Арифметика дьявола: Путешествие во времени и Холокост

1988 children's time slip novel by Jane Yolen

the novel

The Devil's Arithmetic is a historical fiction time slip novel written by American author Jane Yolen and published in 1988. The book is about Hannah Stern, a Jewish girl who lives in New Rochelle, New York, and is sent back in time to experience the Holocaust. During a Passover Seder, Hannah is transported back in time to 1941 Poland, during World War II, where she is sent to a concentration camp and learns the importance of knowing about the past.

Author Jane Yolen, who is Jewish, noted that she had considered writing about the Holocaust for some time, but was overwhelmed. She was convinced to pursue the subject by an editor of hers at the time, who was a Rabbi's wife. The Devil's Arithmetic is the author's first book that deals explicitly with Jewish themes. While writing the novel, Yolen spent a week at an Indianapolis private school; when she explained to students about her forthcoming work, one student asked if Yolen had made up the events of the novel, based on the real story of the Holocaust.

The Devil's Arithmetic received a starred review from Kirkus, which called it "a triumphantly moving book." Publishers Weekly called the book "brave and powerful." In The New York Times, Cynthia Samuels noted that Yolen's use of the time travel convention was brought to "a new and ambitious level."

The novel was adapted into a 1999 Showtime television film with the same title, starring Kirsten Dunst and Brittany Murphy.

The Devil's Arithmetic was nominated for the Nebula award for best novella in 1988 and won the National Jewish Book Award (in the children's literature category) in 1989. The script for the television movie was also nominated for a Nebula Award.