The Book Thief

The Book Thief is Markus Zusak's fifth novel, first published in Australia in 2005 and in the United States in 2006. It is narrated by Death, who tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a young German girl growing up in the fictional town of Molching, near Munich, during the Second World War. The novel is divided into ten parts, each named after a book or story that shapes Liesel's life.

Setting

The story unfolds on Himmel Street (literally 'Heaven Street' - a name loaded with irony) between 1939 and 1943. Liesel is placed with foster parents, the gruff but loving Hans Hubermann and his sharp-tongued wife Rosa. Hans teaches Liesel to read, sparking a passion for words and books that becomes the novel's central thread. Liesel befriends Rudy Steiner, the boy next door who idolises Jesse Owens and who will never stop asking Liesel for a kiss.

The central movement

The Hubermanns take in Max Vandenburg, a young Jewish man fleeing persecution, and hide him in their basement. Max and Liesel form a bond built on stories, shared nightmares and a mutual understanding of suffering. Meanwhile, Liesel steals books - from a bonfire on Hitler's birthday, from the mayor's wife Ilsa Hermann's library, and from other sources - each act of theft an act of quiet defiance against a regime that weaponises words. Death watches over it all, collecting souls across the war-torn landscape, and returns again and again to this small story on Himmel Street.

Why it matters for the exam

For OxfordAQA Paper 1, Section A (closed book, prose fiction), you must write about character, theme, language and structure without the text in front of you. This guide gives you the detailed knowledge of plot, characters, themes, key passages and Zusak's techniques that you will need to write a strong analytical response from memory.