Book Review for All the Broken Place by John Boyne

This is a historical fiction story that takes place in a variety of locations including Paris, London, and Sydney in the post-World War II era. It is a story about secrets, a fight for survival, relationships, with some adventure, humor, and romance thrown in.

The protagonist, Gretel Fernsby, is the daughter of a deceased high ranking Nazi officer and the commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp. You may be familiar with some of her childhood if you read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas as she’s Bruno’s older sister. This book follows Gretel after she escaped from Nazi Germany with her mother at the age of twelve. She refers to her previous residency as “that other place” and never refers to her father by his name. Gretel and her mother live under assumed names and hide their identity from others in fear of their lives.

Gretel Fernsby who went by a variety of other names including Gretel Guéymard and her mother who’s assumed names include that of Nathalie Guéymard settle in Paris when they flee from Germany. As a teen in Paris Gretel shows interest in Émile Vannier the son of the local haberdasher shop. She hopes to marry Émile believing he will take her away from her mother. Nathalie shows a romantic interest in a gentleman by the name of Rémy Toussaint whom she hopes to marry so that she can take on his last name and have him provide for herself and her daughter. Unbeknownst to Gretel and Nathalie, Émile and Rémy collaborate with their landlady, butcher, and a variety of other neighbors to kidnap, torture, and disfigure Gretel and Nathalie.

Gretel and her mother flee Paris and build new lives for themselves in London. After much time in the hospital and work with a psychiatrist, Gretel eventually meets and marries a historian by the name of Edgar. Edgar inherits a large quantity of money from his aunt, and the couple purchase a flat in Winterville Court and have a son named Caden. At the age of ninety-one, Gretel, still living in Winterville Court, finally decides to tell her story in its entirety.

After a lifetime of assumed names, moving from country to country and hiding her true identity from everyone she decides to tell others who her father is. The story she tells includes her part in her younger brother’s disappearance and death, her stalking of Lieutenant Kurt Kotler and kidnapping his son. It includes her decision to murder one of the neighbors in order to protect his wife and child, and her secret relationship to another neighbor.

I enjoyed this story. I especially enjoyed following the contrast between Gretel who felt guilty for the actions of her father and her mother who became hostile towards anyone who criticized the Nazis. It kept me engaged and wanting more. I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed John Boyn’s book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I give this book 4 stars.