Hi friends! Hope all of you are doing great. This is the first book I have read that is around the genre of War Fiction and I am even surprised I liked it! I had this on my TBR ages ago and I am finally happy I have been able to read it! Well, let’s move on with the review.

Title: The Book of Lost Names

Author: Kristin Harmel

Genre: Historical Fiction, World War 2

Publishing Date/Publisher: July 21st 2020/Gallery Books

Eva Traube is in her eighties already and she works as a librarian. She also has a son, Ben but her husband died years ago. Many people believe that she is just and old lady but Eva knows better, she is a person with a frightening and sad past, a person who’s will to survive was still there even in the midst of despair, in the midst of World War 2 when the Nazis were looting all the Jews and sending them to prison camps just because of their religion. Eva would have been sent away too if she and her mother hadn’t been at their neighbours’ but she was one of the very few lucky people.

As Eva reads the newspaper, she finds an image of somebody with something she recognized instantly; the book, her book, The Book of Lost Names, the book that has been missing for more than six decades, in which she kept all the original names of the Jewish children who had to cross the border to Switzerland, to safety, who had to change their names and become new identities.

This story becomes much more interesting when we learn about Eva’s past and how she meets the handsome forger, Rémy and how both of them work in the secret library in a church forging papers for all the Jewish children who had to flee and how important keeping records of lost names meant to her. Because Eva was a person with hope in her heart and believed that saving children’s lives is one of the best things to do to save humanity.

About the Author:

Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling and #1 international bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names, The Winemaker’s Wife amongst many others. She started writing professionally since the age of 16 and begun her career as a sportswriter. She now lives in Orlando, with her husband and her young son.

My ratings: 4.5/5

My favourite quotes:🤍

She doesn’t understand what it means to love books so passionately that you would die without them, that you would simply stop breathing, stop existing.

The book of lost names by kristin harmel

“Libraries are very magical places.”

Eva traube-The book of lost names by kristin harmel

One of the things that made me fall in love with the book is the fact that Eva loves books and believes that books and libraries are magical destinations. It is like a book about books though it isn’t the main focus.

The book goes between the past and the present, when Eva was around 25(the war) and around 80(the present). The book is filled with all sorts of emotions, just like it says on the cover. The book teaches us many things like hope in the darkest of times is one of the most admirable trait in a person; just like Eva, who believed that if she cannot save all the Jewish children from the war, she will be able to save most of them. She was a great character.

Would I recommend this? Definitely. It is a yes. I think it would be a book that could suit anybody who likes historical fiction and most importantly, to all the book lovers in the world who believe that books and libraries are one of the most magical things that can exist💜.

Love y’all!

~Hermione🤍

P.S. I just finished reading Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power so that is definitely going to be the next review.👍