KIRKUS REVIEWA classic fairy tale is darkly reimagined in this brutally explicit Holocaust story by poet and second-novelist Murphy (The Sea Within, 1985).The eponymous protagonists are Polish Jews, the preadolescent daughter and seven-year-old son of a fugitive intellectual ironically nicknamed ?the Mechanic,? who survived by servicing German military vehicles. In the late stages of the war, the Mechanic and his second wife ?rename? his children and send them into a forest, hoping they can elude both Nazi pursuers and advancing Russian troops. The children are taken in by an aged ?witch,? Magda, and reluctantly sheltered by the embattled residents of a nearby Polish village. At first juxtaposing the ordeals of the children and their father, Murphy gradually expands her novel?s scope, focusing in turn on an unwed pregnant woman (Nelka) and the redoubtable villager (Telek) who loves her; Magda?s brother, a sin-burdened priest who redeems himself by a heroic sacrifice; and German Major Frankel, a suave monster who ?refreshes? himself with the transfused blood of Polish women and orchestrates the inspection of their children for the purposes of ?assimilation into the German people.? Murphy?s crisp prose renders the war?s terrors memorably, and she makes expert use of indigenous folklore and superstition�perhaps expressed most beautifully in ?Gretel?s? declaration to ?Hansel? that stars above them are ?all the Jews that died . . . and went up in the air, and the stars are the stars that they wore on their coats.? Comparisons to Jerzy Kosinski?s The Painted Bird are inevitable, but the relentlessly grim depiction of the children?s perilous odyssey, and especially the stalwart, mordant figure of Magda (whose eventual fate and transfiguration are stunningly described) link it even more closely with Davis Grubb?s Appalachian morality tale The Night of the Hunter. Only an unconvincing hopeful ending and elegiac coda dilute the power of Murphy?s unusually gripping fiction.Lyrical, haunting, unforgettable.

Uhg. Nazis. Horrible horrible horrifically horrible. Interesting conceit to use the fairy tale. Pretty well done. But Uhg. Nazis.

This is what I wrote about this read in 2010: "Interesting! Story set in eastern Poland as the end of WWII approaches in the winter 1945. Two small Jewish children and their parents' struggle to survive. The human goodness that shelters them and love of others around them that survives the horrors of war and powerful hates. Interesting to be introduced to the Bialowieza forest." ( )

This book re-imagines the story of Hansel and Gretal during World War II. It is the story of a young Jewish boy and girl who are separated from their parents and protected by a Polish woman who lives in the woods. Trust me when I say that you don't even need to know the story of Hansel and Gretal to get a lot out of the book. The influence is there, but this book is no fairy tale.

This story has it all - - symbolism, pathos, well developed and sympathetic characters, succinct and cleanly written prose, and suspense. Plus, it had the added bonus of being hard to put down.

For me, the book evoked two of my favorites - - The Book Thief and The Road . . .much more so, the Book Thief, but both came to mind. I didn't cry at the end of this one, like I did both of those - - but there were moments while I was reading that my emotions ran very high. There are some very graphic scenes so be forewarned - - but I did not think they were gratuitous.

If I have to be critical - - which I am loathe to do because I really did enjoy reading this one - - I would say that the final chapter did required a bit of suspension of disbelief. Not a whole lot, but some. I felt the way one of the characters was handled at the end wasn't as realistic as the rest of the book. But that's one teensy blemish on an otherwise outstanding read. Highly recommend!
( )

Louise Murphy guides her characters through a forest of war, horror and darkness as they leave a proverbial trail of identity breadcrumbs across a vast expanse of human suffering. The holocaust in Poland becomes the backdrop of the classic Grimm fairy tale very well. Murphy puts an incredibly devastating spin on things by placing a Jewish man and woman in a terrible situation where they must abandon their young son and daughter in the woods to save them from the German soldiers pursuing them. In an effort to keep their Jewish identity hidden they give them the, indisputably German, names, Hansel and Gretel. They are then taken in by an old woman living alone on the outskirts of a Nazi occupied village, who, in a heartwarming twist on the original, becomes their protector instead of captor.

This book was equal parts heart-warming and heart wrenching. Its portrayal of the holocaust and life under Nazi occupation was exceptional. The interwoven story of the holocaust with the classic Grimm fairy tale is almost seamless. The story itself only draws on the fairy tale for it’s major story markers (events) and characters. Those story markers are usually re-imagined to fit the narrative but generally reflect the event from the fairy tale. However, this story is so much more then a re-imagined fairy tale, it is historical fiction in its finest form. The depiction of the life in Eastern Europe under Nazi occupation was obviously well researched by the author. Murphy also seems to use this research to inform the characters she creates. The presence of people of many different nationalities in the story is a wonderfully honest and accurate depiction of the population displacement that took place as a result of the German army’s disastrous and genocidal offensive to the east. Another strength of this book is that it provides internal perspectives for multiple characters. The presence of multiple internal perspectives creates a more accurate portrayal of the reality of the war in the east because it shows the range of diverse perspectives on both sides. Understanding that anti-Semitism was not just a view held by Nazi’s, or that German soldiers were not all believers in, or even enforcers of, Nazi ideology, might help to push back against binary narratives of the conflict. Challenging assumptions and stereotypes related to the Second World War is essential for young readers and learners because the Second World War is a popular subject for a wide variety of teens and young people.

Ultimately, this is a good YA book because it is engaging yet challenging. It challenges binary narratives about the war because it creates a very strong sense of the complexity in regards to the different decisions and desires of the various characters. The presence of so many different, and rapidly alternating, perspectives is challenging because it forces the reader to switch gears very quickly and think about a certain situation differently. It is also worth mentioning that Murphy takes the reader into the mind of an SS Officer with some beliefs and habits that may be quite challenging for younger readers to understand. To a younger teen he might come across as completely insane and over the top. The challenge of this character is realizing that he represents a belief system that is very real and still alive today. While teens might not completely identify with young Hansel and Gretel, their lack of understanding about the situation they are in might create a strong sense of dramatic irony in the mind of the reader, which is also a major drawing factor of the book. Murphy adeptly uses the reader’s prior knowledge of the Hansel and Gretel tale to draw the reader in. This creates a sense of dread and anxiety throughout the story. The subject matter of “The True Story of Hansel and Gretel” is not easy, but the skillfully crafted characters and exceptional writing make it well worth the effort.
( )