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Title details for All the Broken Places by John Boyne - Available

All the Broken Places

A Novel

by John Boyne
Kristin Atherton
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
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1 of 2 copies available
“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….

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 29, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593676820
      • File size: 365790 KB
      • Duration: 12:42:03

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Helen Lloyd portrays 91-year-old Gretel Fernsby, who lives in present-day London. Kristin Atherton portrays the young Gretel, daughter of the Nazi commandant of a concentration camp. Lloyd and Atherton alternate chapters revealing events from Gretel's past, which she has kept secret all these years. Both narrators use British accents devoid of German or French inflection. Atherton clips the younger Gretel's sentences, making her sound cold and brusque. As the present-day Gretel is presented with a dilemma involving a neighbor's abused child, Lloyd gradually reveals a character who is filled with guilt, a feeling of complicity, and grief for her role during the Holocaust. While Gretel's memories can be difficult to listen to, the conflict presented by her opportunity for atonement allows Lloyd to shine. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from June 10, 2024

      Kristin Atherton and Helen Lloyd narrate a harrowing tale of a woman who wants to escape her past. Paris, 1946: After her father, a commandant in the Reich, is hanged for war crimes, 16-year-old Gretel and her mother flee to the city with new identities, vowing never to reveal their former ones. London, 2022: 91-year-old Gretel, long settled into a quiet life, becomes involved in a not-so-cozy mystery when new neighbors move into the downstairs flat. The closer she is to uncovering the truth about the family, the more likely it is that her former identity will be discovered. Atherton's haunting performance as young Gretel captures the complexities of the character as she goes from a sullen teen who wishes Germany won the war to a depressed and guilt-ridden young woman. Meanwhile, Lloyd's elder Gretel could easily fit in as a grande dame from Downton Abbey. Her interactions with other characters bring out a delightful sarcasm comparable to the Dowager Countess of Grantham. VERDICT While scenes from the past and present are rough to hear, both narrators skillfully keep pace without losing sight of the characters. Listeners will pity young Gretel but want to invite the elder Gretel over for tea.--Anjelica Rufus-Barnes

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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