Harmel’s latest novel chronicles the story of a skilled forger who risks her life during World War II to help hundreds of Jewish children escape the Nazis. To ensure that the children’s original identities will not be permanently erased, Eva and a fellow forger create a coded system to secretly preserve the real names and identities of the escapees. Decades later, the code is discovered but cannot be decoded, and Eva must decide if she has the strength to revisit the past. I loved this one so much; I read it in less than 24 hours.

A heart wrenching, hopeful account of WWII France and one woman’s adventure in trying to save the innocents. The accounts of a free French woman and her skills that help the Resistance are reminiscent of The Nightingale, but with its own heroes and triumphs. Names may change but histories cannot be lost in The Book of Lost Names.

The book of lost names provides a novelization of one of the worst but unknown cultural attacks perpetrated by the Nazis during WWII. Weaving a richly detailed and complex characters together Harmel gets the readers attention and maintains them. My only challenge with this book was that  there was a real romanticization of how the reparation process for stolen books has been handled.

This book was so heartbreaking but beautiful. The book focuses on two young individuals who forge papers to save children who are Jewish and orphans because their parents have been taken into the camps. I can’t imagine living during that time and being a parent myself the anguish I would feel thinking about the safety of my children. This is based on a true story and I learned a lot that I did not know. I highly recommend this book. I wanted to learn more and wish it went into more detail but I’m sure that would of made it too long. It was so interesting. Thank you Netgalley, Kristin Harmel, and Gallery Books for this advanced readers copy.

A beautiful story about a woman's heroism in the midst of the Holocaust. 
A woman leaves Paris in a rush to escape being taken by the Nazis. She finds herself in a small french town, working for the resistance and forging identity cards. She save hundreds of lives, but loses many people she loves along the way. 
A story that is full of love, and passion, and incredible bravery, and terrible heartbreak. 
If you were a fan of The Nightingale, this book is for you. 
9/10 
Thanks @netgalley, @kristinharmel and @gallerybooks.

this book is so cute and fun and precious and i loved it. i hope you pick it up as soon as possible. it's an escape from reality and that's what we all very much need right now.

I usually enjoy reading historical fiction, but I struggled with this book. I could not get into the characters - Eva felt too naive and gullible and her mother was horrible. The plot twist was too predictable, parts of the story were very cheesy, and the plot moved so slowly until the very end. I liked how the author used two time periods to tell the story, but the 2005 time period was not fleshed out enough. I wanted more from that. I guess this book was just "ok" for me. I did enjoy reading about the forgery and everything that involved, but so much more of the story just fell flat.

THE BOOK OF LOST NAMES by Kristin Harmel has been wowing readers since it’s release this summer, sending it not only to The NY Times Bestseller List, but forcing it into a reprint and restock after being sold out for a month.  In the same vein of books like SARAH’S KEY and even one of her previous books, THE ROOM ON RUE AMÉLIE, Harmel sets this story in war-ravaged France, where they are fighting against the German Nazis and trying to save Jewish families from capture and imprisonment.  In this new book, the author focuses on the fight to save young orphaned children whose parents were taken to concentration camps and to help them escape to freedom in free Switzerland.  This escape is made possible through a network that uses handmade forged identity documents and is facilitated by French resistance citizens across different religions and all walks of life including small towns and churches in the free French zone like Aurignon, France.  Harmel even alludes to her previous book The Room on Rue Amélie throughout the pages when she discusses the Allied pilots who were shot down, sometimes injured, utilizing the same network of escape and alliances that protagonists Eva and Rémy are involved in.  The story engages the reader throughout the book with moments of betrayal, ties of loyalty, and realizations of love.  As Harmel says, “That’s what books were for, after all. They were passageways to other worlds, other realities, other lives one could imagine living.”  As a result, the readers’ empathy and compassion muscles continue to grow and strengthen.
In particular, we are able to follow the heroic efforts of forger protagonists Eva and Rémy as well as their resulting love story.  In turn, the title stems from a religious historical text housed in the Catholic Church library headed by priest Le Père Clément that they use to hide the children’s names they help escape with code grounded in the Fibonacci sequence.
As Eva’s mother said regarding the fear of being forgotten with not even their names to be remembered due to forgery: “They are erasing us.  And we are helping them...We don’t even have your father’s name anymore...What happens when they come for us, too? When they take us east? Who will remember us? Who will care?  Thanks to you, not even our names will remain?”
By providing a record of the Jewish children’s names in the book, Eva hopes this could allow them to be found by their families later and so the children will know their history as well as their lineage- so they will not be ‘erased’ as Eva’s mother said.  Later, Eva and Rémy utilize this important book to also encode secret messages for each other.  The magnitude of an identity and name is so important to Eva and her mother in a time where the Germans are making the Jewish people and their names disappear by forcing them to result to forgery for means of escape,  by taking over their homes once the rightful Jewish owners are displaced, and placing religion over citizenship to take even French Jews away.
It is no mistake that the author puts such importance on a book, THE BOOK OF LOST NAMES.  Throughout the book Harmel shows her love for books and libraries, who provide life, food and travel for the mind, and hope for ‘petits rats de bibliothèque’ everywhere who see themselves in books.  As stated in the book: “Anyone who saw the magic in books had to be good.”  Other noteworthy and powerful quotes from the book that proclaim the immense importance of books and libraries include:  “Books change the world...” and “Libraries are very magical places”.  Eva also works as a librarian both in her younger years and in her most senior years.  
However, just as in reality there was tremendous loss in the book that could unmoor, challenge, and sadden the reader.  Yet,  Kristin provides a light in the darkness and hope in humanity with the ending of the book and the reunion we all are wishing and hoping for!  With the feeling of that conclusion and all the loose ends and broken circles coming together, it leaves the reader with a contentful satisfaction and peace that we cherish with a Kristin Harmel book.

Beautiful novel about a woman and what she went through during World War II!  Eva witnessed the Nazis take her father away because he was Jewish. She escapes with her mother from Paris to a small quiet town before they are captured, just as she promised her father they would. She creates forged documents for them to use during their travel that list them as different people. When they arrive in the little town, they  find a boarding house to stay in. Eva soon finds herself involved in a network of people who are all working to help people escape to Switzerland, especially children. Eva is torn between obligations to her family and the people she is helping. The Book of Lost Names was a book that contained the children’s names who were saved within its pages in a secret code. But the Nazis stole the book during their raids during the war. About sixty years later, Eva sees that someone is trying to find the real owners of old books and they have The Book of Lost Names. The story is full of so much as Eva forms close ties with the other people she works with in the network. Even as they are saving people, they will lose some of those they are close to.

This book destroyed me.

In this book we follow Eva through two timelines. Although most of the book takes place during the war, about 10-15% of the book follows Eva though present day as she sets off to Berlin to claim a book that was hers during the war, a book she dubbed The Book of Lost Names. After fleeing from Paris in 1942 after a mass arrest of Jews (including Eva's father), Eva finds herself in a small town in the free zone that is resisting in a big way. Recruited by the local priest to forge documents along side another handsome forger, Remy, Eva finds herself as a key player in helping smuggle Jewish children into neutral Switzerland. As a way to preserve the children's original names, they encode them into The Book of Lost Names.

Going into any WWII novel I expect to be brought to tears at some point. The Book of Lost Names kept me in that state for the last quarter or the book. As Eva slowly loses everything she's ever known she finds purpose in helping save others from the Nazis. This book does not hide Eva's troubles behind the help she is offering others though, she continues to struggle personally while trying to remain strong for the task she has been given. She is a remarkably resilient character which makes you ache for her through every struggle she faces. All of the characters are well defined and consistent throughout the story, and all of them are relatable in some way. The setting is beautiful, but you still feel the shadow of war over everything. This book was really everything I could hope for in a WWII novel, even if it did leave me a mess of emotions.

What an amazing story! Stayed up very late to finish! 
I received a free copy from the the publisher and Netgalley.

I love everything historical fiction - especially WWII!! There are so many things that I just didn’t even think about, or things that had to take place in order to hide and relocate Jewish individuals! Eve is a forger, she makes false documentations for those trying to flee! She’s an amazing artist, and she is asked to do this as she can replicate the seals that are found in various documents! It is here she meets Remy, also a forger. How can they continue to create new identities, but try to keep the ones they appear to be erasing? Thus The Book of Lost Names is born! This was so wonderfully written, showed strong character development, and tugged at my heart in so many ways!

The Book of Lost Names By Kristin Harmel 

Rating: 4 / 5 Stars

Publication Date: 7/21/2020

** Thank you to Netgalley, Gallery Books, and of course, Kristin Harmel, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In all the historical fiction that I have read, Kristin Harmel tends to stick out in the stories she tells and the characters she creates. Considering the World War II Historical Fiction genre has been overdone in the past 6 years or so, Harmel still finds a way to make the stories unique and shine from the bookshelf filled with people walking away (ha. ha). The Book of Lost Names is one of those books. 

Our main character is Eva, a semi-retired librarian in Florida who stumbles upon a photograph in the newspaper containing something she hasn’t seen in over sixty years - The Book of Lost Names. As the Nazis looted libraries during World War II this special book was taken from France and is considered one of the most fascinating cases. As a religious text from the 18th century, it is now housed in Berlin. The most fascinating thing about it? It contains some form of a code that only Eva knows the answer to. And so we 
begin the journey to figure out - can Eva summon the strength to revisit her past? 

The Novel alternates between Eva in the past and present, and we learn of her experiences during the war which shapes her into the woman in the present. We see her heroic actions and falls - based around her ability to save Jewish Children. Her bravery and resilience in such a dark time of European history take center stage in this beautiful novel. 

As I said before, In a genre that has become oversaturated over the years, Harmel provides an excellent eye-opening, informative, and World War II story filled with light and hope. If you loved The Nightingale, This is by far a book for you. IT does not disappoint and I am so glad I was captivated once again by Harmel’s writing.

This book takes a unique perspective--a mother and daughter who move from Paris to the countryside to hide from Nazis but the fear of being found is eclipsed by the clandestine work the daughter is doing. The characters are well written with motivations behind their flaws and good reason for their virtues and appeal. The author clearly researched what life was like in France during the war, both in Paris and the country--food shortages, black market and all. And the few switches from the present to the main part of the story during WWII work well.

( received complimentary e-copy in exchange of the review )

Felt very comfortable with the writing style and tone of this book.  The story held my attention thru from beginning to end.  Was able to be immersed in history.  Time well spent.

I received a copy of The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

A beautifully written story that was inspired by horrific events in history.  Eva Traube Abrams has lived a quite remarkable life.  She is straightening books at the library when she seems an object from her past in a magazine picture.  She immediately recognizes it as the Book of Lost Names.  She’s not told anyone about its existence or her personal involvement with the code found inside the book.   In Eva’s earlier life, she was forced to leave Paris when Nazis came to collect the Jews in her neighborhood.  She escapes with her mother to a remote area in the mountains.  There she meets a mysterious man that shows her how to forge identity documents in order to help smuggle Jewish children into Switzerland.  She agrees to help if they can keep a record of the children’s actual names and forged names so that some day the children could possibly be reunited with their families. 

This book grabbed me from the very beginning.   The character development was seamless.  You felt for all of the characters and wished you could sit down with Eva over a cup of tea.  A truly remarkable book that should not be missed.

Absolutely amazing! My favorite read of 2020 
Historical fiction that is written In such a way that the pages turn themselves. Eva’s story is so beautiful and heart wrenching too. The ending was everything.

This book stands out among other books set in the World War II years as it tells a story that hasn't been told before - that of the children who were affected by the persecution of Jews. I found it very moving and loved all the characters. Very well done! I will recommend to my library patrons.

I loved this book!  It's one of those books that you can't stop reading and cry though parts of it!  I read a lot of historical fiction and, while I can't choose a favorite, "The Book of Lost Names" is definitely high on the list for several reasons.  First, the story is amazing and held my attention almost to the point where I could do nothing but read!  Second, the characters were realistic. I could see them in my mind's eye.  Last, it had a realistic (to me) ending. The roller coaster of emotions I felt while reading this book were real.  I honestly felt like I was reading a diary.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for this opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.  It's one of the best historical novels I've read in a long time!

this book was a delightful and evocative read.  It will make you cry and fill you with hope and awe.  A very easy read to recommend to loved ones.