The Wrong Boy by Suzy Zail
The story of a Jewish girl sent to Auschwitz with her family. She falls in love with the wrong boy – the German son of the camp commander. Hanna is a talented pianist, and the protected second daughter of middle class Hungarian Jews. Relatively late in World War II the Budapest Jews were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz. Hanna and her mother and sister are separated from her father. Her mother becomes increasingly mentally ill until she too is taken away somewhere. Her sister Erika is slowly starving to death. Hanna is quite a naïve 15-year-old but when presented with the opportunity to play piano for the camp commander, she is desperate to be chosen. She goes each day under guard to the commander’s house and stands waiting in case the commander should want some music. Also living in the house is the commander’s son, Karl. A handsome young man who seems completely disengaged from what is happening around him. Hanna hates him as he sits drawing in the music room. But the longer Hanna goes to the house, the more she realizes there are other things going on. Secret things. Karl may not be the person she thinks he is. Before she knows it she has fallen in love with the wrong boy.
Brilliant, important and absolutely heartbreakingIt's one of the best fictional accounts of the Holocaust I've read . . . For anyone who's read and enjoyed The Book Thief, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Between Shades of Gray * Wondrous Reads *
Zail's depictions of camp horrors is well judged for teen readership and her descriptions of Hannah's musical performances for Karl are a powerful way of connecting the reader with her character emotions * Jewish Chronicle *
Archie's War is a wondrous thing and it's a wonder that will last and last . . . it's so - crafted, so carefully, wonderfully put together by him. I love it. So the tangibility of this book is beautiful, the weight of it, the truth of it is all something we get given before we've even opened the page. And when we do, we're given a lovely hybrid of comic strip, stuck in objects and fold out letters - all of which make the reading a continual joy. You move left, right, up, down - you interact with the text and you get involved in it. You're an active reader, you're an engaged reader - you cannot read Archie's War passively. This is smart, clever stuff and it's stuff which is making me sad that it's taken this long for me to talk about non-fiction. * Did You Ever Stop to Think *
A tragic, poignant tale of loss, love and survival, but most of all it is a tale about human cruelty and kindness. * Children's Books Ireland Recommended Read *
Zail's depictions of camp horrors is well judged for teen readership and her descriptions of Hannah's musical performances for Karl are a powerful way of connecting the reader with her character emotions * Jewish Chronicle *
Archie's War is a wondrous thing and it's a wonder that will last and last . . . it's so - crafted, so carefully, wonderfully put together by him. I love it. So the tangibility of this book is beautiful, the weight of it, the truth of it is all something we get given before we've even opened the page. And when we do, we're given a lovely hybrid of comic strip, stuck in objects and fold out letters - all of which make the reading a continual joy. You move left, right, up, down - you interact with the text and you get involved in it. You're an active reader, you're an engaged reader - you cannot read Archie's War passively. This is smart, clever stuff and it's stuff which is making me sad that it's taken this long for me to talk about non-fiction. * Did You Ever Stop to Think *
A tragic, poignant tale of loss, love and survival, but most of all it is a tale about human cruelty and kindness. * Children's Books Ireland Recommended Read *
Suzy Zail has worked as a litigation lawyer, specialising in Family Law, but now writes full time. Among other titles, she has written her father's story, The Tattooed Flower, his life as a child survivor of the Holocaust. She lives in Melbourne and has three children.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781406349276 |
| ISBN 10 | 1406349275 |
| Title | The Wrong Boy |
| Author | Suzy Zail |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Walker Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2014-01-02 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |