The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: A Novel of War and Survival

Fairy tales are memories and warnings wrapped in a story. This retelling of Hansel and Gretel takes the classic tale and sets it deep in WWII Poland. A pair of lost children and a witch thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As a student of history, I never cease to wonder at the misery we humans inflict upon one another. This location at this point in time was steeped in misery. Yet, people lived, loved, and managed to survive, some only as a memory.

I would have given this novel 5 stars if not for the very violent, and graphically disturbing, sexual scenes. Other than that, I think it was very well written.

This book was MORE than I expected! So very real in its narratives, physical descriptions and personalities. I could actually picture or recall conversations like many of them in the book, just like my Polish grandparents talked with each other or older relatives. The fear they feel, the near misses that happen, the old world “gypsy magic”, the clothing descriptions. Just all so well written from beginning to end. Without giving too much away I can saf

This was a beautifully told story of two Jewish children abandoned (by necessity) in Poland during WW2, the people who rescued them, and those who were their tormentors. All of the characters - including the SS officer - were so fully drawn that you could become a part of the story through reading it. You can feel the pain of hunger and the cold of the Polish winter. The narrative flips back and forth among different characters and the very real tension that they must have felt every moment of every day becomes so real. I don't remember the last time I read an entire book in one day. As for the graphic scene of violence against Gretel, it is beyond naive to think that this did not happen over and over again during not only this war, but all wars. And as we all know, there is no horror that can be recounted in a book that can ever come close to what really happened to millions of human beings during this war. This is an outstanding book.

Another Holocaust story? Yes but the main characters are two children who escape the ghetto and find a Gypsy midwife, the witch who shelters them from the Nazis as the Russians enter Poland in the last year of the war.The biggest conflicts are the minor ones of conscience. Should the Nazi major turn on the SS officer and his vendetta against the children and their protectors? Should the village outcast maim the children in the village in order to prevent the SS officer from removing Aryan children to be raised in Germany? Should the disgraced priest sacrifice himself to save his granddaughter and her baby? What is the right thing in a world where children must hide under assumed names, sheltered by the witch, scorned by a village too scared and oppressed to help them? And who should pay for the endless bloodletting?

This was a very interesting take on the "Hansel & Gretel" story. I do seem to be partial to stories taking place in the WWII era and this one offered a slightly different perspective of the German and Russian armies during that time frame. The cruelty of those with some power and the will to survive of those without, never ceases to amaze me. How the people on both ends could do the things that they did is both abhorrent and inspiring and this story is filled with both. Knowing that these and many other things were the reality of so many people at that time leaves me in awe that anyone survived. If you enjoy the history of the World War II era, I would recommend this book.

I really liked this book, but I did feel that the story did not need the whole "Hansel and Gretel" angle and would have been better without it. In fact, it almost felt like an afterthought. The story was very good on its own merits and did not need the, frankly, gimmicky fairy tale wrap in. I also disagree with the folks saying that some of the scenes were too graphic. This is a holocaust novel. You know that going in if you've read the description. I feel like given the setting in World War II Poland, the gruesomeness was actually not as bad as it could have been to be totally realistic. If you're settling down to read a tale of Jews in the early 1940s in Poland, well, you probably should not expect ponies and rainbows. Efforts to play down the horrors would actually do a dis-service to the history, in my opinion. Would be 5 stars if not for the fairy tale gimmick.

Rarely am I captured by a story so completely, that I am lost in and among the delicate words that paint such a realistic picture of a life and time that truly existed. I read and re-read several chapters so as to gain a full understanding of the characters and the setting in which they were placed. A horrific fairy tale brought to real life by the atrocities during WWII and the Holocaust. I've been inspired to travel to and visit the many locations in the novel...This is a story and a place in history that has touched me deeply and will remain with me for a very, very long time.

Great concept - taking a well-known fairy story and overlaying it with an alternative narrative. This is set in the last years of WWII and is told from the point of view of Magda (the witch) to, as she says, set the story straight. A Jewish man and his new wife flee the Polish city of Bialystok with the father's two children from his first wife. Pursued by the Nazis, they leave the children in the forest, urging them to run into the darkness and hide, before speeding on to draw the Nazis away. The children find the hut of Magda, the couple meet up with a resistance group and each spend the winter surviving and wondering whether they will see the other again.A supporting cast of characters enrich the story and Murphy does a great job of keeping the threads of the old Brothers Grimm story alive through the grim horror of Nazi occupation. Gritty and well worth reading.

This book is extraordinary - beautiful, brutal, heart-breaking....and full of such beautifully observed - and sometimes unflinchingly terrible - detail that every sentence rings true. I was completely caught up in the story, swept along by the twists and turns, needing redemption for the main characters, all of whom I came to know and love. It's much more than a clever re-telling of an old fairy tale, it's a wise book, one that I'm going to recommend to everyone who loves to read.

I bought this book as Hansel & Gretel was my favorite story as a child and was interested to see how the author had adaped the story for an older audience. I am so glad I did buy it as I was hooked from the start and could not put it down. I have given my copy away and bought a further few copies for my friends to read as I enjoyed it so much.Great book. I wish Louise Murphy would write more.

Not Grimm, of course, but it did make Grim reading. I'd been doing some Hansel and Gretel research, so this was a new twist.

A very moving true storie. A must for everyone to read of kids courage in a dreadfull war raging around them.