The Matchbox Girl
by Alice Jolly
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Description
Adelheid Brunner does not speak. She writes and draws instead and her ambition is to own one thousand matchboxes. Her grandmother cannot make sense of this, but Adelheid will stop at nothing to achieve her dream. She makes herself invisible, hiding in cupboards with her pet rat, Franz Joseph, listening in on conversations she can't fully comprehend. Then she meets Dr Asperger, a man who lets children play all day and who recognises the importance of matchboxes. He invites Adelheid to come show more and live at the Vienna paediatric clinic, where she and other children like herself will live under observation. But the date is 1938 and the place is Vienna - a city of political instability, a place of increasing fear and violence. When the Nazis march into the city, a new world is created and difficult choices must be made. Why are the clinic's children disappearing, and where do they go? Adelheid starts to suspect that some of Dr Asperger's games are played for the highest stakes. In order to survive, she must play a game whose rules she cannot yet understand. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
What fresh hell is this? I got it from my Goldsboro book subscription and boy did they screw this one up.
I don’t know what it’s about or what happened in the 30 pages I read, to be honest. The way it’s written is pure garbage to me. Lost interest by page 10, so it’s a miracle I made it to page 30.
Throw this in the bin.
I don’t know what it’s about or what happened in the 30 pages I read, to be honest. The way it’s written is pure garbage to me. Lost interest by page 10, so it’s a miracle I made it to page 30.
Throw this in the bin.
page 19
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April 28, 2026
7 works; 1 member
Author Information
8+ Works 130 Members
Alice Jolly is a novelist, playwright and teacher of creative writing. She is the author of two novels, What the Eye Doesn't See, and If Only You Knew. She was the winner of the 2014 V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize for the best unpublished story of the year. Her crowdfunded book, Dead Babies and Seaside Towns, was awarded the 2016 PEN/Ackerley Prize show more for a work of memoir or autobiography. She teaches for The Arvon Foundation and on the Oxford University Master's Degree in Creative Writing. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Awards
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The Guardian Book of the Day (2025-11-27)
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2025
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- Members
- 40
- Popularity
- 732,880
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (2.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 2
