About the author
Markus Zusak is an Australian-German novelist best known for The Book Thief and The Messenger. His fiction uses unusual narrators and direct emotional stakes to ask what words can preserve, conceal, or change.
When the Hubermanns hide a Jewish man named Max Vandenburg in their basement, words become both shelter and danger. Zusak's narrator gives away deaths before they occur, shifting the suspense from what will happen to how people continue living when the end has already been named.
Where to start
Start with The Book Thief. In Nazi Germany, a foster girl steals books and shares their words while Death watches the street.
