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Book Description:
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery....
Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist-books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
中文簡介：
9歲小女孩莉賽爾和弟弟在二戰戰亂中被迫送到寄宿家庭，但弟弟不幸死在途中，莉賽爾在弟弟冷清的葬禮后偷了一本掘墓工人手冊，為的是紀念自己永遠失去的家庭。寄養家庭位于慕尼黑貧困城區，大人彼此仇恨咒罵，老師狠毒無情，戰火時時威脅人命。莉賽爾每晚抱著掘墓工人手冊入睡，惡夢不斷。養父為了讓她安眠，于是為她朗誦手冊，並開始教她識字。
學會識字開始讀書的莉賽爾，盡管吃不飽穿不暖，卻發現了一項比食物更讓她難以抗拒的東西——書，她忍不住開始偷書，用偷來的書繼續學習認字。從此她進入了文字的奇妙世界，讓她熬過了現實的苦難，也不可思議地幫助了周圍同樣承受苦難的人，安慰了每顆惶惶不安的心，潛移默化改變了原本粗鄙的性情。
對比戰場上的殺戮，莉賽爾借由閱讀與文字所散發的力量，讓死神驚訝地睜大了眼睛，一面收取戰場上的靈魂，一面思索人性的深奧：為什么人類一面展現殘酷的殺戮，一面又有發自內心的關愛呢？
About Author:
Kim Edwards is the author of a short story collection, The Secrets of a Fire King, which was an alternate for the 1998 PEN/Hemingway Award, and has won both a Whiting Award and the Nelson Algren Award. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, she currently teaches writing at the University of Kentucky.
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