Zusak’s mother is of Austrian origins. And his father is German. The theme chosen for the Book Thief was not coincidental. Perhaps the Book Thief served as his own tool for coping with the idea of the Holocaust. Zusak talks of his parent’s traumatic stories on the matter, his mother, age 6, had seen happen a situation very similar to Han’s whipping incident, involving giving bread to a Jewish caravan. Some of the happenings in the book are real stories taken from his Mum and Dad. This is what makes the book seem surreal when Zuask encompasses how serious a minute task such as raising the Nazi flag on Hitler’s birthday can really be a life or death situation. This sort of would sometimes be avoided or not mentioned in other novels.

Markus is

• The Underdog (1999)
• Fighting Ruben Wolfe (2000), sequel to The Underdog
• When Dogs Cry (2001), a.k.a. Getting the Girl; sequel to Fighting Ruben Wolfe
• The Messenger (2002); US title: I Am the Messenger
• The Book Thief (2005)
• Bridge of Clay (2018), Pan Macmillan Australia