Eva Traube is the daughter of Polish Jewish immigrants, born in Paris, France. When the war breaks out, she and her parents are subject to abuse from people in their apartment building as well as out on the streets. When the police come knocking at their door, Eva and her mother are babysitting their neighbours’ children. Eva’s father is taken away, and Eva and her reluctant mother flee Paris with papers Eva has forged herself. When they arrive in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, Eva is recruited to help the local resistance group forge documents for Jewish children so they can get to Switzerland. When Eva and her mother learn that her father has been sent to a concentration camp, Eva’s mother blames Eva.
Eva falls in love with her fellow forger Rémy, another thing her mother holds against her as he is not a Jew. The rift between mother and daughter grows wider when Eva gets more and more involved in helping the children escape to Switzerland. When their resistance cell is compromised, Eva’s mother is captured and executed – whilst Eva gets away. She learns that Rémy has also been killed and is heartbroken.
65 years later, Eva Traube Abrams, now a librarian in Florida, USA, sees an article in the newspaper about books that were seized by the Nazis. The accompanying picture is a book she knows well: the Book of Lost Names. An innocuous religious tome, in which she and Rémy hid the names of all the children they created false documents for. She doesn’t hesitate and books a flight to Berlin to reclaim the book.
Kristin Harmel’s books set during WW2 are all fabulous, and I will buy any of them without even reading the synopsis. This one was so good. The romance between Eva and Rémy is not the main story but it’s a lovely backstory. When Rémy was lost to her, I was so sad!
Read for the Read Between the Lines Reading Challenge 2025
Prompt 49: Protagonist is 25 Years Old
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
