A dual timeline following one woman as she currently digs to find her friends murderer. Then switches to her growing up in Bosnia and then as the tensions with Serbia starts and turns into the awar.

A wonderful story of survival and healing, this book is heartfelt and genuine. I enjoyed the switches between present day and the past, which really helped to shape the main character.

<i>The Quiet Librarian</i>, is wartime fiction set during the horrors of the Bosnian Serbian War. Hanah Babić's leads a quiet life in Minnesota where she masks the horrors of her past life in Bosnia. <i>The Quiet Librarian</i> is written by best-selling and award winning author Allen Eskens.

The story begins in present day with Hanah finding out that her friend Amina has been killed. The detective who talks to Hanah indicates that she was indeed murdered, and they are looking for a suspect called Zaim. The story, then flashes back to Hanah's idyllic upbringing in Yugoslavia. Her name is Nura and she lives with her parents on a farm in the mountains. Eventually, the war between the Serbians and the Bosnians begins, and Nura and her family become innocent victims of the war. Nura escapes death and joins the Bosnians in their battle against the Serbians. She witnesses many atrocities, and some of the people she encounters become her lifelong enemies or obsessions. Thirty years after the incidents in Bosnia, Nura, now named Hanah, must deal with the horrors that have followed her from her homeland.

The character of Nura is extremely strong through necessity. She is tormented by the thought that her family are the strong ones and now she is faced with living up to what she thinks they expect. Through perseverance she grows into a feared soldier.

The story is a sad but endearing tale. Nura fights for those she loves and because it is wartime she gains and loses many close relationships. In the end it is her dedication to those she loves that helps her persevere.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys stories of strength and survival during and after wartime. I give it a 5 in 5. I want to thank NetGalley and Mulholland Books for providing me with a digital copy of this novel. I give this review voluntarily.

This was such a fantastic story! I'm an Allen Eskens newbie and after reading this masterpiece I plan on devouring all of his other books in the near future. His beautiful prose reads like poetry. I was moved to tears several times, not just by the tragic horrors that occurred throughout but by his writing alone. I fell in love with Hana and the courage and bravery that she portrayed. What she and many others endured during the war was devastatingly heartbreaking. Her heroism resonated with me, and she will be one character that I will never forget. I've read many WWII novels, so it was interesting to learn more about the Bosnian War. I never knew much about it, but I feel that Eskens portrayed this conflict with a sense of justice in honoring those forgotten voices that deserve to be heard. This book is going to stay with me for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I highly recommend it!

Thank you to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for granting me early digital access in exchange for my honest review!

Hana Babic is just an ordinary woman on the surface. She lives a quiet, simple life, but it hasn’t always been that way. When her best friend is murdered, she is faced with several questions from her past. Old memories cannot stay hidden forever, and enemies don’t always stay lurking the shadows of our nightmares.


This book goes back and forth between present day and the past. It is very well written. This was my first book by this author, and I will definitely be checking out more of his work.