ALL THE BROKEN PLACES Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Book 2

Narrator Helen Lloyd portrays 91-year-old Gretel Fernsby, who lives in present-day London. Kristin Atherton portrays the young Gretel, daughter of the Nazi commandant of a concentration camp. Lloyd and Atherton alternate chapters revealing events from Gretel's past, which she has kept secret all these years. Both narrators use British accents devoid of German or French inflection. Atherton clips the younger Gretel's sentences, making her sound cold and brusque. As the present-day Gretel is presented with a dilemma involving a neighbor's abused child, Lloyd gradually reveals a character who is filled with guilt, a feeling of complicity, and grief for her role during the Holocaust. While Gretel's memories can be difficult to listen to, the conflict presented by her opportunity for atonement allows Lloyd to shine. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2023]