The Toymaker

‘Hugely memorable, The Toymaker is an unflinching examination of the dark instinct for survival that lies in all of us.’ Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites

A person is defined by the secrets they keep . . .

Adam Kulakov likes his life. He's on the right side of middle age; the toy company he owns brightens the lives of children around the world; and he has more money than he can ever spend, a wife and child he adores, and as many mistresses as he can reasonably hide from them.

And he is not the only one with secrets. In 1944, Adam's grandfather, Arkady, was imprisoned in Auschwitz and given an impossible choice. Now, as he's coming to the end of his life, he has to keep the truth from his family, and hold back the crushing memories of his time with one of history's greatest monsters.

As a mistake threatens to bring Adam's world tumbling down around him, the past reaches for Arkady. Everything he's spent a lifetime building will be threatened, as will everything Adam and his family think they know of the world.

Bold, dark and compelling, The Toymaker is a novel about privilege, fear and the great harm we can do when we are afraid of losing what we hold dear.

‘Pieper writes superbly. The Toymaker gives immediate and absorbing pleasure, and has similarities to J M Coetzee’s Disgrace in terms of the main character’s wretched search for redemption, both for himself and for humanity.’ Books+Publishing