Play Book Tag discussion

I loved this book right from the start. I am a sucker for books set in libraries. This is a dual timeline book, and the major historical part of the story is set in Paris from 1939 to 1944. Odile graduates from library school and gets her dream job at the American Library in Paris. She meets a colorful cast of characters there, and I’m happy to know that many of them were real people. As the war began, I enjoyed reading about the many different ways that the library helped servicemen, communities, and other European libraries by that needed books or other forms of support. When Jews were banned from the libraries by the Germans , the library found ways to help. The library struggled to keep its doors open as long as possible under German Occupation. The story provides other interesting stories about the things people did to survive during war. Many helped others, while others sent nasty “crow” letters to the police to denounce or complain about neighbors, enemies or even family members. Odile ‘s father and boyfriend were with the French police and had to comply with German orders to investigate or arrest people , including people close to Odile. Small decisions or careless words could have a dramatic outcomes that haunted characters for the rest of their lives.

The second part of the story is set in the 1980’s in Montana , where a teenage girl decides to interview the mysterious French woman in her neighborhood. I enjoyed this part of the story too, and I liked the way that the author connected the themes from the two stories. I thought the friendship stories were particularly good.

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