The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Inspired by an
astonishing true story from World War II, a young woman with a talent
for forgery helps hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis in this
unforgettable historical novel from the international bestselling author
of the “epic and heart-wrenching World War II tale” (Alyson Noel, #1 New York Times bestselling author) The Winemaker’s Wife.
Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.
The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?
As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the
real names of the children who are too
young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.
An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.
Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.
The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?
As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the
real names of the children who are too
young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.
The book of lost names is the perfect combination of the love of books and a well written and gripping story.
It is a captivating story about loss and injustice, and heartbreak. Nevertheless, it is also a story about love, courage, and strength.
Eva’s story is one of struggle. She has lost many things but she tries to do some good by helping those in need, by using the talent she was given. The story about forgery and the passing of children somewhere safe is one I did not know of before and I was glad to find interesting facts and some based-in-a-true-story part that was accurate. All of that intertwined with a story about hope. The author certainly knew how to add the right elements in the right combination. Her words trap you inside of the story and they guide you through moments full of heartbreak and full of sweetness as well.
It breaks your heart to think about the need to forge papers to keep people safe, the need to hide and save kids who lost their families. As I have said before, historical fiction (although, and unfortunately, it is on rare occasions just fiction) is one of my favorite genres because we get to see some silver lining. WWII was a terrible moment, one of the worst events in history, but there were still good people out there and it is nice to see that side too.
I loved so many quotes and passages of the book that I would not finish writing them. I liked the characters, especially Eva and Rémy. The ending had me in tears and the author’s note was just the right way to complement the story (and it has increased my reading pile with Kristin Harmel’s suggestions).
I have to confess it is the first book by Kristin Harmel that I read; although I have all of her other books on my wishlist, and now I cannot understand why I have not read them yet. I will have to fix that soon and keep an eye on her upcoming books.
Eva’s story is one of struggle. She has lost many things but she tries to do some good by helping those in need, by using the talent she was given. The story about forgery and the passing of children somewhere safe is one I did not know of before and I was glad to find interesting facts and some based-in-a-true-story part that was accurate. All of that intertwined with a story about hope. The author certainly knew how to add the right elements in the right combination. Her words trap you inside of the story and they guide you through moments full of heartbreak and full of sweetness as well.
It breaks your heart to think about the need to forge papers to keep people safe, the need to hide and save kids who lost their families. As I have said before, historical fiction (although, and unfortunately, it is on rare occasions just fiction) is one of my favorite genres because we get to see some silver lining. WWII was a terrible moment, one of the worst events in history, but there were still good people out there and it is nice to see that side too.
I loved so many quotes and passages of the book that I would not finish writing them. I liked the characters, especially Eva and Rémy. The ending had me in tears and the author’s note was just the right way to complement the story (and it has increased my reading pile with Kristin Harmel’s suggestions).
I have to confess it is the first book by Kristin Harmel that I read; although I have all of her other books on my wishlist, and now I cannot understand why I have not read them yet. I will have to fix that soon and keep an eye on her upcoming books.
400 pages
Published
July 21st 2020
by Gallery Books
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the DRC.
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