Despite this book being a stark departure from Eskens's other work, it was incredibly written as usual. Hana's story was difficult to read at times due to the dark nature of her past, but I could see the care and research Eskens put into this book, even the scenes which devastated me.

As a note to other fans of Allen Eskens, be clear about the content of the book before jumping in. The violence in this book can be hard to stomach, but the story is well worth reading both for the plot itself and for the insight into the real lives of Bosnian refugees. It is already the best book I've read in 2025, even if it is also the most heartbreaking.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for the opportunity to read this ARC and provide an honest review.

Summary: Hana Babic is a quiet librarian, living a simple life alone in Minnesota. But when her friend Amina is killed, she must channel her prior life as the Night Mora, a deadly Bosnian fighter, in order to save those who matter most to her.

My take: This is a case where going in somewhat blind backfired on me! I only read the brief blurb that this was about a librarian with a dark past whose best friend is murdered, so I thought it would be a fun thriller about a creepy librarian. Nope! It was dark historical fiction. While historical fiction is not my favorite genre, I did learn a lot about the conflict between Bosnians and Serbs in the 1990s, which was interesting (albeit extremely sad). Unfortunately, though, the writing and character development was just too flat. The plot was dramatic enough to hold my interest, but I didn’t connect to the mainly two-dimensional characters. That being said, this book was very reminiscent of Kristin Hannah’s novels, so I do anticipate it being popular with readers and I’ll likely find myself recommending it regularly at the library!

Read this if: you like Kristin Hannah and/or you enjoy historical fiction with strong female characters.

Skip this if: character development and eloquent writing are important to you.

5 amazing stars

Allen Eskens is a writer who checks all the boxes for me. I’ve read all but one of his books. When I saw he had a new one coming, I couldn’t wait to read it. This one proves that he is a talented writer who can cross genres. This book is more historical fiction than a thriller/mystery, but it does have a few mysteries built in.

We meet mild-mannered, sweater-wearing Hana Babic, working in a Minnesota library, quietly leading a life where no one bothers or even looks at her. However, her past refuses to stay buried, and something evil has come to Minnesota. Hana’s best friend, Amina, is murdered, and Detective Claypool wants to know Hana’s connection to her.

The chapters alternate between modern times and the war in Bosnia. I haven’t read many books set during this time. These chapters were bleak with warfare, death, and genocide by the Serbians. These chapters were important in giving us a back story, but I appreciated the alternating because they were so bleak. What an awful time with so many tragic deaths. We meet Nura, who becomes a war hero and myth as she hunts down those who killed her family.

Amina has a grandson that she wanted Hana to care for if something happened to her. As Hana contemplates this responsibility, she knows that she must protect him from the world and Amina’s killer. Hana begins her quest to find the killer while Detective Claypool does the same.

I loved this one, with a strong female character who has triumphed over awful odds to build a new life. And now, she can reconcile with her past.

My thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for an advanced copy of this novel.

The quiet librarian of the title is middle-aged Hana Babic, known as ‘the sweater lady’ because she frequently wears nondescript cardigans to work.
Hana has chosen to live as this librarian stereotype; it is the ‘cover ‘ that protects her from the demons of her former life, far from the peaceful Minnesota town where she works at the library and also owns a small farm.

The quiet librarian is actually Nura Divjak, who grew up amidst the horrors of the Bosnian war of the 1990s, when the Muslim minority was subjected to an ‘ethnic cleansing’ that saw the massacre of some 8000 men and boys at the hands of the Serbians with whom they had long coexisted peacefully.

Barely 14 when a group of Serbs attacked her family at their isolated mountain home, she witnessed the slaughter of her family from her hiding place, suffering serious burns to her arms when they torched the property. But she escaped alive and determined to avenge them. Her incredible feats put her on the Serbs’ ‘most wanted list.’ She barely escaped to the United States with an even younger girl, Amina, who had been made was a sex slave.

Once in the US, with a price placed on her head as a ‘war criminal,’ she changes her identity and the Night Mora (night witch as the Serbs called her), transforms into an invisible woman, keeping to herself except for her attachment to Amina and her family. Until something happens to Amina that calls back into her consciousness the ‘Iblis’ (devil) of their terrible youth. Then the quiet librarian must once again become a fearless guerilla warrior to protect the innocent.

Eskens tells a story that is at times hard to read, as he describes the brutality unleashed against innocent people in that war just for their Muslim faith. That it took place barely 30 years ago is also horrifying, in that few talk about that conflict any more, even while so many remain missing and unaccounted for. Although not himself part of that culture, Eskens writes stirringly about the war, and with compassion for the plight of the Bosnians and the refugees in America. The twist near the end is sudden, the resolution satisfying and unexpected. Most of all, he deftly draws the character of Hana/Nura as a woman of strength and resilience who denies her own feelings in order to survive, both then and now. Yet she is driven to save others even at the risk of losing her own life.

My jaw literally dropped during parts of this book. It was not only incredibly well written and researched, but I flew through it and was disappointed every time I had to put it down. The story follows Hana, a Bosnian refugee, who is looking for answers after her best friend was murdered. Hana discovers that she is really the one being hunted - and secrets from her past as the Night Mora, a part of the militia fighters, may come to the surface. A fascinating story about war-torn Bosnia, life in the USA as a refugee with a bounty over their head and how women are transformed by loss and war. The research was incredibly well done - I was able to picture just how horrible lives were. How loss can transform people to search for vengeance - becoming people that they struggle to recognize. Strong, incredible women who experienced an enormous amount of loss. And just how far people will go for the ones they love. A heartbreaking story that is impossible to put down.

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

This was my first time reading a book by Allen Eskens and what a pleasure it was. I was really impressed with his writing style, it was easy to read and his subtle descriptions made me feel as if I was right there seeing it with my own eyes. The Quiet Librarian is the story of Hana Babic’, a quiet librarian living in Farmington, Minnesota whose life has been anything but quiet. Hana is originally from Tuzla, Yugoslavia where she was known as Nura Divjak. It was there that as a young girl she witnessed the killing of both her parents and her younger brother by the Serbian army. She went from being a normal young girl with dreams of someday getting married and having a family to learning to survive and becoming a soldier to protect her people during the Bosnian War. Her life centered around seeking revenge on the ones who had horribly taken the lives of her immediate family. Throughout this story, she makes friends, some lifelong, and she falls in love only to experience so much loss. During her time in Minnesota, she tries to live a peaceful, quiet life but her past has come knocking and it can’t be ignored. With the help of David Claypool, a detective with the St. Paul Police Department, she is finally able to set the record straight by extracting her final revenge and living the life she has always wanted. This was a really incredible story and I learned so much from reading it. I’d like to thank Mulholland Books for accepting my request to read an early copy and NetGalley for the arc. This is a book I will be recommending to other readers and I look forward to reading more by Allen Eskens very soon. I’m giving this book a much deserved 5 star rating.

Why do librarians wear cardigans? The answer often given is that sweaters cover up their superhero disguises.

The protagonist of this novel, Hana Babić, is a timid, middle-aged librarian called “The Sweater Lady” by children who frequent the library. In many ways that cardigan is indeed a disguise, one which has helped her hide “terrible secrets” and remain largely invisible. The peaceful life Hana has cultivated for 30 years comes unraveled when David Claypool, a homicide detective, arrives to inform her that her best friend Amina has died in mysterious circumstances. Amina has left her 8-year-old grandson Dylan in Hana’s care.

Amina’s death forces Hana to remember her life in Bosnia where she lived as Nura Divjak. She focuses on her memories during the Bosnian War. In 1995, when Hana is 17, Serbian soldiers arrive at her farm. The events motivate her to join a band of Bosniak militia fighters. Hana wants to uncover the person responsible for Amina’s death but she worries that the police investigation will also uncover her real identity and past actions.

There is a dual timeline. Chapters alternate between the present in Minnesota and the past, primarily 1995 in Bosnia. Both timelines use the third-person limited omniscient point of view, though Hana’s chapters use the present tense and Nura’s chapters use the past tense.

I found both sections equally intriguing. Though it’s obvious that Nura survives events in Bosnia, she often finds herself in life-threatening situations and it’s obvious she will not escape unscathed either physically or psychologically. In Hana’s sections, the outcome is more uncertain. Because of her past she faces danger in the present, and there’s the added responsibility to protect Dylan. Both timelines are intense so my interest never lagged.

The decisions made at the end struck me as less plausible. I was convinced by Hana’s choices because of her past but the detective’s actions are less realistic. Because the reader gets to know Hana so well, her behaviour is understandable; that is not the case with the police detective. Overall, the romance element is questionable, though I understand its necessity in the narrative. I did also appreciate the author’s including a conversation about David’s wanting to make a difference and not “’just going through the motions’” and the danger of “’crossing the line.’” This discussion is, I think, intended as foreshadowing.

Of course the ending is thought-provoking. The reader will definitely think about the justification of killing another human being: Is the premeditated killing of a person justified if s/he threatens the safety of others? Is it acceptable to take justice into one’s own hands if justice has not been achieved by legal means? Should a person be held accountable for all actions in wartime? Is revenge ever justifiable?

This book combines historical fiction and crime drama with some thriller and romance elements. It’s my first novel by this author, but I will certainly be checking out his backlist. My husband and I visited Bosnia-Herzegovina in the fall of 2018 and we saw evidence of the war in our tour of the country, but I have not read many novels set in this country during the Bosnian War. I will certainly be recommending this one.

Allen Eskens (a favorite author), award-winning master storyteller, once again wows fans with his expert ability to brilliantly cross genres with his latest historical fiction/literary masterpiece, THE QUIET LIBRARIAN.

"Inspired by actual events, THE QUIET LIBRARIAN is hauntingly rich—a powerful, unforgettable novel of courage, brutality, love, & survival.”

About...

Hana Babic is a quiet, middle-aged librarian known as the sweater lady in Minnesota who wants to remain under the radar.

However, a detective comes calling with bad news. Her best friend has been murdered, and she is left with the care of her best friend's eight-year-old grandson.

In addition, this means the past and evil have come calling for her. A past she hoped to leave behind.

Thirty years earlier, Hana was Nura Divjak, a teenager growing up in the mountains of war-torn Bosnia—until Serbian soldiers arrived to slaughter her entire family before her eyes. This traumatic event shaped her into a fierce warrior and a legend- the deadly Night Mora. She fled to the US, but the past and evil have come calling for her.

My thoughts...

THE QUIET LIBRARIAN is an enthralling, character-driven story of two female friends caught up by war, family, vengeance, love, and survival in this haunting, action-packed, compelling tale inspired by actual events.

Hana is a memorable character; I hope to see more of her. Eskens has delivered an unforgettable portrait of love, war, and survival. What a heroine!

Told from two timelines: Minnesota after everything and the Bosnia War 1992/1995.

It becomes clear that Hana's secret traumatic past, which she has tried to bury for the past 30 years, threatens to unravel her quiet life in Minnesota. The past and present converge for a powerful and emotional story of family, war, revenge, and redemption.

I highly recommend THE QUIET LIBRARIAN. Please read the extensive author's note to learn more about this horrific historical time and its devastation. Meticulously researched, the story is captivating, absorbing, and heartbreaking. It's an emotional story of grief, loss, and the horrors of war. Thank you, Allen, for bringing this story to life.

I am a huge fan of Allen Eskens and have read every book he has written. Each one is a treasure. He is one of today's best writers, from legal, crime, historical, thriller, mystery, and cop procedurals to literary fiction.

Recs...

For fans of the author and those who enjoy works of courageous women and works by Kristin Hannah, Kelly Rimmer, and Kristin Harmel.

Thank you to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for an advanced review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Feb 18, 2025
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War has a way of finding everyone

So Nura Divjak's father told her on their family farm on a mountaintop near Tuzla in the country then known as Yugoslavia. The year was 1977, and Nura's family...mother, father, Nura, and her younger brother Danis...lived quiet lives in their home three valleys away from the nearest town. When war broke out many of those who were the majority in the area, the (Christian) Serbs, turned against those neighbors who were (Muslim) Bozniaks, seeking to drive them from their homes. Nura's longtime best friends, girls at whose houses she had gone to parties and had had sleepovers, would no longer talk to her. Surely, Nura's father thought, if their family just stayed on the farm they would be safe; he was wrong, and three Serbian men (one the father of one of Nura's friends, another the second friend's brother) came to the farm. When they left Nura's father, mother and brother were dead and Nura survived only because she was able to stay hidden during the assault. The guilt she harbored for having done nothing to protect or defend her family and the rage she felt towards those three men put Nura on the path of revenge. First she hunted the men alone then later became part of a resistance group, all in order to find the three men she sought, willing to kill any other Serbian who stood in her way. Years later lives in the Minnesota as Hana Babić, working in a local library. She is no longer a soldier stalking her enemy, she is a middle aged woman who sorts book, wears drab shapeless clothing, and keeps to herself. All that changes the day Detective David Claypool from the St Paul Police Department comes to the library with horrifying news. Hana's closest friend, Amina Junkozović another Bosniak refugée, is dead. She either was pushed or jumped from the balcony of her apartment after having been tied to a chair inside and beaten; the apartment had been ripped apart. Claypool hopes that Hana might have information that can help him find the man spotted on the balcony after Amina's fall. Hana wants the same result, but there is too much about her own past that she cannot afford to have made public; she also must now protect Amina's orphaned grandson Dylan, whom Amina left to her care. So she sets out to find the killer on her own, maintaining her non-threatening persona to the world at large even as she taps into skills and instincts long left dormant. She vows to herself that she will not fail to protect an innocent this time (as she believes she had done years ago), but honoring that vow may extract a very high price.
On one level this novel is a mystery story....what is the truth of Amina's death, who was the man seen on the balcony, and was Amina the person being sought or just a stop on the trail to another quarry...but there is so much more swirling through the pages of The Quiet Librarian. The principal character is Hana, whose story we learn through chapters that alternate between her present life ("Minnesota After Everything") and her life during the last two decades of the twentieth century ("Bosnia"). Her transformation from an ordinary young girl who is enraptured by the Sarajevo Olympics that she watches with her family on TV to a traumatized teenager and ultimately a soldier dedicated to hunting her enemy is told a bit at a time, interspersed with her interactions with the detective who seeks her help and from whom she works to extract whatever information she can get. How she ended up in the US, what parts of her past she is desperate to keep hidden, and the lengths to which she is willing to go to find out what happened to her friend form the other mystery that the reader wants to resolve. As today's current events are full of the details of conflicts between groups of people who are determined to conquer or eradicate their enemy (Israel vs Gaza, Ukraine vs Russia, and others), the events in the country once known as Yugoslavia have been forgotten by many, but here the brutal truths of that conflict form the genesis of the narrative. Nuanced, complex characters and vivid portrayals of a country ripped apart by war make this a compelling read. Readers of author Allen Eskens' previous works will certainly want to read this latest work, as should fans of authors like William Kent Krueger, Chris Whitaker and Chris Bohjalian. Confronting issues like war, vengeance and the evils committed in pursuit of those causes, this is not a pleasant nor an easy read, but it is one that is beautifully written and will have a profound affect on those who chose to read it. Many thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for allowing me early access to this compelling novel in exchange for my honest review.

I must start with trigger warnings. This book is not for the faint of heart. There are descriptive death scenes, mentions of women being raped, and sad truths about war. If you are looking for something that skims over things...this is not your book.

"You took action…when action was needed. It’s better…to be the hunter…not the prey.”

I will say that this was a great book. A very hard subject to talk about. A war in history that is often looked over.

The story is from Hana Bibic's point of view in of her past life in Bosnia and the present day in Minnesota. It is a story of a girl who had friends and opportunities until war came to her country. Due to the fact that her family was Muslim they were hunted by their neighbors and friends from before the war. A girl with strength, determination, revenge in her heart and the drive to kill those who killed her family.

The past is coming after her. She has hidden away for years. She does everything to look meek and overlooked on the outside. A sweater wearing librarian. But inside is the Night Mora waiting to avenge the deaths of her loved ones.

This is a heartbreaking novel. But it is worth the read.

Our library will have this book on our shelves.

4.5 Stars

"The Quiet Librarian" is the type of book that reminds me why I fell in love with books and reading in the first place. The type of book that moves you and connects you to the characters so deeply. The type of book that you think about long after finishing and it forever alters a piece of your own story. Thank you for the reminder.

These types of stories—human stories—are more important than ever. We must keep reminding ourselves of the past in hopes of doing better next time and not repeating the same mistakes. We need to keep these stories alive and keep exploring other human perspectives.

This novel follows young Nura Divjak in the 1990s growing up in war-torn Bosnia and Hana Babic in present-day Minnesota. Nura is a teenager when she witnesses unspeakable violence toward her people and the massacre of her entire family. Hana is a middle-aged librarian living her life quietly and peacefully until her best friend is murdered. Hana is forced to revisit her secrets, realizing she too is being hunted by her past.

Eskens' beautiful novel follows Hana and Nura's stories from genocide to peace and how their strength guided the way. Along that journey, the reader is captivated, invested, heartbroken, angry, and hopeful. And most of all, you will root for Nura and Hana as well as the other brave females persevering in the face of losing everything. So often women are written as stereotypical or fragile but Eskens excels at creating multi-dimensional robust women who embody a vast expanse of emotions and capabilities. These women are robust humans who are kind and strong; peaceful and vengeful; serious and funny; broken and alive. It was a joy getting to know these characters.

The writing is fluid with clever little moments sprinkled throughout. The reader is gifted a visually stunning landscape to feast their brains on. I've never been to Bosnia but Eskens' description makes me want to visit this beautiful countryside immediately. I found myself flying through the second half of the book, tumbling over myself to consume each word. I couldn't get enough and needed to find out what happened to Nura and Hana.

"The Quiet Librarian" is anything but quiet and this story needs to be screamed from the mountaintops.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mulholland Books, & Allen Eskens for the ARC in exchange for my authentic review.

Wow—this book definitely left an impression. The Quiet Librarian is more than just a thriller; it’s a haunting, deeply personal look at war, survival, and the weight of the past. Hana Babic might seem like a quiet Minnesota librarian, but thirty years ago, she was Nura Divjak—a teenage girl who survived the massacre of her family, became a feared militia fighter, and endured the horrors of war, including being a prisoner. Now, someone knows who she really is, and they’re coming for her.

This book is intense, heartbreaking, and impossible to put down. It's been a long time since I literally haven't been able to put a book down! Eskens doesn’t shy away from the brutality of war crimes or the trauma they leave behind. But at its core, this is a story about resilience, redemption, and what it means to protect the people you love. Absolutely phenomenal!

Thank you Allen Eskens, Mulholland Books, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Hana lives a quiet life as a librarian in Minnesota. When her best friend is murdered, she knows evil from her past has returned.

What a story! I thought this one was a thriller/suspense, and it was, but it was more of a historical fiction. This is the first time I’ve read about the Bosnian War, where Serbia tried to “ethically cleanse” Bosnian Muslims; more than 8,000 were killed and 35-30,000 expelled from Bosnia. This story is dual time line as Hana’s quiet life as a librarian is halted when her past comes back. The story in the past is tragic but also fast paced and exciting as she begins a vigilante path.

“The vestiges of that girl must reside within her somewhere, relics buried beneath thirty years of ash and rust. The time has come to dig.”

The Quiet Librarian comes out 2/18.

This is a riveting historical fiction novel that delves into the horrors and traumas of the Bosnian War. Hana is a refugee who has been quietly hiding in Minneapolis as a librarian. When her friend and fellow refugee Amina is tied up, tortured, and flung out a window, a detective shows up at Hana's door and the scars of what both women endured are thrown to the surface as Hana races to find her friend's killer and protect her grandson.

This novel alternates between Hana's present chapters and her past self as Nura--a girl who watches as Serbs murder her entire family and how she eventually survives the fire they set to her home and joins the militia forces to seek vengeance. Hana/Nura's tenacity endures as she falls for a fellow soldier and takes on risky tasks to support her own forces and fight the enemy, eventually being known as the Night Mora--a fierce warrior with a bounty on her head.

This was a well-executed novel that was gripping and educational. I had never heard of the Srebenica massacre despite growing up with news of the war on the television, and it's always nice to read about a period that I know very little about. Hana's strength throughout made her a character that I was always rooting for and wanting to protect. And a librarian who is more than a stereotype? Yessssss! I loved the quick pacing and the slow unraveling of clues that lead to the culminating showdown at the end.

If you like historical thrillers, this one is great! Thank you to Hachette Book Group & Netgalley for the e-arc. This one is out February 18th.

Don’t let the title fool you – this story is not about books, libraries, or librarians. The main character may work in a library, living a quiet life in Minnesota, but that is not the story because whereas Hana may be a quiet librarian now, 30 years ago she was Nura, a Bosnian teenager fighting Serbians. The book is told in dual timelines – “Bosnia - 1995” and “Minnesota - After Everything”. While in Bosnia she is fighting for her life and revenge. While in Minnesota, she has to come out of seclusion to try and find out who murdered her best friend. And are they coming after her next? There is history, suspense, action, mystery, and a little bit of a love story all thrown together into one great story. I definitely recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for the complimentary copy of this book. As always, the opinions expressed within this review are completely my own.

Hana, a Bosnian refugee, dresses in frumpy clothes and stays out of the way as an employee at a library in Minnesota. And then, one day, a detective comes in to ask her about her friend, Amina. She is dead. Her grandson, a seven year old orphan, now has no family. And Hana fears the worst. She was once Nura, a young girl living up on a mountain in a small home housing her mother, father, little brother and her. Nearby was her uncle's house. They were not observant, but Nura and her family ethnic Muslims and when the troubles begin, those who were her friends viciously turn on them. This is a story that vividly brings to life the period when there was a violent armed conflict that turned into a partly successful attempt at ethnic cleansing by Serbs against the Muslim and Croat population in Bosnia. This is such a simplistic statement. Even the Wikipedia article on this period of war is almost unintelligible in trying to understand what happened. It was on the news. It was a horror show. And yet it was and remains politically confusing to me. The part about the different ethnic groups I followed. Why it happened is an intricate story I need to learn about in more detail.

Allen Eskens, whose writing I admired takes on and personalizes this "conflict" by sharing Hana/Nura's traumatizing, violent and life-changing experiences as a teenaged girl forced to leave her home and make her way into the center of the hellish war overtaking her country. All of this is by way of her memories that flood in with Amina's death. Why did Amina die clutching a blue marble, the stone in a necklace she always wore? What is Amina's history with Hana? What does the man Amina was dating know? How much has the detective figured out. Who has come to disrupt Nura's and Amina's lives?

This vivid and beautifully written book makes you root for violence at more than one turn. To throw your fist in the air and say, "Yes!" get this guy. Hurt him! An acquaintance of mine had to flee Bosnia with her young daughter. She was Christian, married to an ethnically Muslim man who eventually reunited with her. She stayed in refuge camps in Croatia, raising her young dhild for some time before making her way to the US. I know very tiny pieces of her story that made this very personal vision of another woman's story make some sense. So, it isn't pretty and yet it is inspiring and just as beautifully written as I would expect expect of Eskens. Nura did what she had to do to live and when faced with danger in her Minnesota town, she's summons up everything it takes to do what is necessary again.

I thank Eskens for writing about this important and inadequately addressed period in history with tremendous compassion but with his eyes wide open. This story, past and present, is mind-bending at times and Eskens pulls it off with sensitivity, yet spares us nothing. Well done!

Hana lives a quiet life in Minnesota- she is a homely librarian who lives on a little farm and only has one friend. When that friend, Amina, is violently killed and leaves her grandson in Hana's care, Hana must face her past to keep him safe. Told from alternating perspectives of the present and the past in Bosnia, this historical fiction mystery has everything Eskens is known for- a quieter read that deals with guilt and survival.

I really liked this one. I enjoyed the present storyline more than the past one but that is because I don't love reading about war. I liked that this one was a lesser known and recognized conflict but it was still horrific, so we prepared if you're a sensitive reader. I thought it was nicely done- some shocking acts but it stays focused on Hana's resilience. Readers of Chris Whitaker or The Huntress by Kate Quinn will love this one.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

"Men have the capacity for good as much as they have the capacity for cruelty. What is right and what is wrong is written on our hearts. But when there is war, men follow what they choose to follow and rationalize the evil they do... it becomes too loud for them to listen to their hearts. They will do terrible things and believe they are doing what is right."

Hana is known as the "Sweater Lady" to the children who patronize the library. She's quiet and keeps to herself, nearly invisible until the day she learns her closest and only friend has been murdered, leaving an orphaned 8-year-old grandson, and Hana knows that she's been found.

What follows is the story of Hana (formerly Nura), her family, and life as she knew it, and the harrowing sorrows and revenges that have led her to this point.

This book is based on the true events during the Bosnian war in the early to mid 90's and the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.

Thank you to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Another excellent book by Allen Eskens!

Hana Babic, a middle-aged librarian living in Minnesota, leads a quiet life, known by her younger patrons as only "The Sweater Lady," but thirty years ago she was a girl fighting Serbian forces during the Srebrenica genocide. She fled the war-torn country with her friend, Amina, and a bounty on her head. However, the carefully constructed facade she has built around herself comes crashing down when a detective shows up at her library to tell her that Amina has been murdered. Hana suspects that her past has finally caught up with her, but with Amina's grandson now in her care she's not leaving anything to chance.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of Eskens' books, but this one is truly something special. It is a testament to the human spirit, as gut wrenching as it is heartwarming. The story is told in a dual timeline, which I liked and felt like kept me hooked. The chapters in present day Minnesota were almost like a reprieve from the more tense chapters in Bosnia, though I would say both plotlines were action packed and fast paced.

My favorite thing about Eskens' writing is his ability to create compelling characters that we want to root for, even when they seek justice outside the confines of the law, and Hana is no exception. Her love for her family is the driving force behind every decision she makes, and her unapologetic vengeance might just make her my favorite of Eskens' heroines. I am always a little wary when male authors are writing women's stories, but The Quiet Librarian and The Stolen Hours, Eskens' only other novel with a female lead, are actually my two favorite by him. You can really see all of the research he's done, and the care he has taken to tell this story, in his writing.

If you are a fan of crime fiction and you haven't read one of Allen Eskens' books yet, what are you waiting for?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Mulholland Books, for the opportunity in exchange for an honest review.

Hana is a quiet librarian, living a simple life in Minnesota. When a detective comes to the library to ask her questions about her best friend who was murdered under mysterious circumstances, we then go on the journey of Hana's tragic life.
This book is a force - it's suspenseful and heartbreaking. Be prepared to feel a lot of emotions as you are brought into the horrors of the Bosnian war.
It's such an important time in history for us to learn about and understand this tragic time when so many lost their lives and their homeland.
I liked the alternating chapters of present day and past and was very immersed in this book.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.