The Rewritten Ending of The Book Thief

MAX

The war finally ended. The Germans lost.

Concentration camps were liberated, and celebrations were thrown. When Liesel tried looking for Max with Rudy and Mr. Steiner in Dachau, they were denied by the Americans. Dejectedly, they went back to what they now called “home.”

A few days later, Alex Steiner opened up his tailor shop again. There was a limited amount of money to use, but that was bearable because they had each other.

Liesel would always sit at the window, staring out, hoping that she would see feathers of hair.

A week had gone by, and no one arrived. Liesel did not lose hope, but she knew that staring out the window for hours on end wouldn’t make that feather-like hair appear. She began to aid the Steiners around the shop.

Mr. Steiner often asked Liesel to find a certain cloth or pattern design from the mannequins. Once, when she was carrying out such a task, Mr. Steiner tapped on Liesel’s shoulder and told her that there was a man waiting for her. Slowly, she stepped out of the maze of mannequins, and looked at the man.

No, not just “the man.”

Max.

With tears lining her eyes, she ran over to him for a tight embrace.

“Max.”

“Liesel.”

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.”

The tears fell.

They clung to each other for ages, never wanting to let go, but all good things must come to an end. When they let go, Liesel introduced Max and the Steiners to each other.

The men shook hands.

Liesel’s tears continued to flow.

One more mouth to feed.

A little bit more of love.