The Thief of Time: A Novel

The Thief of Time follows Matthieu Zela, who flees Paris in 1758 after witnessing his mother's murder and his stepfather's execution. Matthieu possesses an extraordinary condition: his body stops aging before the eighteenth century ends. By the end of the twentieth century, at age 256, he confronts a difficult question about the value of immortality without love. John Boyne weaves together historical events and modern settings, incorporating scenes from 1920s Hollywood, the Great Exhibition of 1851, the French Revolution, and the Wall Street Crash into one man's narrative of murder, love, and redemption. The novel juxtaposes history with contemporary life through a carefully constructed story.