In 1918 Jessie Kit Carson is a librarian at the New York Public Library and she is recruited to join the American Committee for devasted France, or CARD and she travels to France to create a library. Wonderful historical fiction Thank you Netgalley and Atria books for the copy.

The novel is told in the seemingly ubiquitous dual timeline format. Most interesting of the two was the story of Jessie Carson, member of the American Committee for Devastated France, founded by Anne Morgan. These young woman, from largely privileged and sheltered backgrounds, immersed themselves in their war work, near the front lines in Northern France. Carson, a librarian, understands the power of books in providing an element of normalcy for people who have endured tragedy and hardship.

The modern day story comes alive at the end, when the fictionalized author interviews a surviver of the committee.
For fans of The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club and the Underground Library.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Miss Morgan's Book Brigade!

Awesome book! I love history and had never heard of the cards! Love learning new historical facts, Fascinating read!

I finally got a chance to read this book. It was really interesting to me because it was not a typical World War book. This dealt with women who went to France to help clean up after the devastation. They went while the war was ongoing. This particular story is about a children's librarian who goes to France to set up the library. The books are for loan to the villagers--a nice book in the time of distress would be uplifting to so many. Unfortunately, the library and the books had also been bombed. The characters were great. Some cranky, some upbeat, hardworking. A crew to admire. The book is peppered with references to other books and while I did not recognize any of the references (memory bank is too full) they were spot on in regards to the events in the book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC. This review is my own.

I think the author's previous book was much more interesting and engaging. this was fine enough, but wish the plot has been a bit faster.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this eARC!

I really enjoyed the authors book, The Paris Library, so I was excited to read this one and learn more about Anne Morgan’s work during WWI. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed. I ended up listening on audio, and maybe that was a mistake, because the book seems to have good reviews overall. The writing felt very juvenile and and the phrase “library of my mind” was said (in all seriousness) so many times I wonder if this was even edited. Jessie’s obsession with her old boss didn’t quite make sense to me either.

I’m very grateful for the eARC, but unfortunately this one wasn’t for me.

I love history and when I find a book that teaches me about something new, I'm all in. This story was told in dual timelines -- 1987 and 1918, and I thought they were woven together really well. In 1918, Jessie "Kit" Carson goes to war-torn France to help establish children's libraries. I loved that this was based on a true story, and I thought the author did a great job portraying Kit and her peers and the horrors they saw during the war. This story had so much - hope, trauma, love. I liked learning about the CARDs and the work they did in war-torn France. I would definitely recommend this book!

A fantastic book about a group of women I had no previous knowledge. The Cards were sent into WWII to maintain library services and their sacrafice was very brave.

This was a very interesting Historical Fiction novel about Miss Anne Morgan’s millionaire financier, J.P. Morgan’s daughter, who took volunteer librarians from the New York Public Library in 1918 with her to France to run a traveling book mobile on the western front of France for the displaced women and children and then the war Veterans, both American, as they awaited transport home, and the French. This group of women were known as the CARDs which is a French acronym for Le Comite american pour les regions devastees.
The main character from the young women who made up the CARDs was based on the real life librarian Jessie “Kit” Carson. She signed up to go abroad with Anne Morgan and other NYPLs for 2 years. After the war, she stayed in France for 4 more years and was the impetus for establishing 5 libraries in Northern France and 50 circulating libraries in the north. The difference was these were the first libraries in France that were catalogued with the Dewey Decimal System; were for the working class to establish a free library card and borrow any book; and her most important initiative included the first children’s section of the library in all of France. The libraries were also large, welcoming, full of activities, and well lit. These were huge improvements to the poorly lit, unorganized, small libraries with overcrowded book shelves which only had a worn, torn incomplete catalogue to peruse to locate a book.
Kit begins a romance with Tom, a serviceman, but it doesn’t go anywhere until they meet again months later and they have a passionate love story which felt really forced.
The story is also told in dual timelines and I personally normally love this concept, but in this story, I think it broke up the pacing and the character Wendy Peterson in 1987 New York wasn’t developed enough for me to care about her and her research to bring this story to light. She could have been skipped entirely and the story of the CARDs is brought to light through the author, Janet Skeslien Charles.
I enjoyed this being a new group of women to me to learn about and it being a part of WWI. Most historical fiction I read seems to be about WWII. I also felt Kit’s heart as she has telegrams from home and learns from her sister of her mother’s passing. Kit shoulders a lot and is an amazing character full of resilience and extremely brave. I would have enjoyed this a bit more if the story just stayed with her timeline.
There are many quotes shared throughout the book from Anne of Green Gables to the Count of Monte Cristo to Charlotte’s Web. These are delightful and deepen some of Kit and Tom’s romance initially. I wished the story focused on Tom when he was away from Kit and made their romance much stronger and more sensible and relatable and mostly continual. These sections would have kept the pacing and the flow instead of jumping ahead to Wendy Peterson discovering the story of the CARDs and writing a novel about them for her English class in 1987.
Interesting story which I recommend and believe it’s worth a read, especially for bibliophiles, but maybe not for you if you’re looking for a fast paced historical fiction romance which I honestly thought it was becoming a few times.
Thank you to NetGalley, Janet Skeslien Charles, and Atria Books for this Advanced Readers Copy for me to read and review.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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This is such an enduring book building on a true story of an American librarian rebuilding French communities after WWI with something novel to France at the time, children's libraries. It is a book about resourcefulness, friendship, resilience and the power of books to overcome any odds. It is set in a dual timeline, which I love, and was well researched. It came together beautifully! The author paints an amazingly vivid picture in the readers mind of the characters and the landscape. I really enjoyed this work of historical fiction!

I love reading historical fiction to learn about people or events I know nothing about. This book examines an organization founded by Anne Morgan, daughter of the wealthy J.P. Morgan, to help devastated areas of France during and after WWI. One of the members who went to France to help was a New York Public Library children’s librarian and much of the story revolves around her experiences and ultimate success bringing books back to the people who had lost so much.

“Miss Morgan's Book Brigade” is a very well researched book about WWI in France focusing on a group of women trying to help rebuild the towns. The main character, Jessie Carson, is a librarian at the New York Public Library. She had been selected to be part of the American Committee for Devastated France with her passage and salary paid by Anne Morgan (daughter of J.P. Morgan). The story evolves with her time over in France in her quest to provide libraries and books to children. The novel also alternates to a point of view from a librarian working at the New York Public Library in 1987 who discovers files and notes about this group. This is the first time in a book I thought a point of view wasn’t needed. It actually read like it was the author’s point of view and was her research process. I marked my rating down to three stars because while the premise was very good, I wish there was more focus and detail on the WWI perspective and would have left out the 1987 perspective. Overall, the author shined a light on something new to me.

Thank you to Atria Books, Janet Skeslien Charles, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

WWII fiction is one of my favorite genres, if not my absolute favorite genre. I also really enjoy stories that are based on real life people, as this one was, and one of my favorite writing styles is alternating timelines, so this book hit a lot of marks for me. It was also a really well written story. If you like WWII fiction, definitely give Miss Morgan's Book Brigade a try.

Jessie Kit Carson. She is a librarian at the New York Public Library in 1918. when she joins Ann Morgan in France to establish a library. The book follows this timeline as well as that of Wendy Peterson, who also works at the New York City Library in the 1980s. When Peterson finds information in the archives about Carson and her trip to France, so hopes to write a story featuring the young woman. I was intrigued with the story of Carson and her life in France as she struggled to build a library and assist those around her in war-torn France. Peterson's timeline was well done, but not as compelling to me as that of the former. This is an excellent historical fiction novel of women and their roles in WWII.

This was such a new and fresh take on a novel of WWI. With 2 timelines, and a little known story of librarian, Jessie Carson, you will be enthralled. I loved both storylines of 1918 and 1987.

I love discovering historical fiction books about people I knew little to nothing about, and WWI & WWII historical fiction are my favorites. The women’s stories were interesting and while parts of the story were slow overall I enjoyed this one.

A fascinating retelling of the real-life work of Anne Morgan, Jessie Carson, and the brave women known as the Cards. This was a part of WWI history that I had no real knowledge of until reading this book and Jessie's story made for such an interesting read. Jessie and the other Card's story leaves Wendy decades later, and readers are inspired by their willingness to put others first and do the best they can for those who need it most.

I am a big fan of historical fiction. You will usually find me reading war fiction with some romance mixed in. But sadly, I could not get into this one like I wanted to. I finished it, but it left me wanting. I didn't connect with the characters.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Atria Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Parts of this story I loved and parts were just a bit slow. And this is going to be weird…but I was bored during the war part. I just expected a bit more during this section. I much preferred the time in NYC. The characters are unique and I loved that it was loosely based on real people.