Is The Book Thief a True Story? Markus Zusak, Length and Background
Not a true story, but built from true memories
The Book Thief is fiction, but it grew from real stories. Markus Zusak's parents grew up in Germany and Austria during the Second World War, and their memories, of a town bombed by night and of a boy punished for giving bread to a starving prisoner, inspired the novel.
Liesel, the Hubermanns and Himmel Street are invented; the town of Molching is fictional but modelled on towns near Munich.
The Book Thief in brief
| Fact | Answer |
|---|---|
| Author | Markus Zusak, born 1975 in Sydney |
| First published | 2005 in Australia; 2006 in the US |
| Length | About 550 pages; about 118,000 words |
| Parts | A prologue, ten parts and an epilogue |
| Setting | Molching, a fictional town near Munich |
| Time | 1939 to 1943, with an epilogue after the war |
| Narrator | Death |
| Film | 2013, with Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson |
What true stories inspired it?
Zusak grew up in Sydney hearing his parents' stories at the kitchen table. His mother remembered watching as prisoners were marched through her town on the way to a camp. A teenage boy ran out to give bread to an old man who could barely walk, and a soldier beat them both for it. Zusak has said that moment held everything he wanted to write about: the worst and the best of people side by side. His mother also remembered the bombing of Munich, which became the bombing of Himmel Street.
↑ Back to the topWho is Markus Zusak?
Markus Zusak was born in Sydney in 1975, the youngest of four children of a German mother and an Austrian father. He published several novels for young readers before The Book Thief, including The Messenger. The Book Thief made him internationally famous; it spent years on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold many millions of copies. His later novel Bridge of Clay came out in 2018.
↑ Back to the topHow long is The Book Thief?
It is long for a book often read by teenagers: around 550 pages in most editions and roughly 118,000 words, so most readers need ten to fifteen hours. The chapters are short, though, and broken up with Death's notes and lists, Max's illustrated stories and bold headings, which makes it quicker going than its size suggests.
↑ Back to the topIs The Book Thief young adult or adult?
In Australia it was first published for adults; in the United States it was marketed as young adult fiction, and it is now read by both. It deals with death, war and persecution, but with restraint and warmth, and it is widely taught to students from about thirteen.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Book Thief
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