John Boyne’s latest novel is a sequel of sorts to 2006’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, perhaps his best known work. Written for children, it was essentially a fable, about Bruno, the young son of an Auschwitz commander, who makes friends with Shmuel, a Jewish boy, through the fence that surrounds the camp. Although the book has been accused of spreading misinformation about the Holocaust, it remains an involving account of humanity amid horror.
Boyne explains that he began making notes for All the Broken Places as soon as he’d finished writing its predecessor. Its major themes are guilt, complicity and the apparently inescapable cycles of grief arising from world-shaking events. It is gripping, well honed and very much aimed at adults.
