Rating - 4.5 rounded off to 5

Poignancy embellished with sublime prose!

You might think that this is a usual historical fiction around WWII, but it is not! Written entirely from a fresh perspective of the “foe”, it deals with how the war might equally affect and victimize a young girl, however blessed she might have been during its peak of glory.

If 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘫𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘴 was about Bruno, the 9 year old boy, this is about Gretel, his then 12 year old pesky sister –whose lives changed forever in so many different ways, with the dramatic turn of events at the former’s ending.

Synopsis -

We follow Gretel as she flees to Paris with her mother after the war leaving behind the horrors of the past, subsequently moving to Australia in the 50s and later in the present era - where after several decades as an octogenarian, Gretel Fernsby is now a UK resident, living in a prestigious apartment in the prime London locality of Mayfair.

Review –

In my view, the main attraction here is Boyne’s mellifluous writing. He handles Gretel’s character with such grace and delicacy, it is just impossible not to like her despite her being on the wrong side of history.

I can see how complex it might have been for him to reimagine this story from Gretel’s standpoint. There are 3 main things that are her constant companions - guilt, grief and helplessness. After losing everything and everyone she ever knew, Gretel’s yearning to be loved is another defining factor that propels her is different directions.

It’s amazing how seamlessly, Boyne flitted in and out of the three different timelines, giving us a multifaceted view of Gretel’s personality at various junctures of her life.

I particularly enjoyed the present timeline the most, where we have a wise old Gretel, hardened from experience, yet at the same time worn out and wilted - having carried her burden and secrets for over 80 years.

Living out the last leg of her life, Gretel seems to get tangled in a situation, where she would once again need to make some decisions and confront her ghosts of the past.

Boyne reserves some of the twists and shock towards the end and although it was liberating for Gretel, I felt strangely numb with the finale, perplexed at the kind of moral dilemma and unanswered questions that Boyne left me with🤯.

Thanks NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, DoubleDay for the ARC!

This is the long awaited sequel to The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, following Bruno’s sister’s life after the war.

Gretel is a complicated character, she has grown up in the middle of evil, but she wants to find a safe and peaceful life where she can escape her past and move on. Living into her 90s she faces more evil, and has to make a decision about what she can do whilst risking publicising who she is.

This is a fantastic follow on, concentrating on Gretel rather than replaying Bruno’s story.

Thanks to Netgalley for this book in return for a review.

Upsetting but beautiful sequel, says a lot about human frailties.

I didn't even question whether I wanted to know more of the story - I just started this. It's always painful reading stories with the Holocaust at their core, and yes, I cried more than once reading this, but not for the reasons you might think.

Gretel herself refuses to say who she is, who her brother is, for the entire book. But we know. We know what happened in 'Out-With', both to her brother and to many, many others. What we don't know is what happened after. But we will.

Gretel was a minor character in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas but now her life is our world for the length of this new novel. Her life after the war and her life now, as a 91-year-old living in London, in a well-to-do Hyde Park apartment. With new neighbours moving in underneath, she dreads a child living near her, bringing back painful memories.

I won't say more of the plot. It unwinds delicately in two strands - in present-day London, and in small pieces post-War, revealing both Gretel's past and how her adolescent experiences still affect her today. She has spent a lifetime hiding from memories and guilt, in refusing to examine her own accountability. Nobody reading this could fail to feel conflict when looking at Gretel.

There was so much talent evident in the writing, the weaving of Gretel's history which is horrific in places, a realistic teenage girl at times, then scenes of nightmarish quality. Present-day Gretel's new neighbours are equally compelling, there's a relationship with her son and his new fiancee that rang true, a heartfelt bond with a neighbour, and a climax building from the amalgamation of everything we've seen of Gretel coming together in one final decision.

There were two scenes that didn't sit right with me. Both were conversations that Gretel has with men, it felt a little too staged, too authorial rather than driven by the characters. Though each of these scenes too were both important and tense.

Boyne adds some very pithy and instructive notes at the close, both on how he came to write the sequel, and what it is all about.

I thought this was an excellent companion piece to its predecessor. It is more graphic in terms of sexual content and adult themes (including violence and suicidal thoughts) where the first was not, and so may not be suitable for primary-aged readers.

Powerful, tear-inducing and never less than thought-provoking. We can't imagine what we'd have done if we were Gretel and we know it. Thank you for continuing the story, Mr Boyne.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.

Gretel is not a likeable woman. She appears wrapped up in her own thoughts and excuses. When the truths begin to surface, there are many emotions in play here.
Her Father was the Commandant of a German concentration camp. She feels guilt over this, but no particular shame, everyone had a hard time in the war, you have the feeling, she felt punished for events out of her control. Should a child be considered guilty by what they see and hear, surely they obeyed the parents, but is that a good enough excuse?
Gretel and her mother are in Paris in 1946. They find it difficult to find somewhere to live, is it the German accent, they both seem to blame others, and ignore the part they have both played.
Gretel is in Australia in 1953, she recognises someone from her past, and decides to kidnap his son in revenge.
London in 1953 , meets her future husband. They have one son.
London 2020, a widow, now living in Winterville Court, an expensive flat in Mayfair. Visits an elderly neighbour to keep an eye on her .
A young couple move in downstairs, with their young son. Gretel begins to feel a connection between them, and when issues are raised about child cruelty, Gretel begins to interfere to help Henry.
Difficult issues of guilt , blame and avoidance of unpleasantness. Do her later experiences show her atonement efforts, and acknowledgement of her guilt? Or, have her childhood experiences forever scarred and corrupted her character completely ?
A hard book to read. I will certainly read The Boy in the striped Pyjamas myself, I remember my children reading it at school, it certainly raised a lot of questions.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Penguin Random House/ Transworld for my digital advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion. I have given this four stars, I feel there were a few unanswered questions and other areas glossed over.

After thoroughly enjoying both the book and film adaptation of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, I was overjoyed to learn there would be this sequel. Add in the fact that John Boyne is one of my favorite writers, and you can imagine just how high my expectations were. And, did he deliver? Yes, he did.

In equal measure thought-provoking, shocking and poignant, and all wrapped up in Boyne’s magnificent storytelling, this is another triumph to add to his remarkable body of work.

In All the Broken Places, Boyne tells the story of Gretel, whom we remember as 9 year-old Bruno’s elder sister in TBITSP. Now in her nineties and living in London, Gretel has reached a moment of reckoning. With the arrival of new neighbors, including a young boy, she is forced to confront a past she’s spent her whole life trying to forget.

Through a dual timeline, Boyne takes us back to Gretel’s early experiences after escaping ‘that place’, first in Paris, then in Australia. Fear, memories and guilt are her constant companions. Seventy years later, following a long life well-lived, she is faced with a choice that may give her an opportunity to atone; the chance to act, where before she turned a blind eye.

My goodness! There is so much to unpack in this book. I had forgotten just how deceptively uncomplicated Boyne’s writing is; how smooth and beguiling his narrative style. Beware though: this is but a ruse. For scattered throughout this story is shock after shock; some just ripples of unease, others savage in their intensity. Amongst the latter are chilling echoes from TBITSP that hit like punches to the gut.

It’s impossible to read this book and not feel compelled to consider some really big questions around the themes of culpability and responsibility. At what point does one become complicit in an act of depravity? At what age can one be held culpable if only a silent onlooker? And in our day to day lives, when confronted with something ugly, should we intervene or walk away?

Thank you, John Boyne, for telling Gretel’s story. It was more than worth the 12-year wait.

An absolute gripping book following on from The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

The story flits between Gretel, now 91, and her life to 3 years after the war and her escape from everything she once knew.

The current story focuses on Gretel’s new neighbours. When things don’t quite seem right with the family below. Gretel once again battles with her conscience as to if she should step in to help the young boy and his mother.

It also flits back to describe how Gretel and her mother coped after fleeing Poland and how Gretel got to meet her husband.

An absolute heart wrenching story but written in a unique way that not many authors can do. Well done to John Boyne.

This is a good book, it's engrossing. My one and only gripe is that it is a teeny weeny bit contrived in the last couple of chapters.

What a beautifully written book.

This is a squeal to The boy in the Striped Pyjamas, it tells you the story of Gretal, the older sibling of Bruno. Gretal shares her story of the different places she went after they fled the war. Her emotions and guilt that went with her.

A lovely, heart moving book. 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy for an honest review.

It is always difficult entering into a sequel for such a profound and well loved book but I think Boyne does a solid job at enhancing the story without taking away from the original. Like all Boyne's work, there is deep emotion and truth that he expresses so beautifully and this book reminds you why Boyne is such a powerful story teller and why he has produced such loved books. I think fan's of the BITSP will enjoy re-entering this world and exploring further the consequences of war and the generational horrors of the atrocities of this time. Not to be entered into lightly as a difficult subject matter.

This book is absolutely wonderful. I love the historical settings as well as the contemporary story about Gretel in her old age. Brilliantly nuanced characters, each with their own flaws, nothing is portrayed as black and white. Shocking in places with several disturbing themes, I love the way the book ties up the story of the past set during and after WWII with that of the present.
I do admire John Boyne as an author, this is another fantastic book from him.

All Th Broken Places by John Boyne
I give this book 5 stars

91 year-old Gretel Fernsby has lived in the same mansion block in London for decades.
Then, a young family moves into the apartment below her and Gretel begins a friendship with the little boy, Henry,But there are violent arguments between Henry's mother and his domineering father and injuries to Henry.
Gretel is faced with a chance to save a young boy - but to do so, she will be forced to reveal her true identity to the world. Will she make a different choice this time, whatever the cost to herself?

This is the sequel to The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and is narrated by Bruno’s older sister Gretel. It has a present day timeline but also explores 3 pivotal points in her life……Paris 1946,Australia 1950’s and London 1953. It tells a powerful and tragic story of the aftermath of the holocaust and the prejudice,guilt and complicity Gretel experiences throughout her life because of the trauma of who she is and what her father did.The author has created a thought provoking follow up on how childhood experiences shape our adult life and the choices you make and whether it’s truly possible to erase your past and start over with no regrets! As a reader do you feel sympathy towards Gretel,the one thing I am sure of is that this book was capable of pulling at my heartstrings and this story will stay with me long after Ive finished reading it.
With thanks to Netgalley, John Boyne and
Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Doubleday for my chance to read and review this book

This is the hotly anticipated sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and features Bruno's mum and sister as they flee the aftermath of the Holocaust. Specifically the part the father of the family played in it. But I get ahead of myself. We actually reconnect with widowed nonagenarian Greta Fernsby as she lives now, in an apartment block in London. She has a son who she rarely sees and, apart from him and another lady living in the same block, she keeps herself very much to herself. She has managed to escape from her past - since fleeing Poland for Paris with her mother, in 1946. Physically that is, the mental aspect is still raw as we find out when she is rocked by the appearance of a new family moving in downstairs from her. A family with a 9 year old son. Who reminds her of Bruno... And the emotions that surround what happened to him...
There's a lot more going on in this book. A lot. And not only just filling in the gap between leaving Poland, via Paris and Australia, finally to London. There's Greta's involvement with the family downstairs, her secrets, her fears, her guilt. Her relationship with her son.
It's emotional. It's moving. It's beautifully written and moves from past to present seamlessly. The past illustrating and explaining the present at exactly the right times.
It's a wonderful book which will stay with me, as it's predecessor did before. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

5★
“I told myself that none of it had been my fault, that I had been just a child, but there was that small part of my brain that asked me, if I was entirely innocent, then why was I living under an assumed name?”

German-born teenager Gretel is living in Paris with her mother, having escaped there after the defeat of the Nazis in WWII. Her father was a high-ranking Nazi officer who has already been hanged for his war crimes. Her mother has made up a backstory for them, saying they are from Nantes, France, and were lucky to have had little to do with the war.

“Mother and I escaped Germany in early 1946, only a few months after the war ended, travelling by train from what was left of Berlin to what was left of Paris. Fifteen years old and knowing little of life, I was still coming to terms with the fact that the Axis had been defeated. Father had spoken with such confidence of the genetic superiority of our race and of the Führer’s incomparable skills as a military strategist that victory had always seemed assured. And yet, somehow, we had lost.”

It’s no secret that Gretel is the older sister of the boy from Boyne’s highly acclaimed The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, one of my favourite books. If you haven’t read it, you must!

Boyne introduces us to Gretel at ninety-one, living in a very comfortable flat in Mayfair, London, which her son, Caden, is anxious to sell (to tap into his inheritance) and move his mother into a nice retirement village. Gretel loves her home.

“My Mayfair residence is listed as a flat but that is a little like describing Windsor Castle as the Queen’s weekend bolthole.”

Caden is getting married for the fourth time, and Gretel knows he needs the money.

“Caden has settled down so often that he must be among the most relaxed men in England,”

She teases him.

“He sighed. ‘I worry about you on the stairs,’ he said half-heartedly.

‘And I worry about you pushing me down them,’ I told him, which made him smile.”

She loves her son, but she has all the advantages of a wonderful location plus only a few neighbours.

“Mr Richardson and I had enjoyed the perfect neighbourly relationship in that we had not exchanged a single word since 2008.”

Perfect. Not nosy, no uncomfortable questions. A younger (younger than Gretel) neighbour lives across the hall, and they are friendly, although Heidi is a bit gossipy, and her memory is getting shaky. Unfortunately, Mr Richardson has died and Gretel is hoping the new people will be as unintrusive as he was.

No such luck. The new neighbours are a beautiful mother, a domineering father, and a sensitive nine-year-old boy, Henry, eerily reminiscent of Gretel’s own family. In spite of herself, and her desperate attempts to avoid any reminders of her past, especially of her little brother, she becomes drawn to, and protective of, Henry.

Reminders can also be a word, a turn of phrase, or in this case, a look.

“His expression was one that I had seen before, when I was a child and living in that other place. The soldiers had worn it, almost to a man. A desire to hurt. An awareness that there was nothing anyone could do to stop them. It was mesmerizing. I could not look away and nor, it seemed, could he.”

This is an engrossing read that I didn’t want to put down. Gretel is not a loveable old lady, by any means, but it’s obvious why she’s so prickly. She becomes slowly but increasingly more uncomfortable as she gets older and realises how much privilege her father’s position gave their family and what she might owe for having enjoyed that privilege.

Her mother was a popular beauty until she became an alcoholic, and Gretel later enjoyed her own privilege of the power people confer on a pretty young woman. She could ask questions and flirt her way through any answers she didn’t want to give.

I believe everyone has their own line in the sand, the point beyond which they either won’t go or would be uncomfortable going. As we become more experienced and learn more, we may shift that line from ‘won’t’ to ‘uncomfortable’, depending on pressure and circumstances.

We see Gretel hesitate at the line she drew in her youth, her determination to leave the past in the past, and her continued justification for making that decision. For how much is she responsible and for what should she feel guilty?

If some Twitter critic tries to have a go at Boyne for cultural appropriation because he put us into the mind of a ninety-two year old woman, I’d like to see them try. I don’t know how he does it, but he has captured the somewhat conflicting desires for privacy and relevance which I think are typical of old ladies, and I should know.

Her whole life is believable - plus, he’s written a perfect ending.

An unexpected jump back into a world I found myself lost in many many years ago, and what an interesting way to do it!
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The storyline following this book is one of both ugliness and love, loss and reflection and an interesting take on what happens after such unspeakable truths, the sins of one’s family and you carry on through… a high recommendation for all those who loved The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
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Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for the early copy

Just wow. I'm always a little wary of sequels, especially when I have loved the original novel. On the whole I find them a let down. This couldn't have been further from the case with All the Broken Places though.

Told from Bruno's sister's persepctive who is now 91 she reflects on her life since the tragic events of her youth and it's clear that despite being a young child there is a deep sense of guilt that she has carried all her life alongside her own grief. A beautifully crafted story, I am certain it will be another hit and it absolutely deserves to be.

“All The Broken Places” is the adult sequel to the young adult novel “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” I have read the latter and found it to be a hugely moving book so had high expectations for this sequel.

By and large, it doesn’t disappoint. It’s difficult to say too much of the plot without spoiling the original novel for anyone who hasn’t read it. But this sequel tells the story of a young girl, Gretel, who flees Germany when the Nazis lose the Second World War and has to navigate taking on a new identity and attempting to build a new life in France. Eighty years later, we find Gretel living in London but events prompted by new neighbours force her to confront the guilt she feels over her part in atrocities committed during the war.

This is, once again, a very powerful book. Boyle expertly drip feeds us with information about Gretel’s post-war life, intertwining it with events in “modern day.” It covers the feelings of guilt and fear and leaves it open to the reader on how we should judge people (and children’s) complicity in horrific events.

With this being a sequel, there will inevitably be comparisons made to the original. And when the original has been such a success, it will be hard to match it. I feel that the author nearly does it! Part of the impact of the original is that it is told from a child’s perspective. This book loses that but I do feel that the themes are important and it will live long in my memory for that reason.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I am such a fan of John Boynes' work so when he teased about a sequel to one of his books, I was very excited. When he announced it would be a sequel to TBITSP I wasn’t too sure how that would work but I was keen to read it. As it was I read this in one sitting.

This was an interesting book and I liked the concept of hearing the story from Gretel’s perspective.

Although she was there in the middle of the camp and it’s horror, she was still a child. How much guilt should she carry? How can she separate the love she feels for father and square that with the horrific act he was responsible for?

It’s clear from the story that she carries a lot of guilt but not enough to give herself up to the authorities and when we meet her at the start of the book she is a 91 year old wealthy woman living in comfort in a fashionable part of London. As the story unfolds we learn more about her life since she escaped Germany and this runs alongside the present day thread of her relationship with her son and her neighbours who include a young boy.

Gretel ,like all of us, contains multitudes. She is a flawed and human character and Boyne writes her wonderfully. On the one hand she struggles with what she has witnessed as a child and displays empathy for those who suffered but on the other she won’t give herself up.

Her childhood experiences unsurprisingly impacted on her relationships through her life, with lovers, with friends and with her children. It does appear that she confessed her past to very few people throughout her life and this didn’t include her son, Caden. Regardless though it becomes apparent that he knows most of her story. I would have liked more on his feelings and reaction to learning of her past.

Gretel still mourns her brother and we find out the full extent of the terrible part she played in his death. It is fitting that it is at the end of her life she feels she can perhaps make amends in some small way and save the young boy from his violent father

The story is well paced but it also covers well trodden ground with a nice little twist near the end.

Was a very good read but not up to the author's usual giddy heights for me.

It took me a while to connect with this book - but when I did, probably around the half way mark, I found myself turning the pages very quickly until the end.
This book is very long which is probably why I struggled a bit at first. It is told in alternative time chapters which also confused me at first, but then when I knew what was what I found them easier to follow and therefore found reading the book becoming easier for me.

I really enjoyed reading about Gretel’s story which follows on from The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. Although I had read The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, it was a while ago so I couldn’t quite remember everything that had happened.
I liked the way the chapters were one in the present day and one from the past.
I liked the twist at the end.
I would definitely recommend this book to others even if they haven’t read The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas as I think it stands alone as a great story.

Although I’ve not yet read The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, I could easily connect this sequel to an earlier important event in Gretel’s life. I think John Boyne is an outstanding writer and this novel had me gripped from page 1. The story of Gretel’s current life in London (aged 91) is told alongside her early years in Paris and Australia after escaping Berlin after the Second World War. I found her character compelling, and highly believable with her dilemmas, flaws and virtues. I liked the parallels between the past and present, particularly with reference to the young boys she encounters later in her life - in particular her neighbour, Henry. There were some great and unexpected plot twists which I won’t mention here, but I found the ending highly satisfying and I got a sense that Gretel was content to have reached that place.

As John Boyne says in the author’s note at the end, the novel is about guilt, complicity and grief, and examines the culpability of Gretel as a young person. I thought Gretel’s character allowed the reader to empathise and reflect upon the dilemmas facing her.

I’m pleased that John Boyne wrote this novel now and did not wait until he was in his 80s or 90s to write it, as also mentioned in the writer’s note. I loved reading this book and I hope that many other readers will enjoy it.