The Little Liar

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-9

Part 1, Chapters 10-19

Part 2

Parts 3-4

Part 5

Part 6

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

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Discussion Questions

Background

Authorial Context: Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom is an American author, journalist, and screenwriter who has earned international acclaim for his storytelling, which delves deep into the heart of themes such as forgiveness and hope. He was born on May 23, 1958, in Passaic, New Jersey, and received master’s degrees from Columbia College’s Schools of Journalism and Business. Albom began his career as a sports journalist and wrote for newspapers and magazines like the Detroit Free Press and Sports Illustrated. He won several awards for his sports commentary, including the Associated Press Sports Editors Award for Best Sports News Story in 1985.

In 1997, Albom published his first book, a memoir titled Tuesdays With Morrie, which tells the story of his weekly meetings with Morrie Schwartz, his former college professor who was dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The book was well received and has since been translated into more than 50 languages, and more than 14 million copies have been sold. Albom has continued to write, publishing 11 novels, including For One More Day (2006), The Timekeeper (2012), The Next Person You Meet in Heaven (2018), and The Stranger in the Lifeboat (2021). Albom has received many awards and accolades for his contributions to the fields of journalism and literature, and he was also honored with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his artistic and philanthropic achievements. Albom’s work has deeply impacted millions of readers, providing profound insights into the human condition through his commentary on love and forgiveness (“About the Author.” Mitch Albom).

Socio-Historical Context: Salonika, Greece, During the Holocaust

Before the Holocaust, Salonika was a beautiful city in northern Greece that housed a diverse and thriving Jewish community of nearly 55,000 people; this community accounted for over half its population and was known for its rich traditions and religious practices. In April of 1941, Germany invaded Greece and began to occupy its lands. The Nazi invaders and their collaborators within the Greek government implemented new discriminatory laws that targeted the Jewish population. They forced people to wear identifying badges, relinquish their property and businesses, close their schools, and live in a designated “ghetto.”

On July 11, 1942, all Jewish men of Salonika between the ages of 18 and 45 were gathered in Liberty Square and forced to endure hours of humiliation and abuse at the hands of the Nazi soldiers; they were forced to perform endless calisthenics, and if they stopped, they were beaten or killed. This day became known as the “black shabbat,” for it occurred on the Jewish Sabbath, a day in which those who celebrate it abstain from doing work (“11 July 1942, Jews Being Terrorized by Nazis in Salonika, Greece.” Yad Vashem The World Holocaust Remembrance Center).

Beginning in March of 1943, the Nazis began the systematic removal of Salonika’s Jewish population to Auschwitz-Birkenau and other death camps. During these deportations, families were separated, people were brutalized, and homes were ransacked. By the end of August of 1943, approximately 43,000 people had been sent to the Nazi death camps. Upon their arrival, many were sent to the gas chambers, shot to death, or killed in other horrific ways. Those who were not killed upon arrival were forced to endure horrendous conditions and unimaginable suffering (“15 March 1943: Deportations From Salonika to Auschwitz Begin.” Holocaust Memorial Day Trust).

After the war, Salonika’s Jewish population consisted of less than 2,000 people. Survivors who returned home after the war were shocked to see their homes occupied by Christian or Greek families who had purchased the properties from the Germans. Today, Salonika is still coming to terms with the catastrophic loss of culture and life inflicted by the Holocaust. In an effort to commemorate the Jewish community’s history and memory in Salonika, a memorial sculpture titled “Menorah in Flames” was erected in Liberty Square in 1997, and the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki was created (“Salonika.” The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

Historical Context: Auschwitz-Birkenau

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the most infamous Nazi concentration and extermination camp that operated during World War II. Located in Oświęcim, Poland, Auschwitz-Birkenau is the most widely recognized symbol of the Holocaust. During this time, the Nazi regime murdered over six million Jewish people in a genocide that devastated Europe. Established in 1940, Auschwitz-Birkenau originally functioned as a detention center that held political prisoners that the Nazis deemed to be enemies of the state. The camp functioned solely as a concentration camp, a place in which many people were confined under harsh conditions. In the first months of 1942, however, the Nazi regime began using the site to implement the mass killing of Jewish and Romani people, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ people, and other groups that were considered to be “undesirable.”

Auschwitz-Birkenau’s geographic location near several Polish cities and major railway lines provided the Nazis with an ideal place to systematically capture, displace, and murder over a million people. The camp consisted of three main parts: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II, and Auschwitz III. Auschwitz II was the main extermination camp and consisted of numerous barracks, gas chambers, and crematoria, as well as a railway platform. Here, prisoners were sorted into two groups: those who would be executed immediately and those who would work in the camp. Those who were sentenced to death were sent into gas chambers and murdered with the pesticide Zyklon B, a type of hydrogen cyanide. Their remains were then cremated and dumped into a nearby river.

Conditions within Auschwitz-Birkenau were extremely inhumane. Prisoners were subjected to overcrowding, disease, malnutrition, and extreme abuse. Nazi doctors also carried out cruel experiments on prisoners, and the guards would often engage in torture. Prisoners were used as forced labor to work in coal mines, maintain the camp, and dispose of the dead. Auschwitz thus became a killing machine on an industrial scale, representing the darkest depths of human cruelty and serving as a chilling reminder of the horrors that can occur when prejudice, hatred, and ideology combine.

On January 7, 1945, 7,000 prisoners were liberated from Auschwitz by the Soviet army. By the end of World War II, Auschwitz’s three camps had claimed more than 1.1 million lives, marking it as the death camp with the most casualties in history. In 1979, UNESCO designated Auschwitz as a World Heritage Site, recognizing its significance and importance to human history. Currently, it serves as a museum and memorial, and what remains of the camp is preserved as a tribute to the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust (“History.” Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum).