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The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
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The Book of Lost Names (original 2020; edition 2021)

by Kristin Harmel (Author)

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1,7168310,260 (4.1)53
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.… (more)
Member:groovygrl3
Title:The Book of Lost Names
Authors:Kristin Harmel (Author)
Info:Gallery Books (2021), 416 pages
Collections:Your library
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The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel (2020)

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» See also 53 mentions

English (81)  German (2)  All languages (83)
Showing 1-5 of 81 (next | show all)
Like many other people who responded, I was very disappointed by the stiffness of the characters and the lack of nuance in general. ( )
  asendor | Feb 15, 2024 |
The book was highly recommended and I know why. It is well written with likable and believable characters and the historical background is genuine. I’ve read about how the Jews were rounded up in France (and elsewhere) and shipped off to prison camps. The way Jews were treated was despicable and heartbreaking.

I had no idea how complicated the underground forgery cells (units) were and how and where they operated. Nor the risks that all those helping the Jews escape were exposed to every day. The author thoroughly researched the forgery units and also the facts about the Germans looting books. I didn’t know there are real people today, trying to reunite the stolen books with their rightful owners.

Eva Traube watches as her father is taken away by soldiers. She has to help her mother escape Paris and find safety. Her mother is not only distraught but she cannot fathom that their world has drastically changed. Eva learns to look out for both of them and then to help others escape the Nazis. She has courage and brains and compassion. She has to battle her mother’s delusions that her father will return and live with her mother’s negativity about Eva’s role as a forger and as a woman falling in love. Remy and Pere Clement add so much to the story.

The story is also told from Eva as an 87 year old, semi retired librarian who has not shared her past with her son. She learns of the existence of the book she used to record the real identities of the children for whom she made new identities and she is driven to obtain it.

My life is enriched after reading this historical novel and learning of those that gave so much to help others. ( )
  LuLibro | Jan 22, 2024 |
Didn't quite live up to its potential ( )
  ritacate | Jan 19, 2024 |
I enjoyed the premise of this book, but felt it was awash in soap suds too much of the time. Engaging storyline, but found myself really annoyed at some of the characters. ( )
  Suem330 | Dec 28, 2023 |
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It had suspense, drama and romance. I particularly loved the ending!
Eva is a Polish Jew living in Paris at the Onset of WW ll. Her father is arrested but Eva and her mother escape to a mountain village in the free zone. Eva becomes a forger, saving many people's lives, most of which are children. She falls in love with a fellow forger Remy. She decides to keep track of the children's real names. Hence the title The Book of Lost Names. I won't spoil the ending but it is marvelous! I will definitely keep an eye out for future books by this author! ( )
  Sassyjd32 | Dec 22, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 81 (next | show all)
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Dedication
To my Swan Valley sisters---Wendy, Allison, Alyson, Emily, and Linda---who understand, as only writers and readers truly can, that books shape destiny.
And to librarians and booksellers everywhere, who ensure that the books with the power to change lives find their way into the hands of the people who need them most.
First words
It's Saturday morning, and I'm midway through my shift at the Winter Park Public Library when I see it.
Quotations
Life turns on the decisions we make, the single moments that transform everything.
"I used to think that memories were less painful when you held them close. I think perhaps that isn't true, though. Now I think pain loses its power when we share it."
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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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.

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