ISBN 978 1 862 30291 4

Once in a while, one of those novels comes along that wraps up the reader completely in its unforgettable story and characters.

The Book Thief is one of them, and only someone living under a rock could fail to be affected by this splendid book. It is a beautifully unsettling piece of storytelling that will fill your eyes with tears and almost break your heart.

Set during the second world war in a small town in Nazi Germany, Markus Zusak's remarkable novel focuses on the lives of ordinary people caught up in the horror of terrible change. This is the strength of the book: it is about ordinary people living ordinary lives and trying to cope with the ghastly nightmare that suddenly surrounds them.

At 580 pages, The Book Thief is a mighty book, yet it manages to tell the intimate story of one young girl.

After the death of her brother and the strange disappearance of her mother, Liesel Meminger is packed off to the foster home of Hans and Rosa Hubermann in a town called Molching. Liesel senses there is danger all around her. The Hubermann house may provide her with a home but it can't stop the nightmares.

The Hubermanns have no money, their homeland is at war and things can only get worse.

Rosa Hubermann is a sharp-tongued woman very much in control of her home and her husband.

Hans Hubermann is a kind man, and he spends long hours teaching Liesel how to read using a book she picked up at her brother's funeral. It is not long before she is totally fascinated by the power of words.

Suddenly, Liesel becomes a book thief. Books are in short supply in Molching and she needs to get supplies from somewhere. She steals books from Nazi book burnings and from the Mayor's library.

Words take on an even greater role in Liesel's life when the Hubermanns hide a young Jewish man whose father saved Hans' life during the first world war. Liesel is now the keeper of an important secret and learning that words can destroy and betray as well as comfort and soothe.

This is a story about fate, human sacrifice and what happens when terrible events collide and crash. Zusak's storytelling is elegant, defined, poetic and moving.

The Book Thief is a beautiful and important work of fiction that is unique in its power and effect. It deserves a place at the top of anyone's 'to read' list.