John Boyne has stated that he had always wanted to write a sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, but thought it would be when he was much older. I am glad he bought it forward as I thought this novel was an excellent sequel. It could also be read as a stand alone novel or following watching the film adaptation of the first book.
All the Broken Places is an adult book. It is the story of Gretel, the older child of the camp commandant, and a witness to the crimes that occurred at Auschwitz and in Nazi Germany.
Gretel is well portrayed. We initially find her I. Her 90s and living in post Covid London. As the story unfolds we find she has arrived there via Paris and Sydney. She is a complex character that it is hard to dislike, despite her many flaws. She makes you question your own views and wonder what you would do in her situation. Her worry about her tainted lineage is also an interesting concept that is well represented.
I liked the dual timelines and the supporting characters. John Boyne is talented when it comes to portraying children, and sharing their voices and lived experience. He made Henry so real and my heart, like Gretel’s, went out to him.
I definitely recommend this fascinating book.

It’s a long while since I read the boy in the stripped pyjamas so took a little while to connect the 2 books but once I did it didn’t disappoint. Following the life of Gretel the “older sister “ it goes from the past to modern day.
The story is well written and although I found the first few chapters slightly confusing as the time period jumps but once you realise that then it’s very easy to follow. As well as the timeline of the story the book also makes you consider issues like forgiveness, love, victims and family.
Thanks to John Boyne and his publisher. Also thanks to NetGalley.

Having enjoyed reading The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas many years ago I was so excited to hear that a sequel was coming out.

This book continues from the first book. It follows the story of Gretel as she escapes from Poland with her mother. It follows her journey from the past to now when she is in her nineties living in the posh area of London. Ever since her escape, she has had to hide her secret and make sure that no one ever finds out who she really is.

The story is well written, but I must admit it was a little confusing at first with all the back and forth between past and present, but it does all come together by the end.

This is a 400+ page book but the chapters are short which helps you speed through the book.

This is not just a historical fiction it's a book about much more. It covers issues about guilt, blame and redemption to name just a few.

I thought this was a great read and would highly recommend especially if you've read and enjoyed the first book.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, and Doubleday for my a copy of an eARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

My Rating: 4.5 stars

A thought-provoking read that resists the binaries of "good" and "evil", "knowing" and "unknowing, "victim" and "perpetrator". An uncomfortable but pace-y book that is an important sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

Like all John Boyne's novels, the language is rich and descriptive, and the story is told well. I was a massive fan of The Boy in the striped pyjamas and welcomed the opportunity to follow the characters into the future. Up to a point, I was enjoying Greta's story but found some of the plot twists implausible, particularly in the last quarter of the novel, and this diminished my enjoyment. I feel it would be more successful if this story were as straightforward as in the original novel.


Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC

This is the sequel to 'The boy in the striped pyjamas'. That book has stayed with me and so will this one. Well written with a great deal of empathy and sensitivity towards the subject matter I just had to keep on reading.
I liked the main character from the start and we follow her as she deals with the guilt and the impact on her life of her Fathers actions in Poland during WW2.
It jumps about from that period to modern day but it flows so never becomes confusing. Very thought provoking. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC

For those that loved The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas here is the long awaited sequel. If you haven't read the original book, this book acts very well as a stand alone too - although TBITSP is a classic everyone should read. This book, and it's predecessor, are part of the reasons that John Boyne is one of the best writers of our time.

Gretel is in her 90s and as sharp as she ever was. This is probably because she is burdened down with a huge secret that could blow her life apart. Not even her son knows her true history, and Gretel plans to keep it that way. The secret she holds has shaped her life in so many ways, and there were times she wanted to give it up, or run away, but now in her 90s she lives a fairly solitary life, apart from visits to her neighbour Heidi, and a few visits from her 3 times married son Caden.

When a couple move in to the flat downstairs, Gretel finds herself breaking her vows to keep her distance from others, when she sees how the wife and young son are being treated, with massive consequences.

Brilliantly told, with alternate chapters in the present and past, John Boyne shows why he is a consumate storyteller and a 'must read' author. This is John Boyne at his absolute best.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/60496739

All the Broken Places by John Boyne

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Here's the front matter

1946. Three years after a cataclysmic event which tore their lives apart, a mother and daughter flee Poland for Paris, shame, and fear at their heels, not knowing how hard it is to escape your past.

Nearly eighty years later, Gretel Fernsby lives a life that is a far cry from her traumatic childhood. When a couple moves into the flat below her in her London mansion block, it should be nothing more than a momentary inconvenience. However, the appearance of their nine-year-old son Henry brings back memories she would rather forget.

Faced with a choice between her own safety and his, Gretel is taken back to a similar crossroads she encountered long ago. Back then, her complicity dishonoured her life, but to interfere now could risk revealing the secrets she has spent a lifetime protecting.



This was a very evocative book that goes backwards and forwards in time building a clear picture each time of the life Gretel lives. The story is difficult to read in parts and Gretel is not an immediately likeable character, as the story unfolds I believe she is far to harsh on herself and has made decisions in the past to provide her with protection.

There is for me a theme that runs through our own lives and everyone around us. Are we all good or all bad - the reality is that we are always a mixture of the two good people do bad things and vice versa.

I found the book hard to put down as I was keen to know what was coming next both in the past and the present.

Beautifully written and handled with sensitivity and boldness

All the broken places by John Boyne
⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. All The Broken Places is a moving story about grief, guilt and complicity and follows the story of Gretel , Bruno’s sister in the years following the war.
The tone of this book is much more mature though than the boy in the striped pyjamas.

I’ve really been in a quandary about rating this book.
Unfortunately I just found this book to be one that wasn’t for me. I felt like this book was trying to tackle too many major triggering themes and ask too many questions just for the sake of it without probing into the subjects in more depth. It felt like an outsider narrating on a subject they themselves had not experienced, don’t get me wrong I know sometimes that can add a new perspective but for me on this occasion it just didn’t work and at times I felt it uncomfortable to read.

The writers use of language is fluid and does paint a vivid picture of the locations and people .

John Boyne is just an incredible writer, I’ve loved every book I’ve read from him and was so excited to get early access to read the much anticipated sequel to boy in the striped pyjamas.

It was an incredible story, told over multiple timelines and had you racing through to learn of the life of Greta from her teenage years to her nineties. Some unexpected twists and tales, and a journey you go on with the character.

It has been some years since I read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, but the heart-rending quality of that novel could never be forgotten. The juxtaposition of the innocent child and the brutality of Auschwitz - or ‘Out-with’ as Bruno innocently names it - is at the crux of the story and Boyne did not shy away from the equally unforgettable and tragic ending.

All the Broken Places follows the story of Bruno’s big sister - guilt ridden and forever under the shadow of her brutal and tragic past. Gretel is torn by her experience. She loved her mother and father, but was shocked and heartbroken by what she discovered about her father’s role as the commandant of the notorious Concentration Camp.

The novel is longer and more detailed than I expected - following Gretel and her mother to Paris, desperately trying to out run their experiences and Gretel to Sydney and then London.

I would not have believed that a sequel could be anything like as though provoking or emotional as the original novels but - impossibly - it is. Following Gretel - a somewhat unlikeable pre teen sister to Bruno - to becoming young woman and then an elderly one, is a journey the reader will never forget.

I enjoyed The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas despite the controversy over the book. Knowing now what I know about the original, I'm not sure a sequel was entirely appropriate. I do enjoy the writers work though and was willing to give this a chance but I found it to be badly written and unenjoyable.

When I finished The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas many years ago my first thought was how did the family feel when Bruno’s fate became known. This book answers that questions but leaves me with another, this time for society.
This books tell Gretel’s story as she leaves war torn Germany behind and deals with enormous guilt, for her role in the death of her brother but also for her role in the holocaust. Her story is told from the point of view of the current day at the age of 91 and alternate chapters starting with her time in Paris, Australia and finally in London. Each period of her life brings its own challenges. But there is more to this story, domestic violence, misogyny and societies ostracising of various groups.
I initially found the alternating chapters a bit confusing and had to stop to check which period of life was it referring to but got used to it and it worked better near the end as her character was evolving into her older self. Certainly a lot of cliches in the book that were annoying and the underlying issue that if her past came to light even in her 90s that she could still be held responsible simply for being the 12 year old daughter of a war criminal. And maybe our society or sections of it would deem that suitable and I suppose that is my question now, when is it ok for society to forgive and at what point do we learn from the past and move forward.
A worthy read, difficult at times and certainly thought provoking. Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC and the author for bringing us up to date with this family

All the Broken Places
By John Boyne

One of my favourite stories of recent years is The Heart's Invisible Furies, so I leapt at the chance to review Boyne's latest work, All the Broken Places which is a sequel to his 2006 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, a children's book set in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. This is not a children's book.

In the sequel, Bruno's sister Gretel is the main character and we follow her story as a 91 year old woman who is reflecting on her life in post war France, Australia and London. It seems I have chosen a lot of books lately that illustrate the perspective of those who lived under Axis rule during WW2. It might be a coincidence, or maybe as there now is greater distance from those events, we are more receptive to their narrative. I thought I was going to despise Gretel, but through Boyne's beautifully insightful drawing of a character who spends her entire life struggling with her inherited guilt, her shame, her arc of growth and understanding, I came to appreciate how accidents of birth, the shaping by others of our formative selves and the struggle for survival can impede, but not necessarily quash our basic humanity, our morality and our sense of justice and fairness.

This looks like a long book, but I absolutely flew through it in a day. It is broken into 3 sections, Paris, Sydney and London, the chapters are very short and alternate between then and now. I couldn't put it down, it was so propulsive, with a very satisfying ending.


Ireland/UK Publication Date: 15th September 2022
Thanks to #netgalley and #randomhouseuk for the egalley

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, and the author John Boyne.
At this point, I pretty much always know I'm going to enjoy something John Boyne has written and this story was no different. It was gripping and involving with complex characters that left you thinking about the book long after you've finished it. It covers questions of guilt, responsibility and grief and one of the darkest periods in mankind's history. I am always fascinated by WW2 fiction and the author tied together the links with his earlier book very well. I devoured it over a few days. 5 stars.

Writing a squeal to the most well know book by this author was probably not entered into lightly.

This is about Bruno’s sister, Gretel and what happened to her after the war. The tone and feel of this story is more mature and introspective than Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

The dual timeline covers her and her mother’s refugee life in Europe, desperate to hide their identities, with alternating chapters of Gretel as a 91-year-old woman reflecting on her life with ghosts of the past still haunting her every day.

The running themes of grief, complicity, and guilt was expertly handled and although these concepts are not new, the author managed to make it uniquely, memorably his own.

Absolutely recommended

The sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas follows Gretel, Bruno’s sister, from the end of the war, alternating with chapters about her current life as a 91 year old, living in an expensive apartment in London. When a new family move into the apartment beneath hers, and she suspects the husband is a bully, her life becomes more complicated because this time she cannot watch and do nothing, as she did when she was 12 years old.
This is an amazing book. At 40%, I went back to the start because I felt I had missed some of the links and I would suggest rereading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas prior to reading this book. The book is about guilt and the questions Gretel is forced to ask herself, like could she have done anything to stop the extermination of hundreds of thousands of Jews under her father’s command, as well as the guilt about what happened to her brother - the guilt that is so strong she has never been able to say his name since his death.
My review cannot do this book justice. It is beyond excellent and I highly recommend it.

It’s been a long time since I read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and this book is written from the boys sister, Gretel. Written in a more mature fashion, the story follows the life of Gretel from leaving Auchwitz to the present day where she is now 91 years old. I really enjoyed this book, Gretel is a formidable character and the book covers loss, secrets and atonement.

All The Broken Places follows an intriguing idea. John Boyne handles it with true mastery for his craft, giving us a truly fascinating, touching sequel.

I was really hoping to like this but unfortunately I found a lot of details were glossed over and not fully explained. I am aware this is shorter than most novels however it did not feel as authentic as it could be to such a harrowing story.