Last year at Christmas I was given "The Book Thief," by Markus Zusak. This is marketed in the US as a Young Adult book, although I'd consider that a lower limit, rather than an upper limit, of audience age. (Apparently, in Australia (the author is Australian) the book was not given the "young adult" label.)
For some reason I didn't get to it until this week.
The story is set in Germany at the beginning of the war; a young refugee is sent to foster parents for safety, and on that journey she picks up a book - her first. The book is narrated by Death.
It's well written, and does a good job of explaining the kinds of decisions made, even by adolescents, at such a time. I can't research it because I'm only 2/3ds through it and I don't want to ruin the story for myself. I can't even tell you what has me glued to the pages except, of course, that I want to know how it comes out. As far as I'm concerned, that's one of the best reviews I can give.
Clearly not the cheeriest subject matter in the world but the characters are believable and well-drawn. I can picture each person, each street corner, each building as described in the novel, and that's no small trick for an author, either.
You can get more info from Amazon; Zusak has a site as well...just don't tell me how it ends, please.
