Skilful . . . daring . . . an extraordinary story

[It is] the unexpected Beckett that is on show here. Baker pays tribute to a man who joined the French Resistance, narrowly escaped the Gestapo, fled south on foot and went into hiding, and was eventually awarded the Croix de Guerre

A fascinating fictional account of Samuel Beckett's wartime years

Beautifully written, empathetic and unflinching, it is very, very good

vivid and well-wrought

Insightful . . . beautifully paced . . . authentic

In this worthy successor to Longbourn, she [Baker] skillfully captures Beckett’s world, the rhythms of his bare-bones prose, and the edginess of his point of view.

Taking its title from Beckett's most famous play, Waiting for Godot, Baker's historical drama deftly explores the psyche of one of the greatest writers of the Twentieth Century.

Perfectly captures the deprivation, despair and constant creeping fear of an occupied people.

This exquisitely crafted novel re-creates the World War II peregrinations of Samuel Beckett and the volatile Frenchwoman who became his life's companion

‘Baker . . . creates a compellingly real experience out of Beckett’s work in the French underground . . . Her writing is assured and often intense . . . enthralling.’

Absorbing and searing

A major achievement

Deserves a place on the shelf with The Diary of Anne Frank - set to become a classic

Zusak makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable in the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in Slaughterhouse 5, with grim, darkly consoling humour

Zusak's playfulness with language leavens the horror and makes the theme more resonant - words can save your life ...It's a measure of how sucessfully Zusak has humanized these characters that even though we know they are doomed, it's no less devastating when Death finally reaches them

One of the most highly anticipated young-adult books in years

'Elegant, philosophical and moving. A work to read slowly and savour. Beautiful and important

Both gripping and touching, a work that kept me up late into the night feverishly reading the last 300 pages

Zusak's novel is a highwire act of inventiveness and emotional suppleness

A triumph of control ...one of the most unusual and compelling of recent Australian novels

...the much talked about The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak...should soon have the UK under its spell.

...this is a novel to touch even the coldest of hearts - definitely 2007's first must-read book.

A compelling tale from the start...definitely 2007's first must-read book.

A moving story from the German perspective of everyday civilian hardship and surivival under the Third Reich. It celebrates the power of words and love, in the face of unutterable suffering

Death turns out to be a tender narrator in Zusak's 'The Book Thief' [...] This novel movingly depicts the Himmel Street community, and its orphaned book thief, Liesel Meminger

Your emotions by the end of this novel are shot to pieces, but it's well worth it.

Although already a bestselling children's book, THE BOOK THIEF's insightful and poignant tone and appealing characters...are amply equipped to capture adults, too.