Ok readers, here’s another book you need to check out. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel is wonderful! Five stars! I didn’t know who Kristin Harmel was until a few months ago when I became part of the Friends and Fiction FB group. (See post from Aug. 4.) Listening to Kristin talk about her book got me hooked. I had to read it.
It’s historical fiction that takes place during WWII. But wait. If that turns you off, trust me. Keep reading. At first the WWII focus turned me off. I like historical fiction at times, but I’ve read a lot of HEAVY books about the war, extermination camps, etc. Don’t get me wrong. They are worth reading, but I have to be in the right mood and right time in my life to sit and read a book like that. Well, I was pleasantly surprised with The Book of Lost Names. It took place during the war and never diminished the seriousness of the circumstances, but it wasn’t the heavy reading I was expecting. I found it difficult to put the book down once I started.
Eva, a young Jewish woman, has to put her artistic abilities to work to fake documents. Her forgeries need to be realistic enough to get her and her mother out of Paris as the raids on Jewish people begin. Once they get to a small town at the base of the Alps, Eva feels safer. They should be able to cross over into Switzerland fairly easily. However, while in the town, she gets involved in a forgery ring helping make documents to get others out of dangerous zones and across to Switzerland.
“The danger is real, but the book illuminates valor and goodness in the human heart instead of focusing on evil and darkness.”
Instead of depressing, this book is intriguing. It is so interesting to learn about regular people working in the Underground to help Jews, adults and children alike. As Jewish children, often separated from their families by the raids, are being helped safely across the border, the story is secretly, quietly triumphant. The danger is real, but the book illuminates valor and goodness in the human heart instead of focusing on evil and darkness.
As Eva creates documents, she has to change people’s names. As many of them are children, she is afraid they will be too young to remember their real names. She states that the Nazis want to erase her people, and she doesn’t want to be a part of erasing their history through the forgeries, even if she is saving lives. That’s why Eva uses a book to keep track of the children’s names in code. She calls it The Book of Lost Names. She wants to ensure a way later for them to reconnect with who they were before the war. Decades after the war the book reemerges and only Eva can tell the story and crack the code. Although Eva is fictional, her character and her methods of forgery are based on real people and techniques. What a great story!
This book gets 5 stars from me. Leave me a comment if you’ve read it or plan to read it!
