The Day We Had Hitler Home Explained

The Day We Had Hitler Home
Author:	Rodney Hall
Country:	Australia
Language:	English
Genre:	Novel
Publisher:	Picador, Australia
Release Date:	2000
Media Type:	Print (Paperback)
Pages:	351 pp
Isbn:	0-330-36198-8
Dewey:	823/.914 21
Congress:	PR9619.3.H285 D39 2000
Oclc:	45585099
Preceded By:	The Island in the Mind
Followed By:	The Last Love Story

The Day We Had Hitler Home is a 2000 novel by the Australian author Rodney Hall.^[1]

Synopsis

In 1919 a young German soldier, blinded by gas, joins the wrong queue of evacutees. He is also unable to speak and so cannot tell anyone his name, private first-class Adolf Hitler. As a result he mistakenly boards a steamer headed for Australia.

Awards and nominations

• Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2001: shortlisted^[2]
• ALS Gold Medal, 2001: winner^[3]

Critical reception

Joanna Giffiths in The Observer noted that the book "jerks the reader to attention by depositing Hitler into the plot, only to recede into opaque twists and obscuring quirkiness."^[4]

Publication history

After the novel's initial publication by Picador in Australia in 2000^[5] it was then published as follows:

• Granta, UK, 2001^[6]

It was also translated into Portuguese (2001) and Spanish (2002).

See also

• 2000 in Australian literature

Notes and References

1. Web site: Austlit - The Day We Had Hitler Home . Austlit. 6 July 2023.
2. Web site: Rodney Hall OAM . National Portrait Gallery. 6 July 2023.
3. Web site: Austlit - The Day We Had Hitler Home - Awards . Austlit. 6 July 2023.
4. Web site: "G'day, Adolf, fancy a tinny?" . The Observer, 29 April 2001. 6 July 2023.
5. Web site: The Day We Had Hitler Home (Picador) . National Library of Australia. 6 July 2023.
6. Web site: The Day We Had Hitler Home (Granta) . National Library of Australia. 6 July 2023.