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PRODUCT
The Book of Lost Names
Product Description:
Price:
$13.99
Detailed description:
“A fascinating, heartrending page-turner that, like the real-life forgers who inspired the novel, should never be forgotten.” —Kristina McMorris, New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday
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 “sweeping and magnificent” (Fiona Davis, bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue) historical novel from the #1 international bestselling author of The Winemaker’s Wife.
Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books when her eyes lock on a photograph in the New York Times. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in more than sixty 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 does she have the strength to revisit old memories?
As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris and find refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, where she began 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.
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Product group:
Categories: Women Writers
Product name:
The Book of Lost Names
Price:
$13.99
Stephanie McCall –
As a book lover, I automatically find books like this one enticing. Even the cover enchanted me; it’s the way I like to picture myself in a historical novel, or walking along the contemporary Champs-Elysses with a paperback friend. Plus, I sensed this book would be similar to The Book of Lost Friends, one of the best novels I’ve read so far this year.
While Lost Names wasn’t as similar as I expected, it’s still a strong, well-written book. Eva Traube Abrams’ understated bravery and intelligence, and the way she is pulled quite unexpectedly into the resistance, kept me rooting for her. Her forging talents amazed me, and the idea she and Remy had about encoding the book was nothing short of brilliant. Speaking of Remy, I enjoyed his banter with Eva, as well as how their relationship blossomed from “slightly annoyed and unwilling partners” to love.
Lost Names also contains a lot of the deep ethical questions I expect from a well-written WWII novel. I especially liked Mamusia as a conduit for those questions. At face value, her actions and reactions can seem overly bitter and selfish, and she’s so entrenched in denial that it’s easy to write her off. But the deeper into the book you go, the more you realize Mamusia is stronger than she looks and wants the best for Eva, which includes remembering who she is. Considering the unrelenting Nazi campaign to erase Jewish identities, Mamusia becomes heroic in her own right.
i loved the unexpected spiritual thread in Lost Names, too. I usually read Christian fiction, and while this is not that, I could sense the characters had relationships with God and wanted to explore those. I was particularly struck by Eva finding solace in a Catholic church, the last place she usually should’ve been and maybe would have been welcomed. Pere Clement, as well, was a pleasant surprise in that he was not a stereotype. Overall, the idea of Jews and Christians working together to stop the Nazi regime was a sobering reminder of our humanity, and a heartwarming thread.
The suspenseful threads here are spot on as well. I had an inkling of who the traitor was at various points, but was also thrown enough red herrings that I wondered a couple of times. Additionally, I loved the twist with Erich. You’d think you’d see something like it in more WWII novels, but I haven’t come across it much if at all. I would like to see more characters like Erich and Joseph in other novels, characters whose motives are the exact opposite of what you might expect but make total sense in the big picture and add an element of surprise to familiar story conventions.
As always, it’s the little scenes that make a great book. I’d have liked to see more of some; for instance, I loved Eva’s scene with little Anne/Frania and wanted to see her interact with the children more. I wanted to see more introspection from Eva, especially about faith, and maybe more interactions with people, like Madame Noirot. Often, it seemed like Eva or Remy or someone else would have a brief interaction or moment of development, and then move straight to the next phase. That’s kind of a hazard of a war story, I know, but I sometimes felt like there were a few blank spaces needing to be filled in.
With all that said, Book of Lost Names is a solid 4.5 and nets a recommendation. I’ll be looking for more like it, across all historical periods. And yes, it is a good companion to The Book of Lost Friends if you want to compare and contrast, or share both with your book club.
C Morrison –
It is well researched and well written. Great characters and gripping plot. It’s hard to put it down. For WWII readers.
Claudia Marín –
Lo devoré en una semana. Fantástico.
Evelyn Freedman –
An excellent book. It is well written and is spellbinding in its content and story. I couldn’t put it down and read it over 3 days. highly recommend it.
Amazon Customer –
I live to go into used book stores and ancient libraries. They have their own atmosphere. It’s wonderful when an author weaves the love of books into the story. Tugs at my heart when trying to get little ones to love books early on and fan the flame early.
This has twists and turns and many prime characters. It describes places I’ve always wanted to see with the most vicious memories of history and truth that shouldn’t be forgotten.
Pick it up, enjoy it, I truly did.
JAGSW –
It was hard to put this book down. Exciting story, sad story, love story. It has it all. Very well written.
monique lazard –
The story interested me the most. Although I think Kristin is a very good writer i found her writing s bit sub par. I would give it 4 1/2 stars but don’t know how to do this t. Overall an excellent book and a great read.
zelda –
Beautiful book! Must read.
Stephanie C. –
I loved the framing of this story, and I loved that learned some history while reading it. While fictional, the story has elements of historical fiction. I knew nothing about the forgers during the war. It’s amazing what people were able to accomplish and how they supported one another during a time of such a terrible crisis. The story is sad at times, but uplifting at other times. I highly recommend reading this. It’s beautifully written.
Amazon Customer –
Page Turner. Couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Interesting to learn about forgers during WWII.
amrita –
Love the book. So educational about the unsung heroes of the war…
Deeply moving. So well written that it transported me.
Cliente Amazon –
Este livro demorou meses para chegar ao Brasil, mas fiquei feliz em ter escolhido. Apesar de estar ambientada durante a WWII, não descreve com detalhes toda a violência daquela época, focando principalmente nas redes de pessoas ajudando a forjar documentos, o que é um ângulo original (nunca li livros que exploravam tanto esse lado da “resistência”). Apesar deste ser o assunto principal, o livro tem romance, amizades, duvidas de fé e muita coragem. Definitivamente entrou na minha lista de favoritos.
Karrin –
One of the best books I’ve ever read! I highly recommend this book! This book changed my life. So deeply moving.