Catherine Chidgey

A remarkable book with a stunningly original twist.

An incredible piece of writing...takes us inside the minds of the children and their families with such tenderness, humanity and psychological astuteness that it creates an understanding of why they loved and followed Hitler.

Compellingly gentle and empathetic...one of our 'must read' novelists. It is a book difficult to put down and deserving of more than one reading.

A brilliant novel, with a cohesive and persuasive vision of human beings under stress, a subtle prose-style and a major grasp of things that really matter.

I love this book... I love the way, at this critical point in the world, when fundamental human values are violated, The Wish Child reminds us with grace and understated wisdom of a need to strive for universal good. I ached as I read. This novel is unmissable.

This novel is remarkable for its authenticity, this is a fiercely determined act of imagining... Heart-rending.

Two ordinary German children are drawn into the Nazi myth of a perfect nation, from the author of The Book of Guilt 
 
'A wonderful new talent' Nick Hornby 
 
Germany, 1939. Sieglinde lives in the affluent ignorance of middle-class Berlin. Erich is an only child living a lush rural life, aware that he is shadowed by strange, unanswered questions. Both children watch as their parents become immersed in the puzzling mechanisms of power. 
 
Drawn together as Germany’s hope for a glorious future begins to collapse, the children find temporary refuge in an abandoned theatre amidst the rubble of Berlin. The days they spend there together will shape the rest of their lives. 
 
Winner of the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction

The Wish Child

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Catherine Chidgey

Praise for The Wish Child

A remarkable book with a stunningly original twist.

An intriguing read

An incredible piece of writing...takes us inside the minds of the children and their families with such tenderness, humanity and psychological astuteness that it creates an understanding of why they loved and follow ...

A remarkable book with a stunningly original twist.

An intriguing read

An incredible piece of writing...takes us inside the minds of the children and their families with such tenderness, humanity and psychological astuteness that it creates an understanding of why they loved and follow ...

A remarkable book with a stunningly original twist.

An intriguing read

An incredible piece of writing...takes us inside the minds of the children and their families with such tenderness, humanity and psychological astuteness that it creates an understanding of why they loved and follow ...

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