The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas(John Boyne)
Nine year-old Bruno living in Berlin in Nazi Germany during World War II. He knows nothing of the Final Solution or the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. His soldier father, Ralf, an SS officer, gets promoted and relocates the family to the "countryside" (occupied Poland). Living without neighbours, far from any town, and with no friends to play with, Bruno becomes lonely and bored. After spotting people working on what he thinks is a farm – actually a concentration camp – he is forbidden from playing in the back garden.
Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives a strange parallel existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas. Bruno’s friendship with Shmuel will take him from innocence to revelation. And in exploring what he is unwittingly a part of, he will inevitably become subsumed by the terrible process.
John Boyne was born in Ireland in 1971. He wrote his first book at the age of 20, but it wasn't easy making a living as a writer and for many years he worked at Waterstones bookshop in Dublin. He has published 13 novels for adults, 6 novels for younger readers, and a short story collection, including The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas which was a New York Times no.1 Bestseller and was adapted for a feature film, a play, a ballet and an opera, selling around 11 million copies worldwide. His novels are published in 54 languages.