbey) and shot in Berlin by Twentieth Century Fox. The cast was headlined by Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush (Shine, The King’s Speech) and Academy Award nominee Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves, Anna Karenina). It also cast Sophie Nelisse (Monsieur Lazhar), as Liesel Meminger.
The Guardian calls
The Book Thief
“a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told.†The New York Times: “Brilliant and hugely ambitious…the kind of book that can be life-changing.†The Age: “an original, moving, beautifully written book.â€
In 2014, Zusak received the American Library Association’s Margaret Edwards award for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature, for his body of work ranging from
The Underdog
up to The
The Book Thief
.
Markus Zusak grew up in Sydney, Australia, and still lives there with his wife and two children.
Find the best price forThe Book Thief
Markus Zusak, Allan Corduner
Goodreads rating: 
Audio CD, Published in Jan 2007
ISBN10: 1846570905 | ISBN13: 9781846570902
Page count: 11
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak was the best-selling debut literary novel of the year 2007, selling over 400,000 copies. The author is a prize-winning writer of children's books, and this, his first novel for adults, proved to be a triumphant success. The book is extraordinary on many levels: moving, yet restrained, angry yet balanced -- and written with the kind of elegance found all too rarely in fiction these days. The book's narrator is nothing less than Death itself, regaling us with a remarkable tale of book burnings, treachery and theft. The book never forgets the primary purpose of compelling the reader's attention, yet which nevertheless is able to impart a cogent message about the importance of words, particularly in those societies which regard the word as dangerous (the book is set during the Nazi regime, but this message is all too relevant in many places in the world today).
Nine-year-old Liesel lives with her foster family on Himmel Street during the dark days of the Third Reich. Her Communist parents have been transported to a concentration camp, and during the funeral for her brother, she manages to steal a macabre book: it is, in fact, a gravediggers’ instruction manual. This is the first of many books which will pass through her hands as the carnage of the Second World War begins to hungrily claim lives. Both Liesel and her fellow inhabitants of Himmel Street will find themselves changed by both words on the printed page and the horrendous events happening around them.
Despite its grim narrator, The Book Thief is, in fact, a life-affirming book, celebrating the power of words and their ability to provide sustenance to the soul. Interestingly, the Second World War setting of the novel does not limit its relevance: in the 20th century, totalitarian censorship throughout the world is as keen as ever at suppressing books (notably in countries where the suppression of human beings is also par for the course) and that other assault on words represented by the increasing dumbing-down of Western society as cheap celebrity replaces the appeal of books for many people, ensures that the message of Marcus Zusak’s book could not be more timely. It is, in fact, required reading -- or should be in any civilised country. --Barry Forshaw
Compare New Book Prices for The Book Thief
SEARCHING FOR PRICES...
We're searching for prices at twenty Australian bookstores... can take up to a minute to get you the best price.