The Matchbox Girl

From the multi-award-winning author - a beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel telling the story of a young girl’s battle for survival and search for the truth in occupied Vienna ‘A shimmering masterwork’ Alice Austen‘An extraordinary novel about resilience’ Amanda Craig‘A mesmerising tapestry woven across history’ Gina Rippon‘Gripping and profound.A masterful work of rare complexity that lingers and haunts’ Christine LeunensAdelheid Brunner does not speak.She writes and draws instead and her ambition is to own one thousand matchboxes.Her grandmother cannot make sense of this, but Adelheid will stop at nothing to achieve her dream.She makes herself invisible, hiding in cupboards with her pet rat, Franz Joseph, listening in on conversations she can’t fully comprehend. Then she meets Dr Asperger, a man who lets children play all day and who recognises the importance of matchboxes.He invites Adelheid to come and live at the Vienna paediatric clinic, where she and other children like hersel