The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

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What to expect

Nine-year-old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution or the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no one to play with. Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives a strange parallel existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas.

Bruno's friendship with Shmuel will take him from innocence to revelation. And in exploring what he is unwittingly a part of, he will inevitably become subsumed by the terrible process.

Critics Review

  • A small wonder of a book… A particular historical moment, one that cannot be told too often

    Guardian

  • The Holocaust as a subject insists on respect, precludes criticism, prefers silence.One thing is clear: this book will not go gently into any good night

    Observer

  • An extraordinary tale of friendship and the horrors of war…Raw literary talent at its best

    Irish Independent

  • A book that lingers in the mind for quite some time…A subtle, calculatedly simple and ultimately moving story

    Irish Times

  • Simply written and highly memorable.There are no monstrosities on the page but the true horror is all the more potent for being implicit

    Ireland on Sunday

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