Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and be intro'd to this author. I'm a Historical fiction geek and at the moment really interested in stories about World war two so this appealed to me. All about the French forgers of WWII who saved thousands of men, women, and children. This book was well written with excellent detail and research. The main character Eva is a strong and smart and resilient woman. Her character is well-developed and I enjoyed her story. Not my favorite book but a good read.

Going back and forth between the present and France during WWII, Eva finds herself helping out with the resistance to save Jewish children from Nazis.

I'm going to be honest, I couldn't finish this. It was written like a movie from the 1930s where women were damsels in distress and men were dashing and manly and it just wasn't for me. It didn't feel grounded in reality despite the historical backdrop.

Wonderful story about a Jewish survivor during Nazi filled Europe. About how she makes a mark, one survivor at a time, to save their identity. The book of lost names is a must read, love story, with an unpredicted ending.

Another wonderful book by Kristin Harmel! I just love her writing style. Her knowledge of history and her ability to tell a story made this a page turner. And the ending! I loved how she did that. Outstanding!

I read a lot of World War II historical fiction, but this is the first one I've read this year because it was just too heavy for 2020. That said, I loved this book. Eva was a fantastic character, and it was so interesting to learn about the forgers who saved so many people during the war. The concept of the Book of Lost Names was beautiful, and so many things towards the end of the book were both heartbreaking and touching. This was everything I like in a World War II novel, and I can't wait to read more of Kristin Harmel's books.

The Book of Lost Names was such a wonderful, gripping, tear-jerker book for me. I loved the story, the characters and their development, and the romance. The author does such a great job of describing the town of Aurignon so that the reader is there with Eva and her mother. The intensity of the invasion and escape scenes had me holding my breath and racing through the pages. I totally got swept up in this story of bravery and love.

The only part of the book that I struggled with was the ending. While I love how it wrapped up everything so nicely, it definitely wasn't expected and also not the type of twist that I felt was necessary or added to the book.

Overall, I would rate this book a 4.5 and definitely recommend this book to other readers. And, I most certainly will be reading other books by this author.

This was such an excellent book - as always this author's research and detail are just stellar. Granted, the market is a bit saturated, in my opinion at least, with the historical fiction books based on WWII; however, with Kristin Harmel's latest, she delves into the lives of the people who forge documents to smuggle out Jewish children from occupied France. This is the first book I've read on this topic, and I found it enjoyable and plausible (even though I am still trying to figure out the math formula she uses to "remember" the children's names!). The story centers around Eva Traub, a Jewish girl in her mid-twenties, who is forced to flee with her mother to the area near Switzerland, in hopes of escaping persecution from the Nazis. Wanting to help the cause, she meets with the local priest, who is organizing forged documents to move Jewish children from the safe houses across the border to Switzerland. Realizing her artistic talents could be used, she offers to help - at least for a few months, until her and her mother's trip to freedom can be arranged. She joins forces with Remy -an accomplished forger - to expedite documents, as they need to move the children as quickly as possible. Realizing some of these children are so young they won't remember their true identities, Eva develops a code for writing in a religious book their assumed names along with their real names; she is determined these children aren't lost to history. So the Book of Lost Names begins. This was a wonderful story, with fully fleshed characters and descriptions of the scenery that you feel like you are right there with them on their journey. You won't be able to put this one down - it deserves 5 stars and more from me! Thanks to NetGalley and Kristin Harmel for ARC kindle edition of this one - absolutely loved it! (less)

"Books are magic."

I love historical fiction books, I really love them when it's a brand new storyline I haven't read before (and that's a tough feat with a book about WWII) and I especially love them when there is the most amazing hook at the beginning of the book. This book immediately sucks you in from page one and you won't let out your breathe until the very last page.

The writing is as smooth as silk. The character development is simply phenomenal! Eva is one of many heroes you will read about. This really is a captivating, thought provoking book. I fell in love with the characters and their bravery was beyond inspiring.

This isn't just a book about WWII and the Nazis driving all of the Jews out of France. This is a story about bravery, friendships, family, hope, sacrifice, honor, resilience, betrayal and love.

"I would rather die knowing I had tried to do the right thing than live knowing I had turned my back." - Pere Clement

Despite the horrific atrocities happening to them, the daily fear of death, the characters find a way to turn the dark into light, to find hope when there is none, they find a way to survive.

This book grabbed my heart, moved me and touched my soul in a way that I didn't want to let go. Read this book. I promise you will not be disappointed. If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. One of the best books of 2020.

My thanks to Kristin Harmel, Gallery Books and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Thoughts
A book that gave me all those warm fuzzy feelings and those teary eyed moments.

What I Loved
AT FIRST
The title captured my interest first; even before I knew what it was about. The Book of Lost Names – does it not make you curious as to what it would be about? I certainly was – so count me in!

I certainly love reading historical fiction; and somehow have been drawn to books set in WWII more often than not. Those stories do tend to leave one feeling a bit heart-broken, a little inspired, often teary-eyed, and many a time wondering about humankind (the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of it). The Book of Lost Names does all of that, and does it effortlessly in page-turner fashion.

THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR STORIES
The characters and their endearing, heart-warming, inspiring stories captured my attention and my heart; and without realizing it, I soon found myself at that ending, one that left me feeling all the feels.

From the very first page, to the ‘The End,’ I was swept up in Eva’s world; between present day Eva reclaiming herself, and the Eva of years ago working to ensure that those whose identities she forged could reclaim theirs someday. And of course, was also caught up in the ever present dangers; as well as that sweet yet impossible romance between courageous Eva and the sweet and brave Remy.

Every character in the book is fleshed out so well; I wanted to know more about what was happening to each of them as the story progressed; even Eva’s mom who got on my nerves a few times.

OF COURSE, THE HISTORY
Harmel weaves fact and fiction together seamlessly; and I love how she integrates the little known stories of the forgers in the resistance. The historical details further added to the richness of the story; and increased my interest in a book I was already heavily invested in!

AND THE REST
The Author’s Note is a must read.
And so many books/authors are mentioned throughout, including Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Jules Verne and more! What’s not to love about books within books?!
I love that the book reminded me of other favorite reads; Anne Frank, Number the Stars, The Book Thief, and The Sound of Freedom, among others.
And it also reminded me of sweet romance novels that leave you smiling.
I appreciated how the ugly side of WWII was not glossed over, and yet balanced with a sensitivity to pull at heartstrings while not breaking your heart fully.
And as for quotes, there are simply too many, so I will let you read the book for yourself!!

In Summary
Harmel has created wonderful characters, and then proceeded to spin together their stories – of love, sacrifice, of duty and of helping others in need first, of family, of the love of books, and last but, not the least, secret codes and math – into a book that will constantly tug at heartstrings, amaze and inspire as you read it; and then stay with you long after you close it.

Perfect for readers who love women’s fiction, WWII fiction, historical fiction, or romance, or books about books; in short, perfect for readers!

Disclaimer: Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the digital review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book is heart-wrenching and brilliant tale. Eva Traube Abrams, a librarian, discovers a photo of book while shelving books in her library that makes her stop completely. The book details a flashback in 1942 when Eva was a student and was forced to leave Paris after the arrest of her father. Eva began forging documents for Jewish children and to keep the operation quiet. I absolutely loved this book and would highly recommend it to my audience.

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.