"The Book thief" by Markus Zusak - review of a fascinating work of fiction The years between 1930-45 have been the subject of a lot many stories and interpretations. Numerous writers have presented their view of those horrendous years with stunning clarity and insight. Almost every form of art has borrowed heavily from the leitmotifs of those cataclysmic years molding our understanding of the evil that men committed in the name of race and religion. But no book in my opinion has had the temerity to look at those melancholy times through the innocent eyes of a young adult. Markus Zusak does just that. The period of Nazi occupation is brilliantly captured in translucent prose through Liesel - a young girl, who lives as a foster child in the home of a German family. Internally torn by a strange sense of estrangement : outwardly , the world around her transforming itself into a mire of insecurity and deep fear ; witnessing the physical and moral consequences of non conformanc