The Day We Had Hitler Home

{{Infobox book |

| name = The Day We Had Hitler Home

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = The Day We Had Hitler Home.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = Rodney Hall

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = Australia

| language = English

| series =

| genre = Novel

| publisher = Picador, Australia

| release_date = 2000

| english_release_date =

| 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.{{cite web|title= Austlit - The Day We Had Hitler Home |publisher= Austlit|url= https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C318177|accessdate= 6 July 2023}}

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{{cite web|title= Rodney Hall OAM |publisher= National Portrait Gallery|url= https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/rodney-hall-1935|accessdate= 6 July 2023}}
ALS Gold Medal, 2001: winner{{cite web|title= Austlit - The Day We Had Hitler Home - Awards |publisher= Austlit|url= https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C318177?mainTabTemplate=workAwards|accessdate= 6 July 2023}}

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."{{cite web|title= "G'day, Adolf, fancy a tinny?" |publisher= The Observer, 29 April 2001|url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/apr/29/fiction.features2|accessdate= 6 July 2023}}

Publication history

After the novel's initial publication by Picador in Australia in 2000{{cite web|title= The Day We Had Hitler Home (Picador) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1280750|accessdate= 6 July 2023}} it was then published as follows:

Granta, UK, 2001{{cite web|title= The Day We Had Hitler Home (Granta) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/761168|accessdate= 6 July 2023}}

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

References

Category:2000 Australian novels

Category:Novels about Adolf Hitler

Category:ALS Gold Medal–winning works