The Book Thief is special. It’s narrated by Death. ‘ HERE IS A SMALL FACT. You are going to die. I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. Agreeable. Affable. And that’s only the A’s. Just don’t ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.’ So true. This story is not nice. It does not end hap

​​ “Lord what fools these mortals be!” Puck, Midsummer Night’s Dream Bernard Cornwell is best known for his Napoleonic War books about...

Pied Piper was published in 1942. The story is purely imaginary and something of a fairy tale (a nice one, not a Brothers Grimm horror story) but the setting is as realistic as imagination applied to the news of the day could possibly make a setting.