Imagine if reading your favorite book were a crime punishable by death. Sounds ridiculous, but under Nazi occupation during WWII this was a scenario many citizens of occupied nations faced. At a time when book bans are increasing in the United States, The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin explores the impact of book bans on culture and the adversity people will endure to fight back against oppression.

Set in Warsaw, Poland during WWII, The Keeper of Hidden Books follows the lives of two young women, Zofia and Janina, their family, and friends, as Germany invades their country, takes control, and installs a new government. Prior to the Nazi invasion, Zofia and Janina were two young women finishing their last year of secondary school and trying to figure out what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives. They both cherished reading and formed a small book club they dubbed the anti-Hitler book club to read all the books that were being banned under Hitler’s regime. Zofia thought of this as an act of resistance. Once Germany invades Poland and takes control of the government, the book bans came to their own country and that simple act of resistance became punishable by death. Their lives were turned upside down, not only by the book bans, but by the sheer brutality of the German forces against the Poles and Jewish populations. Still, they continue their book club in secret and bring in a few of their other school friends. When Zofia and Janina are forced to leave school, they begin working at the main library. They assist the long-time librarians in hiding books on the banned list for safe keeping until the war is over. Little did they know, the war would last four years, the number of books on the banned list would expand exponentially, and their battles would grow increasingly dangerous.

Zofia and Janina are separated when Janina’s family is relocated to live in the Jewish ghetto. Once the walls of the ghetto are sealed off, communication becomes nearly impossible and extremely dangerous. Janina organizes a secret book lending program within the ghetto while having to fight for her life daily. When conditions in the ghetto deteriorate to a hellish existence, she joins with the Jewish resistance to fight back against the Nazi guards. Zofia continues her work in the library and joins the Polish resistance to fight back against occupation. Both girls face seemingly insurmountable odds, experience deep loss and personal injury, and still find the will to continue fighting against oppression.

The Keeper of Hidden Books is a timely lesson on tyranny, the things and people we often take for granted, and the extraordinary resolve of individuals to fight for what they believe in at the risk of great personal danger. Martin’s novel highlights the importance of literature in our culture and the legacy of knowledge it provides. I found the setting of Warsaw, Poland to be a refreshing choice and one I have not read about a great deal in historical fiction. I truly appreciate the historical lessons in this book and how precisely the fiction followed the research. Martin does a beautiful job seemlessly incorporating real people and events within her fiction. I’ve known about the Nazi book bans since grade school, but I have never really stopped to think about the people that fought against those bans to preserve history.

If you are a book lover and fan of history and historical fiction, I highly recommend this novel.

My sincere thanks to Madeline Martin, Hanover Square Press, and NetGalley for a free review copy of this book.

This is a beautifully written story about women in Warsaw Poland during the most difficult times in their lives. Hitler has banned many books and a young girl and her friends form a club to read and preserve as many books as possible, because most of the books in their possession were classics with only one copy left All this while one of the club members is a Jewish girl who is banished to the ghetto. Our protagonist! Zofia, has experience working in a library so she is capped with saving the books and also saving people’s lives as well. The books were very important at that time.

The story is well written with descriptions that show human resilience and how desperately the need to save the books from the nazi regime.became. The story slowed down some midway but picked up again.

5 out of 5 stars


Thank you to NetGalley as well as the author/publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

The Keeper of Hidden Books tells the story of a young woman who is living during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw, Poland in World War II. Beautifully written, this book has a powerful message of love and survival in a truly horrific time in Poland’s history. I couldn’t put it down. The author spins a sweeping tale that carried me away for hours.“The world also needs to remember to never take for granted what has been gifted to us through the sacrifice of others: the right to an education and learning, the power and luxury of freedom, and the beauty to appreciate the routine of simple, everyday life. I have died a thousand deaths, but that did not define me. Instead, I lived a thousand lives and it is for that reason that I now have told our story.”

A gripping tale of strength and resilience the citizens of Warsaw Polish and Jewish alike show when Hitler invades Poland and Warsaw in particular. While Hitler is busy taking away their freedoms and banning and stealing books; Zofia and Janina two best friends share a deep love of books and along with a few other friends they find a way to fight for and save many of the books that Hitler has banned . This book takes you into the heart of Warsaw amid the struggles of the Jewish people to just survive from one day to the next and their fight to regain their freedom from persecution and hate. Madeline Martin is an amazing author who's extensive research for this book literally allows me to immerse myself so far into the book that it feels like I'm there with these characters seeing, hearing ,feeling and basically living among them during their day to day struggle to survive. I could not put this book down and when I did I was not able to for long. I highly recommend this book. I read an Advanced copy and am Voluntarily leaving a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book gives a look at how life was in Poland during World War II. The topics of the Holocaust and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising are in many books, but this story is unique because it highlights the librarians in Warsaw and how they attempted to save books as quickly as they were being banned and destroyed.

I received a free copy of The Keeper of Hidden Books from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book tells the story of how Polish librarians did their best to save Polish literature when Germany invaded Warsaw. Zofia and Zanina leave school to go work at the main library when Germany invaded Poland. This is their story.

The Keeper of Hidden of Books
Madeline Martin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Zofia has always found comfort in books and her best friend Janina during times of hardship. But no one, and I mean no one, could have imagined the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw, and I'll be honest, I shudder just trying to imagine that. As bombs rain down and Hitler's forces loot and destroy the city, Zofia finds out that books are what need to be saved now.

The death count rises, and Zofia jumps into action to save her friend and salvage whatever books she can by hiding them away and even becoming part of a clandestine book club. Even when her best friend Janina is forced into the newly formed ghetto neither of them forget their love of books.

But as Warsaw creeps ever closer toward being liberated, the more dangerous it will become for the women and their families. Sadly, escape is not possible for everyone. Zofia must fight with everything she has to save her friend and preserve her culture and community using the only weapon they have left - literature.

Wow, just wow, I almost don't know what to say, but then again, the words always come to me eventually. Madeline Martin writes a hauntingly beautiful book that will have your emotions running high. There were times when I cringed, there were times I wanted to scream, and there were definitely times I wanted to cry. To think that these brave souls did whatever they could to not only save their books but their friends, loved ones, and fellow countrymen just blows my mind. The strength that these women had was incredible. I'm not sure if I could be that strong. They loved, they lost, but they kept on going and in the end, it all paid off.
Ms. Martin, you are truly an inspiration to be able to put yourself in these women's shoes and write a book like this. I tip my hat to you as this is one of the best books I have ever read.

WW2, Poland, library, life-changes, invasion, clandestine-operations, family, friendship, famous-author, books, book-burning, destruction, grief, grieving, cultural-exploration, cultural-heritage, culture-of-fear, jews, literature, bravery*****

Like Ukraine in 2022, bombs fell on disbelieving people in a major city heralding the onset of war. In Poland it was Warsaw and the enemy targeted certain segments of the population, but everyone suffered. Some books were also targeted, but so many more were destroyed as collateral damage. It was as if the Germans wanted to eradicate an entire culture. But motivated women and teens thwarted those efforts with their own type of underground resistance. An excellent fictional study of the resilience of booklovers in a time of real horror as seen through the eyes of a few.
Caveat: my Polish relatives emigrated to the US at the turn of the twentieth century.
I requested and received an EARC from Harlequin Trade Publishing/Hanover Square Press via NetGalley. Thank you

The Keeper of Hidden Books
By Madeleine Martin
Pub Date: August 1, 2023
Hanover Square Press
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
* Historical Fiction
* Books about Books
I was drawn to this book because it is in my favorite genre! I was not disappointed.
Zofia’s effort to do whatever she could to save books showed extreme bravery and inspiration.
This is a stunning story for book lovers! I recommend it highly ands it reminds us that reading matters!
5 stars

Every day brings you closer to starvation, but you might be unlucky and caught in a roundup of slave labor. You might even be randomly shot. This is Warsaw under German occupation.
Zofia Nowak, eighteen, imagined a starkly different future when she graduated from high school. Gradually she and her friends adapt to the hellish conditions by helping each other and committing themselves to the preservation of the Polish culture that is being systematically eradicated by the Nazis. The Warsaw Library becomes a symbol of free expression, culture, and art in the face of book burning and hatred.
Zofia and her friends expand their “anti-Hitler Book Club” into a full-fledged clandestine library of banned books. Autocrats always fear books, especially those that might challenge their accepted mythology. The books Zofia delivers provide inspiration as well as a diversion.
The systematic arrest and murder of professors, doctors, scientists, and any other potential leaders the Germans display barbarity that is all more horrific for its rational, organized approach. Without leaders, the people of Warsaw are subjected to an ever-tightening vice of restrictions and privations enforced by murder. Then the planned extermination of the Jews begins.
First comes the armbands, followed by forced relocation into the ghetto, followed by more intense crowding of the now-walled-off ghetto. Poles who have the temerity to object are shot.
Zofia, now in the Resistance, was to smuggle Jews out of the ghetto to safe houses. These safe houses were only safe for a short period. If the Germans caught a resident sheltering as Jew, the Germans murdered every resident of the building. Nevertheless, she continued until she fought for 63 days against the German occupiers in the Warsaw Uprising in the summer of 1944.
There is little of the dashing resistance fighter in Martin’s story. It’s hard, dirty, and ultimately fails, but the spirit of those who fought shines brightly.

This is a well-written, emotional story of incredible bravery by woman who live in Warsaw, Poland. Zofia does whatever she can to save her friend and books banned by the Nazis.

You truly get a sense of the time and emotions of the characters. A page turner. Well done.

This was a great book, but it dragged a little in the middle, which was surprising to me because of the tension and what was going on in the Warsaw Ghetto.

The story is about a girl and her friends who have formed a book club that reads books that are banned by Hitler. They were able to sustain this club, even though one of their members was a Jewish girl and was banished to the ghetto by the Nazis, while another was shot while trying to run from an airplane that just open-fired on a crowd.

The books that were banned were considered classics and often there was just one copy to share among the four or five of them. I do need to mention that Zofia, our heroine, was a worker in a library along with some secondary characters and between her, Darek, and a few others, they managed to save so many books that were treasures, even through the throes of bombings, invasion, and Nazi ideas. It seemed impossible at times and they all went to great lengths to secure these reads and hold them for future generations.

I have to admit that I didn't give this a thought. I've read many books about this era in time and it never occurred to me that somebody had to save the literature. It's a legacy. I believe this story is fiction, but there's always truth in fiction. Zofia did everything possible to not only save the books, but to save people. She was in some seriously dangerous situations and had to do things that she wasn't comfortable doing. but when your way of life is being decimated in front of your very eyes, you're going to do whatever is necessary to save it, even if it includes becoming a freedom fighter, using a gun, hurt someone who means to hurt you...the sky is the limit when everything you've ever loved or known is at stake.

This book is an exploration of human resilience, desperation, and survival of the fittest. There are parts that are raw and gritty that made me cringe. It is a time of war, but the there wasn't a whole lot of blood and guts as there could have been, which was fine with me. I didn't need a play-by-play to understand what was going on.

Anybody who loves books will appreciate this story. As I mentioned above, I had never given this topic a thought, but it is so relevant. The characters in the book were protecting history and that's always important.

1939, Warsaw, Poland. Zofia Nowak and Janina Steinman were best friends. They saw each other daily and shared their love of books, especially their participation in the anti-Hitler book club, determined to read books on a banned list. As the hardships became even more personal to Zofia, there was no time to grieve the loss of loved ones or complain of hardships. There was only time to work in the library, save books, help Janina and her family, comfort as many patrons as possible with books, and as Syrenka serving in the Gray Ranks, an underground resistance group.

Within the horror, persecution, and hardships of the heart-wrenching story, there are heartwarming moments of friendship, love, and shared experiences. Above all, it is a gripping story of bravery and courage, kindness and thoughtfulness, resilience and fortitude, and commitment to actions putting the welfare of others before self.

The "Author Note" adds specifics of history that reveal not only meticulous research but, more importantly, the individuals that risked their lives, sacrificed beyond measure, and worked courageously against the horror and persecution of the time.

Thank you to Madeline Martin, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Hanover Square Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an eARC of this book.

The Keeper of Hidden Books
Last night I finished reading Madeline Martin’s latest novel The Keeper of Hidden Books on Netgalley. The Keeper of Hidden Books takes place in World War II Poland and the main characters are two best friends Zofia and Janina both young women who have the most important thing in common, books! Everything changes when the Nazi’s invade Poland. They loot and destroy Warsaw the capital and Zofia and Janina know that now books are in danger. Zofia does everything she can to save her best friend, other people in need as well. Zofia’s biggest act of defiance is having a secret book club reading books that Hitler and his thugs are trying to destroy, as well as hiding the books in a secret warehouse.

Pros
What makes this book important is it touches on something that many don’t talk about, the destroying of books. What non-book readers don’t understand is, once you destroy a book you destroy a culture and that’s why Zofia and her friends are so desperate to save the books the Nazis want burned. I also was surprised at some of the books the Nazis wanted burned. I’m sure it may surprise you too. I also liked how the book covered that it wasn’t just the Jews who suffered but the Nazis wanted to kill off other groups of people as well including the Poles. I also like all the characters, there wasn’t one who I disliked.

Cons
I didn’t want it to end. Though that’s the thing with stories is that they make an impact on us as well as entertaining us.

Overall
If you enjoy historical fiction novels, books about books and the power of storytelling this book is for you. I just think it is sad that this is all too relevant now with people wanting books banned. The most important lesson we can learn from this is, we must learn from history so we don’t repeat it. Thank you Madeline Martin for this important reminder, I also can’t wait to do this mini Q&A with you on this book, and why this topic is important. Thank you Netgalley for this early copy for review, if you don’t have Netgalley pre-order this gem which comes out on August 1st.

Moving story about two young girls in Poland during WWII who fight to save their country and its literature from Nazi destruction. Although it strained credibility at times, the authors notes at the end were very informative about the real-life heroes who fought to preserve Poland and its culture.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and author, Madeline Martin, for granting me an advance copy of the The Keeper of Hidden Books in a return for my honest opinions.

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genre and I absolutely love books. This book is about the occupation of the Nazis's in Warsaw during WWII.

It depicts the courage, strength and determination of the human spirit to persevere.

The friendships and love and protection the characters display for one another is inspiring. The factual depiction of books ability to bring hope, courage, build a bond between individuals and inspire them to persevere is wonderfully depicted.

Highly recommend.

I loved Madeline Martin's previous book, and was so excited to read this one - and I was not disappointed! Ms. Martin is brilliant, and leaves no historical stone unturned. Her latest is another example for why her books are so unputdownable - fascinating characters, excellent writing, and a plot that keeps you turning the pages. She is at the top of her game with this newest book, and I loved every second of it. I will definitely be ordering a paper copy to have on hand. If you love fiction, especially WWII - then you absolutely must read Madeline Martin and all of her books, including this one.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very descriptive and it was very good. I had a great reading experience with this book. I thought that it was written beautifully.
I just reviewed The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin. #TheKeeperofHiddenBooks #NetGalley
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This extraordinary book spoke to me on several different levels. As historical fiction, it showed the remarkable pride the Polish people took in their culture. They cherished it, never taking it for granted. It also showed how they resisted the Nazis, in all aspects of their lives, long before the Uprising in 1944. Most of us know quite a bit about the French resistance but the Polish resistance was simply incredible, even in the face of losing millions of people.

The strength of the Polish women of all ages in this story is inspiring. I was particularly touched by the older women who were determined not to let the younger women give up, no matter the adversities or the deadly consequences for themselves.

And then there are the hidden books, those banned by the Nazis. As more and more books were banned, the Poles became more determined to read them, even at the risk of death. As a retired teacher, I loved the books chosen by the book club and how they saw themselves in them. We also see the merit of rereading books as Zofia reread All Quiet on the Western Front and had an epiphany. She understood why Hitler had banned so many books..."books inspired free thought & empathy, an overall understanding & acceptance of everyone." I live in a state where books are being banned in schools. The similarities between this book and the book banning happening now couldn't be more frightening.

Madeline Martin cleverly includes historical figures with her fictitious ones which had me stopping to do some research many times. Although my heart was broken frequently while reading this, I was left with immense respect for the Polish people and appreciation for their many cultural contributions. I loved it.

I'm grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read the ARC.