One more really good WWII novel told from a different viewpoint. It never ceases to amaze me on the plethora of WWII books that have flooded the market and I have become very critical in my reviews and my choice of picking one. I also look for a different angle of the storyline presented so it covers something that I haven’t read before.
And then of course, you always look at the author, I knew I was in for a good read when it has Mario Escobar on the cover… I was not let down. Jocelyn was the perfect character to tell the story, her love for her library and her books was remarkable. Also, since this is based upon a true story, it always makes it better. The descriptions were done well, you can envision the bomb damage, her riding her bike, the German soldiers, it all was done well. I highly recommend. Well worth the read.
I want to thank Thomas Nelson along with NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC. This one is a high 5 star read.

The majority of this book is written as a letter/series of letters written by the narrator, Jocelyn Ferrec, to a famous author. Jocelyn is a librarian who has suffered much loss in her life. She marries Antoine, who is then called to fight in WWII. Jocelyn becomes a fierce defender against the Germans who want to destroy books in the library, to the point of risking her own life.

This book fell flat for me. I couldn't relate to the characters at all. Though rich with history and skillful writing, I couldn't understand why Jocelyn would risk her life for the books. It did not make sense. Furthermore, the story meandered, and I although I finished reading it, there was no action propelling me towards the end of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advance e-reader copy of this book.

I love this author and I was so excited when I received this book! It didn't disappoint. I loved this one even more than the others previous work! It was unputdownable

This book tells the story of Jocelyn a librarian in Saint Malo who protects the books in the library at all costs during WW2 and the Nazi invasion. Her story is told through a series of letters written to a famous author. I loved the quote "every time someone opens a book, it comes alive once more. Its characters wake up from their nap and start acting all over again"
A good book detailing every atrocity the citizens of Saint Malo suffered during the war
Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own

If I;m being quite honest, this book felt like a semi-typical WW2 historical fiction novel, perhaps I’m numb to the poignant atmosphere and not as emotionally affected by them anymore, but I really think this novel could’ve gone deeper. I really didn’t like the love interest or her Nazi love interest (I understand that the author tried to redeem him by having him falsify papers at the end of the war, and I know that a fair amount of Germans identified with the Nazis out of fear, but he made it really hard to sympathize with him or his actions until the end.) The main character also risks hers and others lives for the books, I understand that she’s a librarian and that books are really important, but sometimes the risk was involuntary on others parts, and they’re just sheets of paper, books are powerful, yes, but there are others of them out there.

I was also expecting a different concept then per usual as the novel was presented as an epistolary novel, which it was, but the letter aspect of it felt completely unnecessary, and it might’ve actually read better without it. Regardless of that. Fact, I actually did enjoy Mario Escobar’s writing style and I found it very poetic. It also had aspects that were very captivating, but it was still kind of an iffy read for me. Also the formatting on my copy was really weird which made it difficult to get through in an ebook format.

Mario Escobar has beautifully captured the essence of an everyday person who is driven to do extraordinary things in the face of danger. Jocelyn Ferrac is Saint-Malo’s librarian who describes the brutal WW2 German occupation of her small coastal village through letters penned to a famous author. Driven by her love of books, she faces the German commander head on as he attempts to purge her library and destroy ‘potential subversive writings.’

I loved Jocelyn’s insight when she declared, “We work so hard to accumulate things, to achieve, to triumph; but the real victory is always and only love, in giving yourself away and expecting nothing in return, in forgiving and making the world a better place.” Escobar reminds us that love doesn’t always have to make sense. Love doesn’t see ‘sides,’ it sees hearts. He also reminds us that love has incredible power. We see how it moved Jocelyn to hide/protect her books, her co-worker, and the boy in her basement. It influenced Hermann’s movements as a result of the object of his affection.

Based on a true account, Escobar reminds us that “books are our legacy, the signal to light the path for future generations.” Jocelyn firmly believed that if the Nazis destroyed the books within the library, they would have won the war because her future countrymen wouldn’t know who they were or what they were doing. Fighting tuberculosis, saddened by too many losses, and dealing with confusing affections, this heroine sets it all aside and faces up to the enemy with unfeigned love for her people, her country and her books. A superb unique account of how WW2 affected ordinary citizens and how it drove one librarian to record the German occupation through letters. This historical fiction is a must read.

I was gifted this book by Mario Escobar, Thomas Nelson Publishing, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.
Publishes June 1, 2021

The Librarian of Saint Malo by Mario Escobar captures the hurt and sorrow of the French people and the opposite side of the French Resistance as they fight against the invasion of the German Nazi’s during World War II. I love the idea of protecting the books from the Nazi’s who censored the books that the Germans, or anyone in Europe for that matter, could read. (Kind of like America is trying to do today!) I love the idea of talking about books. I love the idea of hiding Germans. Jocelyn is a brave woman who believes in the importance of reading and the written word. I enjoyed her heart, and I loved seeing her become more brave as the Nazi’s kept trying to force their hand on her world and her beloved books. The story captured my attention, and I finished it two days. The setting was a nice little quaint town that I have never heard of, but I enjoyed visiting it throughout the duration of this story. Overall, if readers enjoyed this story, they might enjoy The Paris Dressmaker by Kristy Cambron since her novel also deals with the French Resistance.
I received a complimentary copy of The Librarian of Saint Malo by Mario Escobar from Thomas Nelson Publishers, but the opinions stated are all my own.

I really wanted to love this book, but I just didn’t I’m afraid. The book for me almost totally lacked emotion and I don’t think the ‘letter’ format helped. I’m sorry but this was a rare book on the subject/era that I just didn’t enjoy.

Love historical fiction, this one was such a easy ready and hooked me pretty quickly. Loved that is was about one woman’s love for books and protecting those books at all costs, really enjoyed her descriptions of what books mean and what they do for everyone who reads them. Same woman also had love and good friendships throughout the entire book..This one is Definetly a winner💜

So many moving stories in one book! The people of Saint-Malo endured the horrors and injustices inflicted upon them by German soldiers (and collaborators) during World War II. I am, as ever, amazed and grateful that ordinary people managed to survive with extraordinary courage. Jocelyn Ferrec was such a person. She felt that saving the library and its treasures from the ravages of war was her responsibility. Through heartbreak after heartbreak, Jocelyn resisted the occupied authority, guarded the library, and tended to loved ones who had been subjected to unbelievable cruelty. As is usually the case, there is not a "happy" ending. Saint-Malo sustained severe damage from bombs and fires in the months between D-Day and liberation, but Jocelyn never gave in and never gave up.

If you love books, libraries, and WWII historical fiction, I recommend you add this book to your list.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Publishing. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

What a lovely story of Jocelyn, Antoine, and so many other wonderful characters.
A story broken by WWII but brought back together by love.

Jocelyn puts all her energy and time into the Library of Saint-Malo; making sure the books remain safe, read, and not burned by German soldiers. When the Nazi’s begin occupying Saint-Malo, Jocelyn secretly hides as many books as she can so they will not be burned and gone forever. Jocelyn documents her life in letters along the way. I really wanted her to be a real hero of WWII!

Love is such a prominent theme throughout this book. Love causes many emotions. Love can be confusing, scary, and doesn’t always make sense. But it defines us and makes us human.
I would definitely recommend this book to other historical fiction lovers.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Jocelyn, a French librarian, and Antoine, her childhood sweetheart are torn apart by war. After the two marry, he is called to the front to fight. Jocelyn saves her library in Saint-Malo by making sure the books remain safe and are not burned by German soldiers. When the Nazi’s infiltrate Saint-Malo, Jocelyn bravely hides as many books as she can. This story of courage is touching.

This book. What a piece of history it tells. This story is about a librarian named Jocelyn and her stories of her life in France in WWII. It tells her story of love, tragedy, devotion and courage.
I really enjoyed this book. I liked the characters in this book. It had them all, the heroine, the lover, the friend, and the enemy.
This book is told by the letters she writes to a famous author. In the beginning of this book I feel like that wasn’t made clear so I feel that some people may find that a bit confusing. And while I did love the characters, some of the interactions between them fell short a bit for me. I just wish there was a little more detail in the relationships.
Overall though, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story and anyone who is into historical fiction set in WWII, I would recommend reading it.

Mario Escobar is a Spanish author who writes very historically accurate novels that are well-researched with relatable characters and plots that give quite a bit more insight to the times.

The Librarian of Saint-Malo is a hard book to read simply because of the subject matter--which is the subjugation of France by the Germans during World War II. While reading in a history book about the German occupation of France during World War II gives a wide-angle picture of the situation, reading this book gives a nitty-gritty look at the day to day lives of people who are in the thick of the turmoil.

Jocelyn and Antoine are newly married when Jocelyn finds she has tuberculosis. She is not quite totally recovered when Germany begins their invasion of France. Because of the invasion, Antoine is called up to go fight. It isn't long before he is wounded, captured, and taken to a German POW camp. While Jocelyn works to keep the library of their town open and usable, she also has to house a German officer who is arrogant, narcissistic, and power- and money-hungry.

There aren't many happy moments in this book, it is a book of realities and hardships that converge to tell a story. It is a deep novel that requires a lot of cogitating and digesting for the reader, and that's a good thing. Jocelyn's ideal is that libraries are important to preserve the thoughts and philosophies of the writers, to preserve the histories of those who have gone before, and to give power to the readers.

Books don't have owners; they're free agents we just happen to hold for a brief time. . . . Every time someone opens a book, it comes alive once more. Its characters wake up from their nap and start acting all over again.
This quote is one of my favorite parts of the book because it states so eloquently my feelings about books and reading. It is this thought that carries Jocelyn through all that she experiences in this book.

This book is worth every minute it will take to read it and digest it. Five stars, two thumbs up, and a thought-provoking book to read in your free moments.

Thomas Nelson Fiction and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Excuse me while I go ahead and pull myself together again. What I appreciate most about Mario Escobar's books is how he manages to portray the 'everyday person' and how they can turn into a hero (or a villain) pushed by circumstances. I enjoyed that in his earlier Auschwitz Lullaby, and I enjoyed it again in this new book about Librarian Jocelyn, her beloved Antoine, their friend Denis, and a broad range of other characters on either side of the war.

Escobar's writing is absolutely beautiful. It paints a clear picture and pushes one to think and reflect on the happenings and thoughts in the book. Did the book fully live up to expectation? Not entirely, for it was not about the library and saving it and its books as much as I thought it would be. Some (re)actions seemed a bit out there in terms of credibility. At the same time, who are we to judge what is and what is not credible in times of war?

Overall, I thought the Librarian of Saint-Malo was a beautifully written book that allows the reader to explore the reality of the German Occupation in France through the eyes of someone real and normal, someone who loved, lost, and encountered many other irregularities of life while also dealing with the occupation, someone who was simply trying to make the best of it.
.

I received an ARC of this book from @netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a story of Jocelyn, a French librarian, and Antoine, her childhood sweetheart. After the two marry, Jocelyn becomes very sick with tuberculosis and Antoine is called to war to fight Germany. Their love story is abruptly paused while the two are separated at the beginning of WWII.

Jocelyn’s library in Saint-Malo becomes the only thing in her life that brings her some sort of happiness during the war. She puts all her energy and time in making sure the books remain safe, read by many, and not burned by German soldiers. When the Nazi’s begin occupying Saint-Malo, Jocelyn secretly hides as many books as she can so they will not be burned and gone forever.

Jocelyn begins documenting her life during the war in letters written to a famous author. She details in the letters her sole purpose: to protect the books of Saint-Malo and the people who live there.

This book was beautifully written. I’ve read a ton of WWII books but none from the perspective of a simple librarian in France. Jocelyn’s character was greatly flawed, developed, and human. When I found out that she wasn’t a real person, it kind of hurt, because she just felt so real to me. Escobar did such a good job with character development and made you truly fall in love with the people in this story.

I loved that this story was realistic in terms of human affection and love. Love is confusing, scary, and doesn’t always make sense. Love was portrayed so true in this story in regards to Jocelyn, her friends, her husband, her German soldier. At the base of all human life, love is the one thing that can hold or tear a world apart and it was shown so brilliantly in this story.

This book made me want to research. I finished it and immediately began googling more information on libraries and books during WWII. I love when a story makes you want to learn more and this did exactly that.

Great characters. A beautiful story. Accurate historical facts. Would definitely recommend to other historical fiction lovers and lovers of all genres.

“My hope is that someday, when humanity has regained its sanity, people will know that the only way to be saved from barbarianism is by love: loving books, loving people, and, though you may call me crazy, loving our enemies. There is no doubt that love is the most revolutionary choice and, therefore, the most persecuted and reviled.” Jocelyn Ferrec in The Librarian of Saint-Malo


Set in Nazi occupied France, The Librarian of Saint-Malo is the tale of Jocelyn, “a provincial librarian, who knows little of the world and has only an old building as her kingdom”, who writes letters to an author she has never met. These letters outline Jocelyn’s journey through sickness, tremendous loss, forbidden love, and devastating war.

Initially, I found it difficult to connect to Jocelyn and felt that there was a certain emotional detachment to the events she was describing in her letters. However, that all changed as Jocelyn’s resiliency and strength of character became apparent. I wanted to know what would become of Jocelyn, all of her colourful friends and neighbours, her beloved books, and the enemies of the pirate city.

Overall, Escobar’s piece of historical fiction is a beautiful read. His fresh perspective on love in war had me hooked.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jocelyn is a young lady living in the coastal town of Saint-Malo France. She is the local librarian and is about to marry her love, Antoine. Everything changes rapidly on their honeymoon to Paris. Jocelyn is plagued with illness and not long after their return, Antoine is called up to fight.

Jocelyn does everything in her power to save the books in her library. She resists the occupation by hiding her books and trying to save the people of Saint-Malo.

This was a compelling story told of World War II in a unique way. Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own.

Being a librarian myself I was excited to be able to read a book about books and libraries...unfortunately that was not this book. I felt that the book was all over the place and I didn't enjoy it to be honest.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley and Thomas Nelson. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

As a person with a love of literature, a Master’s in Library and Information Studies, and a Francophile who is living 3 hours from Saint-Malo (and has been to many of the corresponding cities in the text), I was so excited to read this book! But I just didn’t get it.

It didn’t fit with the description at all. She was a librarian and consistently wanted to protect her books which were being burned and confiscated by the Germans -- that’s really the extent that books play in this.

The letters she’s writing the author are the “chapters” in the book which also don’t make sense. This was seemingly unnecessary - the chapters read fine without being letters. And so often the author writes, “That’s why I’m writing you this letter,” to remind readers of this fact when it would read far better as just her first-person point of view of her experience. It is completely unbelievable that she would be writing a letter to a stranger she admires when people around her are exploding. Come on…

And yet another WWII story where we have another woman falling for a Nazi Soldier. Listen, I believe in redemption, I believe in all people being treated with respect, but I believe Nazis deserve zero sympathy. And it’s exhausting that this is the second book in a row where we see this trope and have to sympathize with the enemy -- the same enemy who murdered Jews, gays, disabled people, and gypsies for simply existing. No, thanks. A real Nazi hero is Schindler; getting people falsified papers right as the war ends and you realize you’re losing is not a Nazi hero for me.

This woman literally risks her lives and the lives of others for books. I love books, believe me. I think books are the most powerful weapons in the world. But I would not put lives on the line for paper. And I don’t think doing so makes you admirable or a hero of Saint-Malo. Do you know what would have been more heroic? A woman who sold rare books for fake papers to save Jews.

About 30% into this book, I considered putting it down because I was not hooked. The war started and it got more interesting, but I still was left thinking: what’s the point?

Descriptions were really well written, characters were interesting enough, aspects of the story were captivating, Saint-Malo seems wonderful, but I don’t understand the point of this story. Not at all.