Foothills Book Club discussion

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel

Any Interest?

Louise Murphy’s The True Story of Hansel and Gretel is a work of historical fiction originally published in 2003. Loosely based upon the classic fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the novel reimagines Hansel and Gretel’s story as a World War II narrative. The San Francisco Chronicle selected it as a “Best Book of the Year,” and it received a starred review from Kirkus.

Plot Summary
It is the winter of 1943, and World War II has gripped Europe for more than 4 years. German forces control Poland, occupying even its small villages. On a cold night, a Jewish family races along a wooded road in the western part of the country with Nazi soldiers in pursuit. The unnamed family consists of a father, his wife, and two children, all fleeing a Polish ghetto. The adults, later known as the Mechanik and the Stepmother, decide that they must abandon the children in the forest if any of them hope to survive. Before the Stepmother and the Mechanik leave the children, she warns them not to use their real names or otherwise give away their Judaism. The Stepmother suggests that they go by Hansel and Gretel.