The Book of Aron

Small and sullen, Aron is eight years old when his family moves from a rural Polish village to hectic Warsaw.  At first gradually and then ever more quickly, his family’s opportunities for a better life vanish as the occupying German government imposes harsh restrictions.  Officially confined to the Jewish quarter, with hunger, vermin, disease and death all around him, Aron makes his way from apprentice to master smuggler until finally, with everyone for whom he cared stripped away from him, his only option is Janusz Korczak, the renowned doctor, children’s rights advocate, and radio host who runs a Jewish orphanage. And Korczak in turn awakens the humanity inside the boy.

“A masterpiece… A story of such startling candor about the complexity of heroism that it challenges each of us to greater courage.”  — The Washington Post 

“A masterpiece about the possibilities of love and heroism — and their limits.”   — The Times (London) 

“Immensely rewarding, shocking and beautiful… Shepard, who for years has been one of this country's greatest fiction writers, is as original here as he has ever been.”   — NPR 

“At once heartbreaking, refreshing, and — hardest won of all — enchanting, Jim Shepard’s novel enters a crowded canon and it stands there, head and shoulders, with the best.”   — The Jewish Quarterly 

“A magnificent tour de force… Shepard is a writer of extraordinary historical vision, psychological acuity, and searing irony.”  — Booklist (starred review) 

“The story of what happened to children in the Holocaust is not for the fainthearted.  A fictional, first person narrative from the point of view of a Jewish child in Warsaw — in fact, a child in Dr. Janusz Korczak’s well-known orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto — is very brave.  And a heartbreaking historical novel that ends in Treblinka may not be what readers are expecting from a novelist and short story writer whose ironic touch is often comedic.  But Jim Shepard has written a Holocaust novel that stands with the most powerful writing on the subject.”   — John Irving 

“Heartbreaking, shattering, charming, and brilliant — there isn’t one word that isn’t the young boy’s.   Jim Shepard has written some of the best books I’ve read, and The Book of Aron is his best.”   — Roddy Doyle 

“This moving novel bears witness to human complexity with an uncompromising compassion.  It is a testament not only to Janusz Korczak and the children in the Warsaw Ghetto but to every child abandoned in war.  History must open our hearts to the present, and this is Jim Shepard’s powerful achievement.”   — Anne Michaels 

“Shepard has distilled his meticulous research into a swift, savage narrative… So rigorous and adroit in its handling of its horrific subject matter, it makes you want to investigate everything else Shepard has written.”   — The Seattle Times 

“Extraordinary… This is a book about annihilation, and the human spirit that somehow lives on, in slivers and cracks.”   — Los Angeles Review of Books 

“Heartbreaking but never sentimental, comic but never unserious, terrifying but always engrossing, The Book of Aron brings us face to face with the unimaginable, actual truth.”   — Daniel Handler 

“A work of art… Shepard turns hell into a testament of love and sacrifice.”  — Joshua Ferris 

“Transcendent… The Book of Aron reminds us of the infinite varieties of good and evil, and of the many paradoxical places in between… Enormous power comes from its stylistic restraint and dignity flows from its utter lack of pretension.”   — San Francisco Chronicle  

“Stark… Brilliant, iconic… ranks with the best literature that explores the dark side of the human soul.”   — The Toronto Star 

“Makes us feel anew the bewilderment and horror of that time and place… Flat-out brilliant and deeply empathetic.”   — Guernica 

“If Aron owns the rights to the book’s seductive narrative voice, it is Korczak who embodies its enveloping humanity… They walk into the fire, lifting The Book of Aron into a realm with the finest Holocaust fiction.”   — The Boston Globe