About the Book:

In this gripping World War II historical about the power of words, two people form an unlikely friendship amid the Nazi occupation in Paris and fight to preserve the truth that enemies of freedom long to destroy.

Paris, 1940. Ever since the Nazi Party began burning books, German writers exiled for their opinions or heritage have been taking up residence in Paris. There they opened a library meant to celebrate the freedom of ideas and gathered every book on the banned list . . . and even incognito versions of the forbidden books that were smuggled back into Germany.

For the last six years, Corinne Bastien has been reading those books and making that library a second home. But when the German army takes possession of Paris, she loses access to the library and all the secrets she’d hidden there. Secrets the Allies will need if they have any hope of liberating the city she calls home.

Christian Bauer may be German, but he never wanted anything to do with the Nazi Party—he is a professor, one who’s done his best to protect his family as well as the books that were a threat to Nazi ideals. But when Goebbels sends him to Paris to handle the “relocation” of France’s libraries, he’s forced into an army uniform and given a rank he doesn’t want. In Paris, he tries to protect whoever and whatever he can from the madness of the Party and preserve the ideas that Germans will need again when that madness is over, and maybe find a lost piece of his heart.

My Thoughts:

As I’ve come to expect from Roseanna White this book was very well written. I deeply appreciated the character development and the secrets that were discovered along the way. I also noted how skillfully the author wove philosophical discussions into the heart of the story. The novel itself was captivating.

I’d never heard of a library in Paris for books that the German’s were burning during the war and I’m not entirely sure that I understood the logic behind Bauer’s role in relocating books that the party had already decried, but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the story at all. In war I think there are a lot of things happening that I don’t understand the motive behind, so I was able to dig in to the narrative as it unfolded without wondering about the logic behind what was happening.

While I think the author excels at her series that build on networks of people this was an excellent stand alone novel (and it does nod its head to characters from other series as well, which is always a nice touch).

As a human, this book challenges how you see the world and what things would cause you to take a stand. As a reader, this is an excellent tale about the power of words and why they matter. As a lover of fiction this is a tale to whisk you away to another time and place. As a historical reader this book builds on an aspect of WWII that I’d personally not spent a lot of time considering. All in all, this book has much to offer and I recommend it.

I received a free digital copy of this book to review. In return I am giving you my honest opinion.