LoveReading Says
Voted 2009 Penguin Orange Readers' Group Book of the Year.
Initially it is difficult to believe that the young son of the commandant of Auschwitz is as innocent as he is, then you begin to accept his ignorance and follow a developing friendship through to its dreadful conclusion. That this is written for children is easy to forget. I urge you to read Morris Gleitzman’s Once, too, for the Jewish perspective.
Sarah Broadhurst
Find This Book In
John Boyne Press Reviews
Simply written and highly memorable.There are no monstrosities on the page but the true horror is all the more potent for being implicit
Ireland on Sunday
Stays ahead of its readers before delivering its killer-punch final pages
Independent
An extraordinary tale of friendship and the horrors of war…Raw literary talent at its best
Irish Independent
The Holocaust as a subject insists on respect, precludes criticism, prefers silence.One thing is clear: this book will not go gently into any good night
Observer
About John Boyne
John Boyne was our Guest Editor in May 2010 - click here - to see the books that inspired his writing.
John Boyne was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1971, and studied English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin, and creative writing at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, where he was awarded the Curtis Brown prize.
His early writing consisted mostly of short stories and he published a number of them. His first story, The Entertainments Jar, was shortlisted for the Hennessy Literary Award in Ireland. In total, he has published about 70 short stories.
He has published seven novels: THE THIEF OF TIME (2000), THE CONGRESS OF ROUGH RIDERS (2001), CRIPPEN (2004), THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS (2006), NEXT OF KIN (2006), MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (2008) and THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE (2009).
His 2006 novel, THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS, was made into an award-winning Miramax film. The novel itself won 2 Irish Book Awards, the Bisto Book of the Year, and was shortlisted or won a host of international awards. Amongst other accolades, it spent more than 80 weeks at no.1 in Ireland, topped the New York Times Bestseller List, and was the bestselling book in Spain in both 2007 and 2008. Worldwide, it has sold more than 5 million copies and was the 6th highest selling novel of 2008.
His novels are published in 42 languages.
He lives in Dublin.
More About John Boyne
