Sarah Dingley

Black Squirrel Credit Union volunteer, Royston Historical Pageant organiser, former Creative Royston volunteer, teacher and mother of 3 under 12’s.
‘The Book’ Thief by Marcus Zusak

‘The Book Thief’ is a truly beautiful book. Set in Nazi Germany, it’s a book about a young girl who is fostered by a man she comes to know as Papa. Whilst living in his house, the family take in a Jew, and the girl forms a friendship derived from a mutual love of simple, unpretentious creativity and of beautiful things.

The narrative voice retelling the tale is Death himself, and the book cleverly reminds us of our looming mortality, and our one chance to emanate harmony and kindness, or less than that, in our short lives.

It would be only the most stony of hearts who wasn’t moved by its depiction of the best and worst of humanity. I loved it.