"You can't prepare yourself for the magnitude and emotional impact of
this powerful novel." --John Irving, #1 New York Times bestselling
author of The World According to Garp
"Exceptional, layered and compelling...This book moves like a freight
train." --Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of In Love
From the New York Times bestselling author John Boyne, a devastating,
beautiful story about a woman who must confront the sins of her own
terrible past, and a present in which it is never too late for bravery
Ninety-one-year-old Gretel Fernsby has lived in the same well-to-do
mansion block in London for decades. She lives a quiet, comfortable
life, despite her deeply disturbing, dark past. She doesn't talk about
her escape from Nazi Germany at age 12. She doesn't talk about the grim
post-war years in France with her mother. Most of all, she doesn't talk
about her father, who was the commandant of one of the Reich's most
notorious extermination camps.
Then, a new family moves into the apartment below her. In spite of
herself, Gretel can't help but begin a friendship with the little boy,
Henry, though his presence brings back memories she would rather forget.
One night, she witnesses a disturbing, violent argument between Henry's
beautiful mother and his arrogant father, one that threatens Gretel's
hard-won, self-contained existence.
All The Broken Places moves back and forth in time between Gretel's
girlhood in Germany to present-day London as a woman whose life has been
haunted by the past. Now, Gretel faces a similar crossroads to one she
encountered long ago. Back then, she denied her own complicity, but now,
faced with a chance to interrogate her guilt, grief and remorse, she can
choose to save a young boy. If she does, she will be forced to reveal
the secrets she has spent a lifetime protecting. This time, she can make
a different choice than before--whatever the cost to herself....
