'The boy with the striped pyjamas' is one of those books you don't forget. Released back in 2006, it was written for young adults but captured a much wider audience. The story of Bruno, the son of a concentration camp commandant who befriends a boy on the other side of the wire called Shmuel, the book had an emotionally devastating ending.

'All the broken places' picks up where that book left off. Gretel, Bruno's older sister, flees Poland and heads for post-war Paris with her mother, both keen to hide from their past. This proves to be difficult, and Gretel soon finds herself having to start again, this time as far away as it’s possible to get. But can she completely escape her past?

Gretel's story as a teenager runs parallel to her life as a 91-year-old woman living in an apartment in modern-day Mayfair, London. She is a widower and has a son who visits occasionally, and is friends with a neighbor called Heidi who is suffering from early onset dementia. She likes to keep herself to herself. But then a small boy called Henry and his parents move into the downstairs flat and it triggers memories and emotions that Gretel would prefer to stay dormant. But does it also offer her the opportunity for some redemption?

I have read other John Boyne books since his 2006 bestseller - most recently 'The hearts invisible furies' which I enjoyed. It was the story of Cyril Avery, a gay man in a rapidly modernising Ireland. Again he shows here that he's a great storyteller and develops engaging characters.


Gretel is an interesting proposition for the reader. You have to ask yourself how complicit she was while living in Auschwitz. How much did she know, and how much is she telling us? I think that will affect your opinion of the book - I felt that she was young when it happened, though she could have come forward to the authorities earlier. But she's kind and thoughtful and at times has tried to do good in her life. She's also funny and strong-willed, but complicated. Very human, in other words.

It’s very much a story about grief and guilt. About trauma, and attempting to escape the past. About running, but never being able to hide. But it's also a compassionate book, and Gretel is a deeply flawed but likeable character and we can see how she has been shaped by events.

“Guilt was what kept you awake in the middle of the night or, if you managed to sleep, poisoned your dreams. Guilt intruded upon any happy moment, whispering in your ear that you had no right to pleasure. Guilt followed you down streets, interrupting the most mundane moments with remembrances of days and hours when you could have done something to prevent tragedy but chose to do nothing. When you chose to play with your dolls instead. Or stick pins in maps of Europe, following the armies’ progression. Or flirt with a handsome young lieutenant. That was guilt.”

The author asks the question: What would you have done in twelve-year-old Gretel's shoes? Would you have alerted the authorities once the war was over? Did she turn a blind eye and pretend it wasn't happening? And with the death of her brother, did she pay a high enough price? When someone makes a mistake early in her young life, is she doomed for the rest of her days - can she be forgiven?

John Boyne himself says that “All the Broken Places” is a novel about guilt, complicity, and grief, a book that sets out to examine how culpable a young person might be, given the historical events unfolding around her, and whether such a person can ever cleanse themselves of the crimes committed by the people she loved....I have less interest in the monsters than I do in the people who knew what the monsters were doing and deliberately looked away.”

I find John Boyne to be a superb storyteller, asking thought provoking questions of the reader, and creating a difficult but likeable character who has such a dubious past. Reading a novel is an act of empathy and though I found myself struggling with some parts of Gretel's story, I never found her less than human. It takes great talent to pull that off.

The prose and storytelling in this are of the highest quality and I zipped through this book quickly. The subject matter, I feel, is handled sensitively. This one will tug at all of the heartstrings and leave you asking uncomfortable questions like the best books will. It's a terrific work of historical fiction, and a great page-turner, and I'll be thinking about 'All the broken places' for a while to come.

Struggled with this one to get into it. I am thinking it will go back to read the first book and then hopefully it will make it easier to get into

I love the way John Boyne writes. I know he has sometimes faced accusations of being close minded in his novels, and of perhaps telling sensitive stories insensitively, but I have found him to be humane, witty and very thoughtful. This book is no exception. Read it with the warmth it deserves.

I read this in one sitting. The writing is brilliant, it quickly draws you in and it’s hard to pull away. I didn’t love it as much as I enjoyed the previous book - it felt less compelling and perhaps more just like a sequel for the sake of it. However, it was also really enjoyable so a 4 stars for me!

Beautifully written this book was harrowing to read but a must read. Told from the perspective of the sister from The Boy in the striped pjyamas, gripping read. Highly recommend to everyone to read. Never forget.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

I adored TBITSP and when i seen John Boyne had released a follow up i needed to get my hands on it.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read an arc copy of this book. It was a beautiful add in to the boy in the striped pyjamas. The contrast between current and historical sections of this book was brilliant. I loved how the author explores guilt in this book. Who would have acted differently? Could. You hand on heart say you would? These were the questions running through my head.
A proper soul searcher- I loved every page.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

Ninety-one Gretel Fernsby lives a quiet, comfortable life alone in a London mansion block she has lived in for decades. She refuses to talk about certain times in her past, particularly her escape from Germany, or her true identity, or her brother ... or that her father was the commandant of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps.

When a young family move into the apartment below her, Gretel strikes up an unlikely friendship with the young boy, Henry, who brings back difficult memories and risks her past being revealed.

'All the Broken Places' is a sequel to the 2006 novel 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' and, as John Boyne states in his author note, "is a novel about guilt, complicity, and grief".

I found the sequel moving, gut-wrenching and thought-provoking. It was beautifully written with traumatic topics handled sensitively. Covering family, loss, love, sins and shame, we see Gretel attempt to seek redemption.

I loved the character of Gretel. She was a complex character and has made many mistakes, but she still seems kind and caring. I was not sure I would connect with a character of her age, but she felt 'real'.

The story is told in multiple timelines and places, each time with a significant event happening to Gretel. It flowed well, didn't drag and held my interest completely.

An outstanding read which comes highly recommended.

Moving, thought provoking All The Broken Places is timely and emotive sequel that ticks all the boxes for being a memorable read.

What a wonderful read this is. The character of Gretel is so complex and believable that I feel as if I know her. The author so skilfully blends the various timelines and in doing so paints a remarkable picture of Gretel, growing from child to young woman to the now formidable matriarch in her nineties.

It’s a tribute to the author’s storytelling abilities that he chose to continue the story of Bruno and his family from The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas; and what a successful sequel.

I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a well told story.

My thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for a complimentary copy of the book, to read and review.

What a remarkable and moving read. It’s not often a main character is so well written that although they are unlikeable you can’t help actually liking them but to be honest that’s really what the whole story is about. Can you really judge someone by one action, does something that happened when they were young make them all bad and bad for the rest of their life or is life and people more complicated. This is a really thoughtful provoking read and one that will keep me thinking for sometime. I think John Boyne has just been added to my list of must read favourite authors,

The more I think about this book, the less I like it and its flaws become more grating. I actually enjoyed reading it for the most part and certainly found it a page-turner of a sort. But as the story progressed I found my credulity stretched almost to breaking point and as the coincidences and unlikely plot twists piled up I began to lose patience. It’s difficult to review without giving away too many spoilers, and I don’t want to be guilty of that, so I can’t specify those aspects of the narrative that with retrospect seem particularly unfortunate, but I will say that while the central theme of the book – guilt and redemption – is powerful and thought-provoking, and while I had some sympathy with the central character, Gretel, last seen as a child in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and now a 91-year-old feisty survivor living comfortably in London, ultimately the book raises more questions than it answers. A sequel to the earlier book, Gretel remains haunted by what happened back then and the extent to which she was culpable. And that was my first problem. To what extent is a 12-year-old ever guilty of the sins of her parents? There was nothing she could have done, and although she is responsible for one particular tragedy, it has to be remembered that she was little more than a child at the time. Then in this book she is aware of another crime and has to choose what to do about it, whether to stay silent or act. But the later crime, although terrible, and devastating for those concerned, is hardly on a par with the Holocaust. Not to mention the fact that the perpetrator is a complete cardboard cut-out. Lazy writing here. Then there are all the coincidences. Meeting her father’s former aide purely by chance in a pub in Australia didn’t seem all that convincing, and wasn’t helped by his weak characterisation. Then there are the storylines shoe-horned in for no reason except perhaps to be suitably “woke”. Gretel’s friend in Australia just happens to be gay. This adds nothing to the central narrative. And so on. And so on. And the final plot twist is quite simply ridiculous. So…..yes, it’s a good read, and yes, it’s well-constructed and well-paced, and yes, I probably would recommend it, but overall the flaws outweighed the positives for me, and quite possibly this is a book we just didn’t need.

One of the best aspects of a prolonged lockdown - Covid’s silver lining, is the plethora of new books. Sorting the wheat from the chaff is easy with John Boyne’s long anticipated sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. All The Broken Places picks up the story of the older sister, Gretel, and her mother in the aftermath of the War when they flee to France. The book covered aspects of post war troubles that I wasn’t aware of such as Nazi hunters. The story unfolds during two timelines, one details Gretel’s immediate post war experiences, the other takes up her story when she is in her 90s and living in a posh London apartment. When Gretel suspects a child is being abused she has a choice of whether to intervene and this obviously resonates with the loss of her brother all those decades ago. Haunting and hopeful I just loved this book.

I am a huge huge fan of John Boyne and have been since the boy in the blue striped pjs. This story continues from that book. This is the story of Gretel who escaped from Poland with her mother they must never tell anyone who they are, they escape to Paris. We then see her in the present, Greta is in her 90s living in a posh apartment with a new neighbour an actor and his wife and child named Henry. Highly highly recommend, another fantastic book from John Boyne.

Beautifully written
This is probably one of the most powerful reads I’ve ever read
Are we after all responsible for the sins of our fathers?

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All the Broken Places
By John Boyne
Doubleday
Many fans had very mixed feelings when John Boyne announced that he was writing a sequel to his 2006 global bestseller The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. What more could there possibly be left to say?
Turns out quite a lot. While the first book looked at the horrors of the holocaust through the eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp who strikes up a forbidden friendship with Shmuel, a Jewish child, the sequel focuses on Bruno's elder sister, Gretel.
Now 91, she has spent a lifetime feeling guilt about her brother's tragic death and the fact that her father was one of the most notorious SS commanders.
Spanning from the end of World War II in France to present-day Britain, the book examines how Gretel has tried to hide from her past. However, when a troubled young boy named Henry moves into her London apartment block, his presence brings back some painful memories. Gretel realises she has the chance to save him - but only if she has the courage to act and not just turn a blind eye like she did decades before in another intolerable situation.
While I don't think this book will generate anywhere near the level of acclaim and fanfare that The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas did, it's still a very absorbing, cleverly structured and well-written read that asks some difficult questions about guilt and personal responsibility.

I already knew this was going to be a difficult read and not only that, but also a difficult book to review, because how can you sympathise with an oppressor?Except Gretal isn't the oppressor, she is just a child in the strangest of circumstances. As a daughter of a nazi commander, should she pay the price of her fathers actions?

This story is told in a dual timeline which is very fluid. Gretal, today a 91 year old widow, a life full of secrets she is desperate to keep hidden and a young Gretal ageing through the decades where her tragedies become the older Gretals secrets. How unfortunate can one person's story be? The older Gretal sets out to undo her unlucky past with one last good action. Will it be enough?

A really well written story which I would love to see on the screen.

Good book. If you like Kristin Hannah or Kate Morton books you will like this one. Secrets, unexpected twists, different characters keep your attention and don't let you to put the book down until the most unexpected end.

I must begin by admitting that I have found that I have an affinity for the author's works. Even if I do not like the end result, the journey to that point makes from some swift reading. The prose flows, and I can imagine the people and the places.
This is a sequel to a more famous work, one that I have not read. After looking at a few better-informed reviews, I do not really plan on reading it either. That does not take away anything from my reaction to this story.
If you are aware of the previous work, you would be interested to note that this is Gretel's story.
The skill that I was surprised to appreciate was the author's ability to create unlikeable characters that I would still willingly read about. Many of them have no redeeming characteristics, just at least one other person who does not mind their general makeup.
Gretel is ninety. She has lived a long and convoluted life. We get brief glimpses of her past (post-Hitler's fall) during the events of the present. Her son wants her to give up the house as an early inheritance before he gets married again - the same goes for her only friend in the building, who is having memory issues, but her grandson also wants some liquid cash.
In the midst of the contemplation of her long life, a new family moves into the building. Their presence brings back uneasy memories and stirs a form of rebellion in Gretel's mind and heart.
When we first meet our central protagonist, her mind and behaviour seem much more straightforward and linear. It is only with each additional piece of information and the pressures she starts to feel that the tone of the narrative shifts.
I really enjoyed this book. I found the twists quite intriguing. One of the main 'secrets' was not continuously in our faces(although one was - that was understandable), so when the reveal happened, I was quite taken aback by how much it mattered to me by that point.
I preferred the current timeline to the older one, but Gretel's past is quite important to show the truth of the multiple facets of her present actions.
I highly recommend this to fans of the author and of historical fiction/dual narratives.

John Boyne is a master storyteller. Again, he pulls at our heartstrings and asks us the question, could we forgive someone like Gretel? A lady in her nineties who has a dark secret. Her father was commandant of a Nazi concentration camp, and she has been on the run all her life. Living a lie. And can doing the right thing make up for those lies?

Gretel, the older sister of Bruno whose tragic end with Shmuel in The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, absolutely destroyed many of us, lives quietly. She never speaks of the war or her families part in it. When a family with a young son moves into her block of flats, she tries to stay away. It pains her to see young boys as she remembers her lost brother. But she soon realises that the boy Henry is at risk from domineering father and fragile mother. Despite her own misgivings, she befriends Henry and sets in motion a chain of events that threatens the life she thought was safe.

I loved this book. As a piece of fiction, it is a masterfully crafted story. Gretel is somehow unlikeable and likeable in equal parts. She initially buries her head in the sand, not accepting responsibility for the things that she had done. But then, at the same time, she's tenacious and determined with a streak of humanity that even being brought up in such an evil regime hasn't destroyed.So you swing wildly from one emotion to another. A worthy and excellent sequel to a classic novel.