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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Jul 2020, 400 pages
Paperback:
May 2021, 400 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Will Heath
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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 New York Times 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.
Chapter One
May 2005
It's a Saturday morning, and I'm midway through my shift at the Winter Park Public Library when I see it.
The book I last laid eyes on more than six decades ago.
The book I believed had vanished forever.
The book that meant everything to me.
It's staring out at me from a photograph in the New York Times, which someone has left open on the returns desk. The world goes silent as I reach for the newspaper, my hand trembling nearly as much as it did the last time I held the book. "It can't be," I whisper.
I gaze at the picture. A man in his seventies looks back at me, his snowy hair sparse and wispy, his eyes froglike behind bulbous glasses.
"Sixty Years After End of World War II, German Librarian Seeks to Reunite Looted Books with Rightful Owners," declares the headline, and I want to cry out to the man in the image that I am the rightful owner of the book he's holding, the faded leather-bound volume with the peeling bottom right corner and the gilded spine bearing ...
Here are some of the comments posted about The Book of Lost Names.
You can see the full discussion here.
"The path of life is darkest when we choose to walk it alone." Do you agree with this? Discuss the moments in the novel when Eva decides to go it alone and compare them to the moments when she trusts others.
Totally agree with Kimk. And while walking the path alone may be lonely, sometimes you have to be the first one to walk that path so others can follow. - Gabi
"You don't need money or weapons or a big platform to change the world. Sometimes, something as simple as a pen and a bit of imagination can alter the course of history." Who in real life do you think best exemplifies this sentiment?
My first thought was Malala Yousafzi. She started with absolutely nothing and now she is a force for educating girls. She displayed so much courage. - jeannew
A Q&A with Kristin Harmel
Your book touched my family in a real way. My husband was a lucky survivor of the Drancy roundup. HIs father became aware of the raid and they left Paris just in time to avoid being taken. My husband never reads my book club books, but he picked ... - rosalynh
Did you feel sympathetic toward Mamusia, or did you grow irritated by her inability to understand Eva's drive to help others? Who or what do you believe is responsible for the growing hostility in their relationship?
I found myself losing patience with Eva's mother, she was acting like the spoiled child and Eva was forced to act like the adult. I realize she lost her husband, felt betrayed by Eva for a host of perceived wrongs she thought Eva was doing and ... - gaylamath
Discuss “Evil doesn’t live here anymore…You can’t judge a person by their language or their place of origin – though it seems that each new generation insists upon learning that lesson for itself.”
Before addressing the content of the statement, I'd like to address the "feel" of the statement. Eva must have been overwhelmed with so many conflicting emotions when she arrived in Berlin. However, there was a "larger picture&... - LeahLovesBooks
Every character in the novel is well-rounded and clearly defined, if a little one-dimensional. The plot is a bit reminiscent of a Disney movie, however; the main characters are good people with small interpersonal dramas and there is a looming villainous presence. Nothing here is narratively complicated or heavy, even given the wartime setting and high political stakes. Despite these gripes, The Book of Lost Names is a pure kind of novel. It works spectacularly as a love story; its characters are lovable and easy to bond with. The highs and lows all hit hard because of the tight pacing...continued
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(Reviewed by Will Heath).
Fiona Davis, national bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue
Not since The Nightingale have I finished a book and been so choked with emotion. Harmel was inspired by the true story of French citizens who fought against evil during WWII with courage and conviction. She shines a brilliant light on those who had their identities erased and lives destroyed, on a country and its people torn apart, and young women like Eva, who risked their lives with everyday acts of epic heroism. Sweeping and magnificent. Kristina McMorris, New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday
With meticulous research and an assured hand, Kristin Harmel once again spotlights French Resistance figures of the Second World War, unique heroes whose bravery and immeasurable sacrifices are too often lost to history. The Book of Lost Names is a fascinating, heartrending page-turner that, like the real-life forgers who inspired the novel, should never be forgotten. A riveting historical tale that I devoured in a single sitting.
While Eva, the gifted young Jewish forger in Kristin Harmel's The Book of Lost Names, may be a fictional character, the work she did and the risks she took were realities during World War II. Two of the more notable forgers — heroes who saved hundreds of Jewish lives — were Adolfo Kaminsky (1925-) and Alice Cohn (1914-2000).
Adolfo Kaminsky's story is a fascinating one. A Jew living in occupied France, Kaminsky joined the French Resistance as a forger at age 17. It is estimated that he and his fellow Resistance members saved the lives of 14,000 Jewish people using forged documents. As his biography (written by his daughter Sarah) chronicles, Kaminsky didn't stop at the end of the war. He continued to support causes all over ...
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