The Prosperous Thief

Heinrik Heck, born into poverty in Berlin in 1910, has little future, while the Lewins, educated, secular Jews living near Düsseldorf, cannot imagine that their country will turn against people like them. After Hitler comes to power the war proves a godsend for the thief, and outside Belsen at its end he commits a theft that ties the two families together. He goes on to build a full and happy life in Australia as Henry Lewin, with a son who is an observant Jew and a daughter who works for human rights. Decades later Alice Lewin, the one member of her family still alive, finds a possible relative in a Kindertransport archive and makes the long journey to Australia to meet him.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Historical, War, Family (assigned by AI)

Set in

Germany, Australia, 20th century

First published

2002

Author's age

52 when first published

ISBN

9781865087566 (Allen & Unwin, Australia)

9781741144697 (Allen & Unwin, Australia)

More

Wikidata