Kirsty Manning – The Hidden Book (Literature Review)

Kirsty Manning does it again with her new release historical fiction novel, The Hidden Book.

Best selling Australian author Kirsty Manning first came to prominence with the release of her debut book The Midsummer Garden. It was then followed by The Jade Lily, The Lost Jewels and The French Gift, as well as The Paris Mystery – which saw her dive into the historical cozy mystery genre with her engaging series featuring a sleuth named Charlie James. All have been highly praised by readers and critics alike worldwide.

The Hidden Book is based on the true story of a photographer in the Mauthausen concentration camps who, when ordered to create five copies of a photo book recording the atrocities the Nazis inflicted on their prisoners, risked his own life to create a sixth hidden book, which was then smuggled out of Europe before finding its way to Australia.

In The Hidden Book, we follow Hannah, whose grandfather comes to visit her and her mother in Australia armed with the aforementioned book hidden in a flour sack. While Hannah is forbidden to look at the book (or acknowledge its existence), she is haunted by it and the connection it has to her family history. In dual timelines, we also follow Nico and his experience at the concentration camps under Nazi rule.

I first came across Manning’s work with the release of The Jade Lily and have since become a huge fan of her work. So, it comes as no surprise that I have fallen in love with The Hidden Book just as much (if not more) than her previous novels.

Manning has an uncanny ability to make any character in any historical setting come to life – almost as though they were sitting next to you on a bar stool, telling their life story. No matter their adverse circumstances or flaws (yes, they do have them, like you and I), we as the reader are able to connect with them so strongly. That is what I love about her work.

Even though I knew the story had to end, I didn’t want it to. And absolutely devoured it from beginning to end.

Whether it was the trials of Hannah and her mother in 1990s to early 2000s Australia or Nico, Mateo and Lena in Europe at the height of World War II and Hitler’s concentration camps, there is something there that just keeps you hanging on and rooting for the good guys to win. Even though you know their happiness is not likely. And if they do (by some miracle) achieve it, the road to get there won’t exactly be easy.

It goes without saying that Kirsty Manning is a fantastic writer, and I will read anything she ever publishes with delight. But The Hidden Book is something even more extraordinary, and a story you’re unlikely to forget. Read it and you won’t regret it.

The Hidden Book is out now through Allen & Unwin. Find out more about Kirsty Manning and her books here.