Welcome to Litsy!

I‘ve had fun traveling around to see the Friends & Fiction authors! Windsor, CO to see Kristin Harmel, Wheaton College in Illinois to see Patti Callahan Henry, and St Louis to see all 4- including KristyWoodson Harvey and Mary Kate Andrews, along with managing director Meghan Walker and librarian Ron Block! 🩵🩵🩵

Reading and drinking my coffee before my 7.5 hour road trip to Windsor, Colorado to see Kristin Harmel at the #ClearviewReads2025 Library Community Reads Event on Saturday evening. Hoping to do a little bookstore browsing in Ft Collins during the day tomorrow for #IndieBookstoreDay

The Book of Lost Names is a beautifully written tribute to quiet heroism. It is a story about the courage to defy, the strength to remember, and the quiet rebellion of a woman with a pen. Eva found a way to remember as well as save displaced children
#FrenchResistence
#ResistenceForgers

My FAVORITE of Kristin Harmel‘s books.

Thanks, @ChaoticMissAdventures

“20 Day Cover Challenge - As we start a new year and think about what we want in a book.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.” 14/20

#20covers

This one is going to stay with me for a while; a WWII Historical Fiction that looks into the French Resistance and the underground network of forgers who assisted Jews in their escape to freedom. The first half is a little slow, but it picks up. While the story is fiction, the topic is very well researched and gives you a glimpse into this amazing group of people who risked their lives to save thousands of people.

This could've been interesting, but the writing just didn't do it for me.

69/92

#BookSpin @TheAromaofBooks

#MountTBR #ReadAway2024 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

"It's a Saturday morning, and I'm midway through my shift at the Winter Park Public Library when I see it."

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

October #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin

Enjoyed it !

This book will stay with me. A glimpse into French resistance and forgeries of documentation during WWII, with betrayal and a heartbreaking love story. Eva escapes Paris with her mother after her father and joins the resistance as a forger. Told both in 1944 and in her present of 2005.

My #FriendsPick and #ClassicCountdown for the month of May

I enjoyed the story; a bit overwrought. Book 9 of 2024

#DoubleSpin #BookClub #WW2 #FrenchResistance #library #HardCover #ReadICT category: Lost or Found

Painting “People”, currently on show at Wichita Art Museum #WAM (just a photo on my phone)

Current audiobook, for a new book club that is starting with my Theta sorority alumnae group at the end of February.

#CaresPieShow #iLovePie #PeachBlueberryPie

⭐️⭐️⭐️3.6

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5872641575

Overall, a solid read that strikes a balance between emotion and history, though a slightly brisker pace could have enhanced the experience.
#thebookoflostnames #ww2 #romance #historicalfiction

Sometimes I just need historical fiction about someone who finds incredible courage and strength they never knew they had when faced with horrific circumstances. Who cares if it seems plausible or how well developed all of the characters are? Was this the best WWII novel I have ever read? Nope. Did I become very emotionally invested and read this book in practically one sitting? Yep. And I would do it again.

This was a very good book. It was really a very sad story but it was beautiful at the same time. Kristin Harmel has written so many great books that take place during WWII and yet each one is different and tells the story from a completely new perspective.

I love this book!!!! It was beautifully written and a tearjerker for me!!! The characters are great and the plot was amazing. I rated this book a 4 out of 5 stars!!!

This was a great book. It has a great pace that keeps you on your toes, without going too over the top. More importantly, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, or people fighting the good fight. It was scary, and treacherous. It was back alley fights and spying. It was keeping one step ahead of your enemy the entire time and hoping that no one got suspicious, or ratted you out. Plus, it was a long and forever growing love story!

WW2 story - sad but great story line about the underground forging IDs to save Jews.

#12BooksOf2022 #12DaysOfChristmas @Andrew65
#Historicalfiction
I recommend for those who like dual timeline World War II historical fiction/ Romance. The MC forges documents for the French Resistance.

I listened to the audiobook for this one, beautiful story.

3.75/5

Read for:

#TheNerdDaily2022ReadingChallenge2022
#52BookClubReadingChallenge2022

Another book club read. Each year we read a WWII novel and almost without exception it leads to a great discussion. The Book of Lost Names is inspired by real heroes of the war that put their talents to work creating new identities and documents for people targeted by the Nazis. Eva and Remy fall in love whilst in the French resistance. Decades later, Eva returns to reclaim the book used to track the young children saved by their efforts. 4/5 ⭐️

In a few hours, my book club will gather to discuss this month‘s pick! My first experience with the author, this WWII novel clips along at a consistently quick pace. Set mainly in France during the war, there‘s also a 2005 element to Eva‘s story. A lifelong book lover, Eva falls into the role of a forger of documents during the war. The titular book houses the real names of her fakes. The plot takes a few familiar turns but is hard to put down!

“We are all guilty of seeing things through the lens of our own lives.”

This guilt is my current heartbreak. It helps to see my feelings articulated on the page.

There were was so much imagery coming from perfectly written prose. It is dual timeline but not evenly interspersed which somehow adds to the gravitas. This book really puts you there the whole time.

4/5 stars Essentially a love story of Eva a young woman who is daughter of Polish immigrants. Due to luck, Eva‘s artistic talents, and fast thinking, she and her mother are saved from the Jewish round ups in Paris. Unfortunately, her father is sent to Auschwitz, & Eva eventually convinces her mother that he is dead. The high stakes decisions keeps the reader engaged as well as the many plot twists. An emotional and beautiful story. Well worth it.

I saw Kristen Harmel at Page & Palette this afternoon and really enjoyed her talk. She signed my copy of The Book of Lost Names. Of course, while I was there, I bought some books: Julie Osaka‘s The Swimmers; The Sea of Tranquility; and Book Lovers.

Friend told me this was a great one. Let‘s see

Just finished this book today while taking care of my 2 month old granddaughter and drinking my tea from my 10 year old grandson‘s mug. This was a good book about Eva and Remy coming up with a plan to remember the children they helped escape from the awful Holocaust only for Eva to learn there are a more to life than a name. I recommend this book to anyone who loves stories about the Holocaust like I do.

“I used to think that memories were less painful when you held them close. I think perhaps that isn't true though. Now I think pain loses its power when we share it.”

#thebookoflostnames

Just wow. What a quote!!

Started this one last night. I‘ve heard so many good things about it!

This weekend I am reading The Book of Lost names. I have heard a lot of good things about this book, so I decided to see myself.

I enjoyed this historical fiction. It was action packed and told lots about the lives being lived during WW II. It was my first to read by Kristin Harmel. I‘ll definitely read more of her books. 👍🏻

My most recent purchase that #beginswith #book! I keep seeing great reviews!

📚📚

Well-written, interesting read about a horrific time in our world history. This book had all those feels. It is a story about how terrible times can bring out the best and the worst in people, about finding hope and light in the darkest hours.

“There‘s something almost miraculous about seeing a child‘s eyes light up when you hand him a book that intrigues him. I‘ve always thought that it‘s those children—the ones who realize that books are magic—who will have the brightest lives.”

#12AuthorsIn22 Day 4 Kristin Harmel
I absolutely love the one book I read: The Forest of Vanishing Stars I can't wait to read more. #HstoricalFiction

Thank you so much Debra!! You are so sweet 🥰 I‘m really looking forward to reading this one!! I LOVE the bookmark!!

#LitsyLove
#Bookmail

Very very good and very satisfying ending. I recommend it very much!

Still reading this but so far I really like it. … I finished this and while I generally liked it including the ending, I thought there were some slow parts. Also I wished she tied up some loose ends by telling some of the children‘s stories after they escaped.

This is the first historical fiction novel I've read in a long while. It painted an excellent (though terrifying and heartbreaking) image of WWII France and how those who were Jewish were being "erased." It's the story of a brave woman who attempts to preserve the identities of young children by placing their names into a code. A story about many forms of love, perseverance, sacrifice, and loyalty; It was an emotional and moving experience for me.

So happy I tried this one! This book made me feel a bit of every emotion and really opened the door to questions about why people behave the way they do. This was a great story about a heartbreaking time in history.
It is worth it to mention that I alternated reading the hardcover and listening to the audio and the chapters actually lined up! Bonus!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Eva is a semi-retired librarian in Florida. Shelving books one morning, she sees the image of a book she hasn‘t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names. The book is housed in a French library and it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers have no idea what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?

I met her!
(Local author Kristin Harmel)

“Sometimes, something as simple as a pen and a bit of imagination can alter the course of history.”

I raced through this story about Eva, a document forger who saved hundreds of lives in WWII France. While it‘s a work of fiction it is based on real people who risked their lives to save others. Loved it and the end had me in tears ❤️😢

I really like this WWII historical fictional novel in which the main character is a document forger for the French Resistance. It was interesting in that its focus is not on the concentration camps, but rather life on the outside. Although I found Eva‘s mother to be unlikable, I am glad the character was included as she provided contrast and depth. I‘m glad I listened to the audiobook for the pronunciation of the French names.