This beautifully written sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, takes us right back to the time of the Holocaust, told with compassion and insight into how guilt and sorrow from the past follows Greta throughout her life.
We first met Greta in the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as the 12 year old daughter of Auschwitz commandant. We now meet Greta as a 91 year old widow, living a solitary life in London, she shies away from meeting her new neighbours including 9 year old Henry. Something stirs in her as she gets to know Henry, his frightened mother and abusive father.
There is nothing Greta can do to change the past and the loss of her brother, but is there something she can do to change the life of 9 year old Henry?
The dramatic twist at the end of this superb novel, expresses Love, loss and family in its startling conclusion.
'Beautifully told and gripping from first page to last' Sunday Express 'An incredible feat of storytelling... and an old-fashioned page-turner' Donal Ryan 'Gripping and well-honed...consummately constructed, humming with tension' Guardian 'You can't prepare yourself for the magnitude and emotional impact of this powerful novel' John Irving ________________________________
From the author of the globally bestselling, multi-million-copy classic, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, comes its astonishing and powerful sequel.
Gretel Fernsby is a quiet woman leading a quiet life. She doesn't talk about her escape from Germany seventy years ago or the dark post-war years in France with her mother. Most of all, she doesn't talk about her father, the commandant of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps.
But when a young family moves into the apartment below her, Gretel can't help but befriend their little boy, Henry, though his presence brings back painful memories. One night, she witnesses a violent argument between his parents, which threatens to disturb her hard-won peace.
For the second time in her life, Gretel is given the chance to save a young boy. To do so would allay her guilt, grief and remorse, but it will also force her to reveal her true identity.
Will she make a different choice this time, whatever the cost to herself?
The new novel from John Boyne, FIRE, is available now. _______________________________
Praise for John Boyne
'A master storyteller' Daily Express 'One of the best novelists of Ireland' Sunday Express 'Boyne offers writing of insight and beauty' Observer 'John Boyne is a maestro of hisoritical fiction' John Irving
