Summary: It’s 1976 Kathleen Carre is going to be part of the first class of the US Naval academy that allows Women to learn and graduate with the men however first she must prove that the letter with US slander found in her room isn't her’s all while dealing with a personal tragedy. The second narrative follows Emmaline Balakin during the first world war as she works as a hospital librarian and runs into her old childhood crush and the bigotry of the US that makes her question things and puts her entire future in jeopardy.

Thoughts: The story of Emmaline is much more interesting than Kathleen’s and I almost wish the book solely focused on Emmaline although their connection was interesting and I was kind of surprised by the twist. I adored Emmaline and Nicholas’ story and wished we spent more time with them. I like a happy ending and while this typically doesn't happen in historical fiction the ending for Emmaline and Nicholas was especially brutal and dramatic and unnecessary. Dramatic and unnecessary seemed to be the theme though because Kathleen’s entire conflict in the navy is very dramatic and over the top which I think is why I preferred Emmaline’s narrative. Overall the story was interesting and liked that it tried to tackle the difficult issues that oppress both women and minorities.

The War Librarian is told from two POVs, Emmaline in 1918, a shy, timid bookworm working the Office of Dead Letters, and Kathleen in 1976, a woman in the first class of females in the Naval Academy. When Emmaline answers a letter from the Dead Letter Office, she will change the lives of both women forever.

This story is about stepping out of your comfort zone to do what you want, even if it costs everything. In the end, what if it all works out.

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

My personal preferences colored my enjoyment of this dual time frame presentation. I really got into the WW1 aspect but was unimpressed with the more modern trailblazer (guess it's because I've been there, done that). Each story was sound, but this history geek was disappointed in the background research. I simply was not the target reader.
I requested and received a free e-book copy from PENGUIN GROUP Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons via NetGalley.

The War Librarian follows two women—Emmaline, one of the first volunteer librarians in World War 1, and Kathleen, who is a part of the first coed class at the Naval Academy. Both women’s stories were compelling, and I found myself invested in how their stories turned out. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys dual storylines!

The War Librarian is thought provoking. Well written and researched, it follows strong women in difficult circumstances. Being a woman, I've benefited from women like these characters.

I'd honestly not considered what war librarians did and how important their role. I recommend this book

The War Librarian was a big hit for me. I really enjoy historical fiction with dual timelines and the characters were great.
Emmaline is a librarian during WW1 and Kathleen is one of the first women to be admitted to the Naval Academy in 1976.
I enjoyed this story of women trying to fit into a male dominated world.
Thank you NetGalley and Putnam Books for the e version ARC. I loved it and would highly recommend.

The War Librarian tells the story of Kathleen Carre and her Nana. It bounces from 1918 with Nana's life and her involvement in World War I to Kathleen's life in 1976 with the Navy. I enjoyed how the two stories weaved together but it really took half the book for it to pick up speed for me. The 1918 timeline was what really drew me in and kept me reading but I'm glad I hung in there. I am a big fan of historical fiction so I think that's why I preferred the WWI parts of the book. Both timeframes are clearly important to the story, I was just more absorbed when reading about WWI. I went with 3 stars because of how long it took me to get hooked and because the parts of the story that revolved around Kathleen were less intriguing to me but if you like historical fiction you will find something enjoyable in The War Librarian.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book. The opinions expressed are my own.
This is a dual timeline story. The first storyline takes place in 1918 during the war. Young Emmaline Balakin volunteers as a war librarian on the frontlines of France. In 1976, Kathleen Carre (who is Emmaline's granddaughter) is accepted as part of the first coed class at the US Naval Academy. This is the story of shared secrets and how their lives connect. I thought this story was good, but the connection between the two characters seemed a little awkward. Overall, it was a good story, and I would read other books by this author..

If you like historical fiction like I do I think you will really like this book. Also, if you are a fan of WW2 historical fiction then I would highly suggest this book. One thing that I really liked about this book is that it focused on strong powerful women. That was the only thing I really liked about this book. I really did not like the dual timelines. I felt like the characters fell a little flat.

The War Librarian works well as a way to emphasize both the power of books and words and the importance of books and words in our lives. Addison Armstrong's book has dual time settings. One time line of The War Librarian is situated in fall 1918, close to the end of the Great War. The second timeline is 1976, with the first class of women to be admitted to the Naval Academy.

Armstrong creates complex characters, rich in dimension and history. Readers learn about the horror of the war and the bias and discrimination that black soldiers faced, even while wounded and hospitalized. Readers also learn about the discrimination and hatred directed at women plebes when the Naval Academy was forced to admit women. These characters are carefully defined and interesting in their own right. This history of the war librarians, who worked to help wounded men heal emotionally, even as they healed from the wounds of battle, is a captivating section in this historical novel. Most readers will not likely know that there were librarians in WWI hospitals in France and that these librarians distributed huge numbers of books and magazines, which had been shipped to France and Belgium during the war. There are likely no surprises in the 1976 timeline, given how women were not welcomed at the Naval Academy by many of the men admitted. That 1976 history is recent enough that many readers already know it.

The meaning of the title, The War Librarian, is not fully revealed until the end of the novel, which also ties together both timelines. I want to thank both the author and publisher for providing this ARC for me to read and review. My comments above are my honest opinion. This book was interesting, enthralling, and an important read. Thank you also to NetGalley for introducing me to yet another new author.

I enjoyed the dual time line of this World War I and 1970s tale of two women. My husband attended the Naval Academy at the same time as the character in this book so it was fascinating to follow her story as a member of the first class of women allowed to attend. The WWI setting was gritty and gripping. I really enjoyed her journey from a timid letter reader to the war librarian. Well written with a good pace. I would highly recommend this engaging story to lovers of historical fiction.

I always enjoy a historical fiction with interconnecting stories from multiple time periods. This book has Emmaline's story as a war librarian in France during WWI and Kathleen's story in the 1970s as one of very few women in the Naval Academy. As the book progresses, there are hints at how the two stories relate to each other, but it's not until the very end that the connections are truly revealed.

Completely enjoyed this historical novel which follows two women--one in World War I and the other in 1976 as she enters the Naval Academy. The story features strong women who deal with censorship issues and being true to themselves. The book has alternating chapters for each time period. The story lines were easy to follow and the author brings the two stories together in a satisfying conclusion. The author addresses themes of family, truthfulness, sexual harrassment and more.

I would like to thanks Net Galley and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. The War Librarian tells the story of 2 women- Emmaline Balakin and Kathleen Carre. Emmaline, a Russian immigrant, living in Washington DC in 1918, is quiet and bookish. She works in the Dead Letter office and quietly goes about her life, until she discovers a letter written by someone she knows. The letter writer, Nicholas, was a childhood friend, who she is no longer in contact with, until she happens on this letter.Nicholas writes of his life fighting in France in WWI. Emmaline is moved by this to break out of her world and volunteers to be a Librarian with the Red Cross in France in the waning days of the war. She goes to France in October of 1918 and mets Nellie Mayborn. Nellie is with the Red Cross as a Driver in the Motorpool. They become friends quickly. Emmaline enjoys her work, giving books to the injured soldiers , her friendship with Nellie and her discovery that Nicholas is at the hospital where she works. She soon comes to realize that there is racism and misogyny among the Military Officers. She starts to think about using her voice to change things, not just within herself, but for others.
Kathleen Carre is Nellie Mayborn's granddaughter. The year is 1976 and Kathleen has been accepted to be in the first class of females to enter the Naval Academy. Her Nana( Nellie) is excited for her and eager for Kathleen to leave home to follow her dream. Kathleen soon finds out that not everyone wants women at the Academy.She encounters misogyny and racism. She also meets women who become her friends, and like Emmaline, finds her voice.
The book moves between the 2 timelines, 1918 and 1976. The characters are well written and engaging. The stories are completely captivating and I had a hard time putting the book down.Thanks Again!

3.5
Thanks so much to netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a tough one for me to rate, I love world war one historical fiction because it is a period not written about as much as world war two, so the concept really intrigued me. I also love dual timeline novels where the reader doesn't understand how the two stories connect until the end. Ultimately, however, I found myself bored throughout much of the middle. I also didn't care much for Kathleen's chapters. Kathleen's arc in this story really comes down to her learning to trust and support other women, but reading that journey was tough for me because her attitude about feminism and about other women bothered me. I also predicted the ending very early on, however that did not take away from my overall enjoyment. Finally, I was uncomfortable with the use of lesbophobic and racial slurs in this book, despite the fact that they were condemned by the narrative.

I had very high hopes for this one but unfortunately the characters struck me less as women of their time and more of this time, and that was a massive issue for me and really kept me from gelling with the story.

I wasn’t the right reader for this novel and given the positive reviews that this title has I’m definitely in the minority there. This one will, no doubt, find its fans.

The War Librarian was an interesting read that shed light on an aspect of history of which I was unaware. While I enjoyed the read and found that the narrative was quick, I found myself wanting more. I wanted more character development, and more historical perspective. I found that the author did a better job with the contemporary story than with the older aspect. I like how the two tied together, even though I think it was rather clumsily handled. Each of these periods and each story deserved more attention and each would have made a compelling novel. This superficial handling of these stories will most likely be a popular seller but I wish it would have been given more attention, depth and research., It left me feeling flat.

The War Librarian takes place in WWI and 1976. It focuses primarily on the war librarian - and the secrets she seeks to reveal. She is one of the first women who volunteers to be a librarian in the war and she comes up against a wall of mysogyny.
She starts an underground book club and finds some romance.

In 1976 a young woman is the first to be accepted into the Naval Academy co-ed class.

These two women face parallel issues - as well as a secret that must be solved.

Well researched and an intriguing narrative.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to pre-read this book and share my opinions on it.

It's hard to read a story like this and not feel empowered, even if it's just a little. We have these tough, resilient women in Emmaline and Kathleen, not backing down from the challenges an unkind world heaps on their shoulders, and clawing for positive change that will affect future generations. Set in some of the most uncomfortable scenarios imaginable from our relatively safe modern vantage point, both Emmaline's and Kathleen's stories highlight the kind of strength and courage we should all hope to have in similar circumstances. There were many points, particularly in the hardships Kathleen faces in the Naval Academy, where I would have just wanted to quit. Somehow the false accusations and betrayals and sabotage seemed so much worse to me than the artillery and grittiness of the war-torn French countryside that Emmaline faced (not to say that was a walk in the park, either). Both our main characters were inspiring examples of women finding their power to change the world.

In our current culture of book bans and the work librarians are doing to try to counter that, I particularly enjoyed the parts of the story where Emmaline was fighting for access to information. Maybe it's because I'm a librarian that these parts empowered me the most? But I also like how that plot conflict intertwined with Kathleen's story of combating sexism and false accusations at the Naval Academy.

If I'm taking points off for anything, it's mostly to do with the inconsistencies in writing style - at times wow-I-need-to-read-that-again beautiful, then at times far too simplistic to have much impact - and the fact that it took on a few too many cultural issues at once. Please don't misunderstand me - I absolutely think we need to conquer things like racism, sexism, and censorship, but sometimes it was hard to tell which one I should be feeling most indignant about within the confines of the story. It could feel a little weak and disjointed, maybe sometimes a bit affected to get a cheap emotional response from the reader. I also felt the ending was a bit predictable and don't really buy the explanation given for the end of Emmaline's time in France.

I'm giving this one 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. The War Librarian was a beautiful pair of stories twined together into one over a gap of nearly 60 years, and one that should inspire women to stand up for themselves and others, to take chances when the odds are stacked against them.

The War Librarian has everything I normally love to read- dual timeline narrative, women making a difference, glimpses into aspects of history that may not be familiar to me, books and a book club, and the USNaval academy. The book follows Emmaline, a war librarian in WW1, as well as Kathleen, a midshipman at Annapolis the first year the Navy permitted women to attend. Both stories were compelling.
The characters, however, gave me a little trouble. While I rooted for both women to be successful, I was not entirely confident in some of their decisions. While the very real issues they each contended with were authentic and well drawn, their reactions did not seem so to me. Kathleen was beyond stoic. Necessary to a large degree in her environment, but I needed to see her human side as well.
Emmaline was understandably outraged by the rascism so pervasive at that time. Her reactions however did not seem consistent with what a timid (her words) woman of that era might exhibit.
That being said, I still recommend this book. I think those are talking points for a book club. The value of the topics covered in this book are not diminished by the characters or their behaviors.
I want to thank NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC of The War Librarian in exchange for an honest review.