Emmy Clarke arrives in Frankfurt in post-WWII 1946. She's a librarian working for the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. She's been assigned to help rescue all the books that were confiscated by the Germans during the war. On her first day she stumbles upon a book with a love note on the title page. In her naive romanticism she decides she wants to return the book to the one who wrote it.

The author proceeds to take us back to 1938 and 1943 to meet two sisters, Annalise and Christina Fischer, and their stories of bravery, hardship, forgiveness and sadness during the war in Bonn and Berlin.

It's beautiful storytelling as the author marvellously weaves the three time periods together into a coherent and powerful story. The characters are compelling and particularly in their arcs as we see them mature through the ravages of war. The Fischer sisters, in particular, are brilliantly crafted. Annalise the 18 year old firebrand who wants desperately to protest the movement towards war in her country. Her passionate love affair with Eitan Bausch, a Jewish man a few years older than her - the two lovers of the note in the aforementioned book above.

Christina, the younger sister. The conformist, who desperately loves her older sibling but seems to get her into serious trouble all the time. She so wants to be loved by Annalise and the arc in the sister's story is crafted wonderfully. Rivalry, rejection, forgiveness and salvation are all there.

Learning about the Rose Street protest and its significance, the volume of books confiscated and the efforts by the librarians and historians to right the wrongs of the war are all fascinating. Emmy's friendships with Lucy and Major Arnold are beautifully depicted.

Finally, we get a sense of the terror and horror of the war and its effects on the psyche of the community and the way people's minds can be manipulated to believe in propaganda.

I feel very fortunate to have received an early ebook copy from William Morrow via the Net Galley App which is always an enjoyable experience. This had no bearing on my review.

What can I say about this book other than I loved it. This is the story of books but even more so about the owners and lovers of book but more so this is a book about war, family, love and the affects war and a single book brings so many people together.

This book is written in parts and told by three different women, two being sisters (Annelise and Christina) and the third being Emmy, the woman who finds a Rilke with an inscription and is determined to find the owner. When Emmy finds this Rilke (book) during her first day on teh job at the Offenbach Archival Depot in Frankfurt she is determined to find it's owner. And so her story begins but prior to this story there is the story of a young woman, Annelise and her resistance to the Nazi's where as her sister, Christina becomes a member of the BDM, or the League of German Girls and is opposition to her sister.

The three stories going on in this book are fascinating and intriguing and the three main characters, although this is their stories, are accompanied by some other rather interesting characters that become such an integral part of this book too. The way it is written gives you a since of what it was like during these times and the fear, heartbreak and courage so many people had. And I love that you never really knew where the story was heading and how it would end until those final pages. This is a fantastic book and I highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Germany, 1946: Emmy Clarke is a librarian and she works for the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. and they send her overseas to help the Monuments Men find, sort and catalogue precious books that were stolen by the Nazis. Emmy’s a widow, her husband died storming the beaches on D-Day, and her new jobs at the Offenbach Archival Depot in Frankfurt and with Major Wesley Arnold, a wounded Historian.

On Emmy’s first day she reads a personalized message in a book of poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke and handwritten on the title page is “To Annelise, my brave Edelweiss Pirate.” Emmy wants to find the owner of the book, she wonders if they survived the war and reunite them and it’s not an easy task.

Germany, 1937: Annelise Fischer doesn’t attend the League of German Girls or BDM meetings with her sister Christiana. Annelise is a member of the Edelweiss Pirates, a group of teenagers who like to hike and camp, and do outdoor activities in the mountains. They don’t agree with how Jewish people are being treated in Germany and are antiwar, they distribute pamphlets and carry out acts of defiance and resistance against the Nazis.

Germany, 1937: Christina is member of the BDM, or the League of German Girls, she wears her uniform proudly, and she worries her sister Annelise is going to get into trouble for flaunting the rules, and she follows her. A naive Christiana makes a bad decision and it has terrible consequences for the sisters.

Germany, 1943: The Gestapo arrest two thousand Jewish men who have German wives and detain them. The women hold a vigil in Rose Street, for days they stand in the rain and one night get caught in an air raid, despite being threatened and harassed and they don’t give in and demand their spouses be released.

I received a copy of The Lost Book of Bonn by Brianna Labuskes from HarperCollins Publishers Australia and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The well written and thoroughly researched narrative is set in Germany before, during and after The Second World War and is told from the points of view of three main characters Emmy, Annelise and Christina and shares each woman's experiences.

A story about beliefs and what happens if you think differently, bravery and resilience, destruction and a country in ruins, trying to make amends and regret, finding what has been lost and stolen, the power of books and love. My favourite quote from the novel is “a good poem can change the world”, we're still waiting and five stars from me.