Markus Zusak Announces Book Tour to Align with Bridge of Clay‘s Publication

Markus Zusak, best known for his novel The Book Thief, has a new book set for publication this fall, his first novel since The Book Thief was published 13 years ago. The Australian author is going on a U.S. tour this fall to coincide with the publication of this forthcoming novel, Bridge of Clay, which will be available Oct. 9 via Random House.

Bridge of Clay is the story of the five Dunbar brothers, one of whom is the title’s “Clay.” The YA novel finds the boys grappling with the adult world and the less common experience of discovering the secret behind their father’s disappearance. Clay is described as “a boy who will build a bridge—for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle.” Zusak spoke with EW about his forthcoming novel and the time elapsed since The Book Thief:

Since writing The Book Thief—a book that started out meaning something to me, but ended up meaning everything—I’d made up my mind that I only wanted to write books that mean everything to me, which isn’t that easy to do.