Extraordinary historical novel. The best of the best because of the through research and fascinating topic of forging documents during occupied France. WWII is such a horrifying time, so any opportunity to learn about people resisting in a way that saved lives is priceless. Eva is an English doctorate student at the Sorbonne and born in France to Polish Jewish parents. As the Nazi’s take over Paris she is on the run with her mother after her father is arrested. Her father’s employer knowing of her artist talent gives her blank documents that she must use to forge in order for them to escape to the Vichy “free zone”. Once arriving in a small village she finds that most of the villagers are protecting secrets. But who can she trust? Trust with her life? Secrets that she quickly joins; forging documents for children, allied soldiers and resistance members needing new identities to escape to Switzerland. Her only condition is that she wants to keep track of all the real and forged names of each of the children. A coworker and emerging love interest helps her encode these names in a worn biblical hymnal. As the war heats up and the tide is turning against the Nazi’s the work becomes even more dangerous. Loving relationships are imperil and betrayal surrounds her. But her desire to do the right thing in all circumstances drives her, no matter the danger. The story toggles from past to present in this remarkable women’s life. This novel shows how hope is a driving motivation in life. What happens to the Book of Lost names? You will need to read this book to find out! I thank Netgally and Simon & Schuster publishers for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this extraordinary novel for an honest review.

Once again, Kristin Harmel brings focus to a little known aspect of the French Resistance during WWII - those women and men who created false documents to assist others to hide and escape from the Nazis. After her father is seized by the Nazis, Eva and her mother escape to "free' France in the south. There, Eva reluctantly joins a resistance group who need her artistic skills to recreate German documents.

I still don't tire of reading historical novels set during WW2. This one was a really good one about the young woman with the wonderful talent of forgery which enabled her to help Jewish people escape. It was a heart-rending read. I really admired the courage and their willingness to help others while risking their own lives. There were emotional moments which were to be expected. I was absorbed from start to finish. I really enjoyed reading this book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

A compelling story about a young Jewish woman who ends up helping hundreds of Jewish children by forging documents that help them to safety. A fascinating part of World War II history that we don't always hear about.

Kristin Harmel's books never fail to hit me in the heart with wide-range of emotions. Again, she has struck gold with The Book of Lost Names.

The Book of Lost Names really kept my attention. I could not put it down. Having read many books on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust this was an area I knew very little about. I enjoyed the way it was written and will look to read other books by this author.

review // Last summer, after being approved for and reading an e-ARC of The Winemaker’s Wife, I quickly read everything by Kristin Harmel - and am so thankful to @netgalley and @gallerybooks for continuing that love, by granting me the e-ARC for her newest book, The Book of Lost Names.
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Things I Loved: The focus on forgers, who I don’t think get a lot of page-time in WWII fiction, and their role in the Resistance. Lost romance. Double-crossing. How a book and a secret code become so central to the story. The reluctant, but brave heroine.
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Will there every be a time when I don’t praise Kristin Harmel and her work? I think not. This has a little bit of everything I love in a good historical fiction: romance, resiliency and bravery during one of the most tragic times in history, an opportunity to learn something new about this time era, and a little bit of heartbreak. While it won’t be out until July 21, if you are a fan of WWII fiction, preorder this one or put it on hold at your library immediately! {5/5 stars}

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I almost always enjoy books set during World War II, but The Book of Lost Names introduced me to a new topic that I hadn't read about yet: how forgers played a role in the resistance. I thought the author did a good job of developing the characters and including the wide, often conflicting range of emotions that Jewish people and French citizens must have felt during this time. In particular, I was interested in Mamusia and would have liked to read more about her! I also LOVED the ending of the book, but I won't spoil it here. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially fiction set during WWII/the Holocaust.

Amazing from the first page. This characters in this book were extremely well developed as I felt every emotion they felt throughout the book. It was fascinating to learn about this element of the Holocaust resistance. The plot was anything but predictable as the book kept me engaged beyond the last page. I couldn't wait to read the author's notes and learn more. A must read!

Eva Traube is startled into remembering her life in occupied France when she sees the news article about the small book in the Berlin Library. Only she knows of her personal connection to the historical religious text and the more recent historical role is played in saving the lives of Jewish children. During the war, Eva used her art skills to forge documents and serve a role in the Resistance movement. Older Eva travels to Berlin to reconnect with the book and share the secret to the code hidden within while younger Eva struggles to survive the war with her mourning mother, friends new and old, and her dangerous work.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

The Book of Lost Names
by Kristin Harmel
Gallery Books
Historical Fiction | Women's Fiction
Pub Date 21 Jul 2020 | Archive Date 21 Jul 2020

One of my all-time favorite historical fiction books!! I can't wait to recommend this to our readers!! Strong storyline and I learned a lot about forgery.
Thanks to Net Galley and Gallery books for this ARC. I will not forget Eva anytime soon.

Did you know the importance that forger's had as part of the resistance during WWII? I definitely did not. This book was as educational for me as it was a for pleasure read. However, this book did not spark my interest as much until later in the plot I think because I had just read "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah that seemed similar. The ending got me though, like ugly tears but happy tears, which made the whole book come together and I loved it. Now I really want to read more by this author!

The story of Eva was a tragic but heroic one. One of great bravery and great loss. Living in war torn France during WWII she had to make a new identity for herself and her mother to escape the punishment that was for being a Jew. While running for her life she happened to come upon a mountain town in which she discovers her talent for forgery. There she joins the resistance and begins forging false documents to save children and allow them to flee to free Switzerland. In doing so she records the original names of the children in The Book of Lost Names so that they will never be erased as the Germans want them to be. When this book shows up at a library in Germany many years later Eva makes the journey to go uncover what she has left behind.

This was a wonderful WWII historical fiction book. This is the story of Eva who at the age of 86 sees a story about a book that includes markings that no one can decipher. She decides to travel to Berlin to be reunited with her book. We learn of Eva’s life during the war and how being a Jew in Paris changed her family forever. She begins working with the Resistance as a forger of documents that help fellow Jews escape to Switzerland to freedom. Her choices change the lives of all those around her. This is the kind of book that stays with you for a long time. I found myself thinking about Eva and other characters long after I finished the book. Thank you NetGalley for a wonderful ARC.

Another EXCELLENT 5 star WW2 Historical Fiction novel!!! If you liked Beneath a Scarlett Sky, Daughter of the Reich, and Miss Graham's Cold War Cook Book, you will love this book. This is the story of 86 year old librarian Eva Traube , who was shelving books one day and spots a, picture of a book in a paper that she has not seen in 60 years....The Book of Lost Names. Eva wants to travel to Germany against her son's wishes to obtain the book. The story then goes back to 1942 as Eva's father is captured by the Nazis as her and her mother are out. They in turn escape to the Free Zone where Eva's services are requested by a priest to forge false travel documents to help children escape over the border to new families all the while why Eva still tries to locate her father and move children. I really enjoyed this book.

The Book of Lost Names was easily the number one book I have read so far this year. It is rich in historical accuracy and character development, well-researched, and brings a shining light to a somewhat unknown part of WWII history through the eyes of a Jewish woman; student librarian-turned forger, in the midst of the German takeover of France.

From the beginning of the book I was invested in Eva Traube. When a photo of a very old book catches her eye in a magazine, she is immediately thrown back 65 years to the last time she saw the book, in the midst of WWII ravaged France, working for the Resistance protecting children by giving them new identities as they escape France for neighboring Switzerland.

Moving seamlessly between present day and war time, from the first page to the last, this book was riveting all along the way through. I have no shame in admitting this book kept me awake until the wee hours of the morning and I finished it in just two sittings.

This is the third book I’ve read by the author and they are all fabulous. I was quickly turning pages and didn’t want to get anything done except read this book. Characters that will tug on your heart strings; pages that will cause you to shed a tear, pages that will make you smile! I absolutely loved every single page and didn’t want it to end. There are two early books by the author I haven’t read and plan to read them soon. If you haven’t picked up one of these books, don’t delay! You are definitely miSsing superb historical fiction.
Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for the ARC

During WWII, forgers played important role in the Resistance. It was a network of “brave people who used their artistic ability and scientific ingenuity to produce convincing documents that allowed innocent people to survive.”

Florida, 2005. Eva Traube, librarian, comes across an article talking about a book, which she thought had vanished forever.

Paris, 1942. Eva is pursuing her doctorate in English literature. Her father, Polish-born Jew, is arrested. But before that he arranged with his employer for fake documents for Eva in order for her to escape to the free zone in Switzerland. Since she has to escape with her mother now, she is given blank documents and supplies to forge their own documents. From Paris, they travel east, toward the Alps and make a stop in Aurignon. Where, even though their papers are very legible looking, there is something else that gives them away. Now, a Catholic priest asks Eva for help in forging papers for Jewish children. He convinces her to do this “artistic endeavors” in order “to move toward a life of freedom.” Her mother wants to continue toward the free zone. Eva is torn. With her work materializing on a page in front of her, “hope floats up within her.” She feels it within her that she is doing a good work and the right one. Her father’s words “Who will remember us?” bring up a concern. Who will remember the real names of the Jewish children for whom she is forging the documents and who are too young to remember later their real names. Her partner in forgery, Remy, comes up with a brilliant idea. His love for math and the Fibonacci sequence give him an idea how to code real names without putting any one in danger.

Written with so much humanity. There is so much love and caring breathed into the characters, making it one of the most endearing and beautiful stories. You can also feel the pain of those who lost the love ones. You can sense Eva’s hesitation. She wants to do the right thing by her mother and the right thing dictated by her heart. But her mother’s different thinking doesn’t make it easy for her. Helping the children makes Eva feel like she “can bring some light to the world, even in the midst of all the darkness.”

The description of the town brings so much of visible charm. I was also enchanted by the invisible charm of the closeness of people working together, being part of a network which helps hundreds of innocent children, who some lost their parents, to escape the injustice inflicted upon them.

I enjoyed the magical description of the town so much that I wanted to locate it on a map. As it turns out, it’s a fictional town. I understand it gives any writer more freedom, who doesn’t have to worry about town’s accuracy. But setting it in a real town makes it a more credible story. That’s the only thing I wished was different about this book.

This spellbinding page-turner doesn’t bring atrocity of WWII and despite the horror and injustice of the war, the author manages to create such heart-warming story of network of people who risk their own lives to save others. The story brings such characters one cares deeply for and who take a reader on an extraordinary journey of courage, faith and bravery.

Not many books have me staying up until 3 am to finish, but The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel sure did. At a time when books about heroic women in WWII have saturated the market, this one stood head-and-shoulders above the others, and was worth every bit of tired I'm feeling this morning.

The dual-time book tells the story of Eva Traube Abrams as a young graduate student in WWII France, and as a octogenarian librarian in Florida. The two women could hardly be more different from the outside.

On the run herself, Young Eva has become a forger of documents for the French Resistance. She is passionate and courageous, fearlessly creating travel and identification documents for Jewish children whose parents have been taken by the Nazis, while forestalling her own escape to the safety of nearby Switzerland.

The elder Eva, on the other hand, is a widow and mother living quietly on her own with the memories of a former life and the many people she loved, knew and saved - none of whom she has mentioned out loud for decades. All that changes, however, when a newspaper article appears about an old religious book which was stolen by the Nazis and recently recovered.

This is the Book of Lost Names, and in it's pages, Eva had hidden the real names and new names of the hundreds of children for whom she'd created new identities all those years before.

The Book of Lost Names is a brilliantly paced and written book filled with compelling characters, plotting and details. The author does a great job of drawing the reader into the tension and drama of forging operations of the French Resistance movement without getting bogged down in technical and logistical quicksand. There are heroes and villains, romance and heartbreak, moments of family bonding and family brokenness, light and dark, and both big and small twists and turns. The use of a dual time - one written in the third person and the other in first person - is an effective vehicle for this story which is loosely based on real events, and provides the reader with a smooth transition between past and present, lived and remembered.

I loved everything about this book, and the characters will surely stay with me. Again, with so many WWII books on the market right now, it would be easy to take a pass on one more, but the writing and characterization in The Book of Lost Names set it apart as something new and fresh and worth the effort. Even at three in the morning.

This review is based on an advance copy read.

Thank you to netgalley.com for the opportunity to read this ARC. Set in France during WWII, the French resistance is finally starting to make headway against the Nazis. Eva Traub becomes an initially unwilling participant after her father is arrested and taken from the family's Paris apartment during the night. She is able to get forged papers to get her mother and herself to Switzerland through Aurignon France. There the story of The Book Of Lost Names really begins. Eva, a young woman who had loved her life in Paris and the rich cultural and religious history that formed it, agrees to help the Resistance save children with forged papers. We see her change from a woman desperate to flee the Nazis to a strong member of the Resistance.

The book is strong on accurate history. Ms. Harmel cites several non-fiction sources for her research and I will read them. The fictional story does have an excellent conclusion. However, there are too many problems with the relationships and Eva's own actions. It is surprising that her own mother doesn't give the entire effort away. Eva's own actions could have endangered so many people numerous times. And then there is the matter of the internet which was hardly new in 2005. Eva loves books and information. Why did she not use the information she had at hand prior to heading to Germany?