The Book of Lost Names (to be released 7/21/20)
by Kristin Harmel
5 stars
Another excellent WWII historical fiction read by Kristin Harmel! Harmel became a favorite of mine when I picked up When We Meet Again in summer of 2016. I quickly placed her other titles on hold at my library and devoured them. If you haven’t checked out Sweetness of Forgetting or The Life Intended, please do so! Her latest releases have not disappointed either! This book follows Eva, a young Jewish woman, who flees to a small town in France after her father is arrested. Using her talents as an artist, she meets a small group of people and begins forging identity papers for Jewish children to help them to flee to safety. She wants the children’s names to be preserved for after the war, so she begins keeping a code in a religious text that becomes The Book of Lost Names. I love how the book is based on a true story and I appreciate that Harmel always digs into subjects that aren’t as familiar to us, like the topic of forgery. The story has alternate timelines, 1940’s (Eva in the past) and 2005 (Eva in the present) Like Harmel’s previous books, I enjoy this jump back in forth in time. A great book about bravery, heartbreak, war, and even a love story. Highly recommend! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!
Read-alikes
All the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
Echoes by Danielle Steele
The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah
