I regret not reading this book sooner. It read a combination of this title via NetGalley and via audiobook and I know it will linger, leaving behind a little heartbreak, a little hope, a little history. In a market that seems to have been over saturated with novels centered in WWII with many titles being mediocre over the last few years, this felt like a standout for me, a slightly unique story that shines a light on unsung heroes who were strong despite their weakness, brave despite their fears, and perfectly normal and flawed and full of relatable feelings - not sculpted marble caricatures of perfection.

Another beautiful historical fiction set in World War II. Kristin Harmel does a wonderful job of weaving truth and fiction to create a beautiful story. Her books are rich in detail, full of emotions, and give the reader so much to think about. Highly recommend. Shines light on unique areas/facets of war that aren't always discussed.

A beautifully written book about a different aspect of the Holocaust and WWII. This one centers Eva Traube who works with the resistance to forget documents for Jewish children so that they can escape to Switzerland. She doesn't want to them to lose their original identities forever so she codes their names in a book so that it won't be lost forever.... but doesn't see the book until decades later. Loved the "flashback" and "present day" storylines of the book.

Eva was forced to flee Paris with her mother when her father is arrested by Nazis and sent east to Auschwitz concentration camp. From there, they settle in small mountain town in the Free Zone with plans of travelling to neutral Switzerland. But plans quickly change when Eva’s talent for forgery is put to use making documents for children whose parents have been arrested. The children’s only hope is to cross into Switzerland under false identities, if they are to be protected from the Nazis. But Eva, does not want the children’s identities erased. Forgotten. So she begins to record their real names in an old text … and so the Book of Lost Names begins.

I love historical fiction. It is a genre that easily tangles itself in my heart strings and pulls. I had a harder time getting into this one and I do not know why.

Eventually, it happened. I just wish it would have happened sooner. The last few chapters, I was trying to mask my crying, as my husband slept beside me. At one point my tears were strong enough that I was almost choking in my attempts to be quiet. It was a particularly cute look.

Harmel is an extremely talented writer and either way, the story is important and 100% worth a read. It is a reminder of how many individuals put themselves in danger, in order to do what was right and what was necessary to protect innocent people that were being targeted based on hate and hate alone. That sometimes to the right thing, you need to do the hard thing. That you can be the quiet voice and still make an impact. We all play a role in stopping hate.

The Book of Lost Names is such an enthralling story. I truly enjoyed every character in this book, which is rare. Kristin Harmel has weaved a beautiful story that will warm your heart and break it at the same time. While reading I was full of hope for the main characters and really wanted to see where each would end up.

Through out the story a main theme with our characters is pain and how they process it and move forward, if they're able to. We see by holding on to memories or burying them inside they hope that this will stop the pain but they come to realize that

It was an interesting take on a time in World War II, with less grit and more hope than some of the other stories I've read in this time period. I liked the glimpse into what people were doing for others to help them escape vs the prison view.

I really enjoyed the story line of Eva discovering the book that she had a hand in creating and going back to visit this unimageable time in her life.

This is a dual timeline story with one taking place during WWII and the second set in 2010 with Eva now in her 80s. This story deals with the smuggling of children out of Nazi occupied France by groups from the resistance.

Our heroine in this story, Eva Traube, is a French Jew living in Paris with her parents. She and her mother escaped the round up of foreign born Jews, while her father was taken. They quickly escaped to a small town in the Free Zone using forged papers, forged by Eva. Once she arrives in town, she is recruited to forge documents for Jewish children so they can escape to Switzerland. Her mother is not happy. She did not want to leave Paris, she does not like the chances Eva is taking and she does not like that she is getting to close to a catholic man, Rémy, another forger. Time passes and as the war continues. Eva wants to be able to remember and identify the children they are saving by changing their names, so she and Rémy devise a code in a book contained in the library at the church in the village. When their cell is compromised, not only do many get arrested, but the Germans pillage the town and the book is stolen.

The second timeline is the story of Eva Traube Abrams. She is living in Florida and has worked as a librarian, who is now semi-retired. When she sees a picture in a magazine showing "the book" she quickly reads the article. What she finds out is that Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library is trying to find out more about this book they believe was looted from a library in France. They also mention that there seems to be some kind of code in the book, but no one can decipher it. Eva knows that she has to go to Berlin and retrieve the book.

The majority of the story takes place during the war with the present tense bookending that story. I loved the story of Eva and her friends. Eva was a smart, extremely talented young woman. She was courageous and willing to do what she needed to do to save the children. The secondary characters that she worked with, also showed those same traits. It is always heartwarming to read about these unsung heroes who risked their lives to save the innocent. There were even some Germans who helped as they didn't believe what the Nazis were doing was right. I know there were people all over Europe trying to save the Jewish people, who were innocents that were targeted by a mad man, but each story brings them to life for me. This was a bit of a lighter story than some of the others I have read, but it was still enjoyable. It focused on the resistance and the forgers not those that were saved, which is also a bit different than others. These things made it different for me, which added to my interest. Overall, a good story, with some tearful moments and some happier ones. If you enjoy dual timeline stories and historical fiction with some romance, then this is the book for you. I do recommend it.

I have been a Kristen Harmel fan for years, so when I heard about her new book coming out (and that it was WWII based), I knew I had to read it! Set in France during World War II, The Lost Book of Names, tells the story of a young woman who is forced to dramatically grow up when the Second World War breaks out; circumstances force her to protect her mother, and her heart forces her to help save thousands of children’s lives.

While not my favourite of Harmel’s books, this book did make a great “COVID read” (as I have been calling them). It wasn’t too heavy, but still captured the importance and reality of these “networks” of people during WWII that risked everything to save other people’s lives and help get them to safety. The main thing I loved about this book was the ending… So for anyone reading and having a hard time staying invested, keep at it! The ending makes it worth it!

The characters were great – but nothing overly special. The focus topic was relatively unique, but not completely. The love story embedded in the novel is beautiful, but not overly amazing. But the ending… was beautiful.

If you are a fan of WWII, historical love stories, or Kristen Harmel, this is definitely a book I recommend.

Forging and coding Jewish children's names in books involves Eva in resistance activities to the Nazi occupation. As these children are spirited out of France, Eva's work keeps their real names hidden, to be revealed upon the end of war. Uplifting and sensitively written, I recommend this book highly.

I don’t read a lot of historical fiction but this heartwarming story will be one of my favourites now. I will also be checking out everything Kristin Harmel has written.

This story is set in France during the 1940’s and in 2005 (present day). This story had love, loss, grief, discovering yourself, misunderstandings and one of the most tearful moments in a book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon And Schuster Ca for an advanced copy.

I loved this book. It has a different perspective of those trying to survive during WWII. An amazing view of the diversity of those resistors who gave their life or who lived with great risk during those terrible times. I loved the idea of secretly and deliberately compiling a list of the names of the children. All was not lost during those war years; many were saved and lived to an old age. I enjoyed the writing style and the back and forth in terms of the timeline. Taking away from the book, I was uplifted with the fact that no one should EVER give up hope.

I finished this in a day! Kristin Harmel's writing was so captivating and engaging.! I just needed to know what happened to all of the characters. Eva is a Jew in hiding and working as a forger of documents in a tiny French town. She becomes a central part of the French Resistance and is tasked with providing Jewish children with new names so that they can escape. One thing that Eva is determined to do is to make sure that the children's true identifies are never forgotten. With the help of her forgery partner Remy, she uses a secret code to mark down the names of the children.

I love dual timelines in a historical novel! In 2005, Eva is now an old woman living in Florida when she sees The Book of Names in a news article. She has been reunited with a mystery she worked hard to forget and now finds herself on a plane headed for Berlin.

This idea was so brilliant! I loved the author's note at the end that talked about how Harmel came up with the idea and the research behind it all. This story was so impactful! It also made me cry and I am not someone who normally cries when I read! You became attached to each of the characters and wanted to follow them throughout the book. It was such a page-turner!

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and the author.
Beautifully written novel about WWII and the French Resistance,
Heart wrenching story of how forgers produced documents so Jewish children could escape the Nazies. How these children were hidden by families who endangered their lives to save them. It is beyond comprehension how humans were treated.
I loved the characters especially Eva and Rémy.
The author brought out such emotions and many a tear.
Thank for such beautiful story. Loved Loved it.
Highly recommend.
5 stars 🌟

This is the first novel I’ve read by Kristin Harmel and I want more! Her writing is compelling and engaging. The characters come to life and I was drawn in right from the beginning. There are so many great lines in this book that I are worth quoting, this book stays with you long after reading it. 5/5 stars.

I adored this book! It's a story that was filled with endearing characters and a loveable plot. This was a book I did not want to put down. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to historical fiction fans and my friends!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary advanced reader copy of this book in return for review based upon my honest opinion.

This is the first book I have read by this author, I absolutely loved it. I will definitely be reading more of this authors books, I have already ordered The Winemakers Wife.

This is a fictional historical story based on actual happenings during World War II. The story is told in two time periods, the current date of 2005 and during the years of World War II. In the current time, it is the story of Eva Traube Abrams, of Florida, in her 80s, working part time at the library she sees an article in a magazine of a man in Berlin who is trying to reunite owners with books that were looted by the Nazis, the picture in the article shows a book that she knows all too well and she instantly decide that she needs to go retrieve this book, the Book of Lost Names.

The past is the story of the young Eva Traube, a young Jewish woman and her parents living in Paris around the time that the Germans started rounding up the Jewish people. As Eva watches her father be taken away, she knows that she must save herself and her mother. She follows the instructions that her father left for her and goes to his employer, who although he cannot help her, he gives her the tools to create forged documents for her and her mother; this gets them to a small village in the Free Zone called Aurignon. Losing her father has made her mother very bitter and she does not understand why they don’t just go back and wait for him, Eva explains that must save themselves before they can try to save him. Eva comes to the attention of a priest in the small village and he seeks her help, help forging documents to aide in getting many Jewish people, mostly children to freedom in Switzerland.

As Eva joins Pere Clement and a fellow forger, Remy, she helps to create the documents to get many children and others out of France to freedom, Weighing on her mind as they create new identities for these children is that the thought that their real names will be forgotten. Remy and Eva create a code to keep the names of the children along with their new names in secret in a church book, hidden in plain sight.

As we follow Eva’s story, we find out how the book has come to be in Berlin, and how Eva has come to be in Florida. It was a heart-wrenching, breathtaking story. It was full of love, suffering, heartbreak and most of all hope. I really enjoyed this book and it was interesting to read a topic I really didn’t know much about. I cannot wait to read more books by this author.

I love this book.! I want to give it 4.5 stars.
WWII, female protagonist, the French Resistance ... I’m in!
In fact, I read this in 2 sittings.
The writing is captivating. The characters are richly drawn. The horrors of the Holocaust are vivid.
Yet, we see people fighting for freedom. Helping refugees or taking the fight to the Nazis. Resisting any way they can.
This is the story of one such young woman who, when faced with unimaginable horror and loss, chooses to stand and say I can make a difference. I will do this!
I wanted to know the ending of Eva’s story but I didn’t want the book to end.
I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for supplying me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely loved this book! I was so absorbed in the story and each character the entire time and just when I thought I had the story line figured out a curve ball was thrown in.

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
Publication Day: July 21, 2020 - Out Today!
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Description from NetGalley...
“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.

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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Thank you to @NetGalley @simonandschuster for the digital ARC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts...
Bookish friends, this was a really good book. The book was inspired by a true story from WWII. I enjoyed the plot line, the character development, in turn, I connected with the characters. I did find Eva’s actions frustrating at times, but that’s only because I’m reading this from our current times. Overall, this is a great story. The pace was perfect for me. I was engaged from the start. There were parts that were heart-pounding. It’s thought-provoking, endearing and yes, heartbreaking. I said “Ooooh,” out loud when I got to the end, teared up a bit and gave a big sigh. When my husband asked why, I proceeded to tell him the whole story. This is a story of resilience, bravery, self-sacrifice and love. I’m out to look for more of Harmel’s books.
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Those “who realize that books are magic . . . will have the brightest lives.”
Eva - The Book of Lost Names

I hadn't read any of Kristin Harmel's novels before diving into The Book of Lost Names, her latest and just being published this week. Which is silly since I have a copy of her last book, The Winemaker's Wife, sitting on my shelf just wondering when I'm going to get around to reading it. (I wish I knew.) But, after reading this historical novel, I think I'm going to have to make time soon to read her others. She takes a part of history and makes it come alive in a really entertaining and interesting way.

Here's the synopsis:
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.
I read a lot of historical fiction and a lot of it tends to take place during or between the World Wars. In part that's because there are a lot of those kinds of books out there but it's also because it's a time period that really intrigues me. I know the broad strokes of history but there's so much I don't know and novels like Harmel's teach me a few things I hadn't heard of before. I've realized over the years that I like to use historical fiction, whether that's books or movies, as a base before I start watching documentaries or, less often, reading non-fiction titles on the same events. I guess it helps me to have a story in place instead of a bunch of facts. (Also likely why I don't remember much from history class.) That's why I appreciate the authors who dive into a time period, do the research, and create a story that is based in fact but allows me to see a bit better what things would have been like during that time. I'll never know exactly what it was like but books like The Book of Lost Names helps me understand a little bit more.

One thing I struggle with in some historical fiction is how much these heroines would have really known. I love reading about young women as they learn more about the world around them and fight for what is right, sometimes at the risk of their own lives, but I always have to wonder...how much did they know and how much is the author putting into their heads? It's never enough to fully take away from whatever story I'm reading but it's always a thought in the back of my head. It just always kind of seems like they go from naive girls to strong, capable women in an instant. Which, I guess, is possible given the circumstances. I can't know what it's like to have to deal with a war in my backyard or worrying that any beliefs I may have will get me arrested or executed. Eva is an educated young woman, she's going to school at the Sorbonne when we first meet her, but even she has a hard time putting two and two together when she's asked to help the underground resistance. Perhaps I expect too much of these heroines or, on the flip side, don't think enough of the women who lived during that time though, as I said, it's never really affected my enjoyment of the overall story. It just makes me wonder and think. (And shouldn't all books make you think at least a little bit?)

Does anyone else ever notice it's weird when you know characters are speaking another language, though you're reading it in English, and the author throws in phrases in the language they're supposed to be speaking? It happened a lot with this book as Harmel wrote the characters, who would have been speaking French to each other, saying things en français. Eva would be talking along to someone and then say, "Oui, monsieur." like she wasn't already speaking French. Again, not something that takes away from my enjoyment of the story (it's actually fun right now as I'm taking French lessons online and I test myself with the phrases before the characters/author translates them for the reader), but it can be a bit jarring and I wonder what the purpose is. Just to remind us where the story is set and what language the characters are speaking?

I read this book in two sittings. It's one of those stories that really captivated me. I cared about the characters. All of them, not just Eva and Rémy, but the people they were helping, especially the children, and all the unnamed individuals who were fighting in the resistance. I wanted them all to be safe even though I knew that would be impossible. My heart swelled with the love blossoming between Eva and Rémy and it broke when things went about as you'd expect and people were betrayed, killed, or left behind. There are a lot of emotions to be had in this novel and Harmel writes them all with skill and care.

Read The Book of Lost Names for the story Kristin Harmel weaves. She teaches and reminds readers what atrocities occurred during World War II and shines a light on the kind of people who fought back, even while risking their own lives.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

3.5 stars. That tearful ending made me round up to 4 instead of round down to 3.

An eye-opening and informative, lighter WWII story.

Eva and her mother are forced to flee their apartment in Paris after being added to the list of Jews in the round up. Before Eva’s father is captured, he provided a plan for Eva and her mother to flee to Switzerland. Eva takes charge and leads her mother to a small, hidden town at the Swiss border. There she and her mother blend in and become part of the small town Resistance where Eva learns the intricate art of forgery, aiding hundreds of young Jewish children in making their way to safety.

This book was a mix of things for me. I enjoyed it and loved the main character, Eva. Eva’s mother, on the other hand, irritated me from start to finish. Her constant negativity was a frustration to endure and I found she distracted me from the story.

I enjoyed learning about the Resistance group who worked so hard to save the Jewish children. However, the majority of the novel lacked the emotional pull and connection I had expected. I didn’t feel any of the true grit and darkness of these wartime atrocities.

Eva’s story in becoming a forger for the Resistance was very interesting and I loved learning about that, however, I wanted more focus on the children the Resistance was saving. I wanted to be fully immersed within the underground children’s rescue mission and hoped for more detail surrounding that underground Resistance network. Had the novel focused more on the underground Resistance network and less on the romance, it would have been much more enjoyable.

A recurring issue I had with the storyline was how many times Eva had faced a “close call”. There were too many convenient instances of officers looking the other way or yawning while checking paperwork which took away from my investment in the story and made it a predictable, lighter, less intense read.

The ending had a great twist that kicked my enjoyment up a notch. After feeling less than emotionally invested for the first 80%, I shed a few tears at the end which was a pleasant surprise.

Overall, it was a well-written, interesting and entertaining read with some wonderful characters, but lacked the emotional depth and grit I crave with historical fiction reads.

Loved this quote: “She doesn’t understand what it means to love books so passionately that you would die without them, that you would simply stop breathing, stop existing.”