This is historical fiction about the Bosnian War alternating with a contemporary thriller set in Minnesota. After leaving Bosnia during the war with another woman, Hana now works as a librarian. When that woman turns up dead, there are many questions. The war chapters were pretty brutal, but war is brutal. The contemporary story didn't always work but was intriguing.

After all the deaths, Nura recites a prayer for her lost loved ones and becomes the Night Mora.

Hana Babic deliberately makes herself invisible. She avoids drawing attention to herself and has sought refuge in Minnesota after the war. But the past always catches up with the Night Mora, especially when there's a bounty on her head. Now they are targeting her friend to get to her.

This suspenseful novel takes us back in time, showing how Hana was once Nura and later became the Night Mora. It explores the horrors of the Bosnian or in fact, any war, highlighting how everyone believes they're in the right while some use it as a justification for heinous acts. In this story, tells the story of a Hana, a woman who will stop at nothing to avenge those she loves.

I appreciate the raw honesty with which the author portrays how people’s nature can change in the face of war.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The title of this book caught my attention as I’d had read not anything by this author. Wow, readers will get an in-depth view of the war in Bosnia! This book has a lot of disturbing scenes as events unfold. Hana’s story is one that historical readers will not want to miss. Highly recommended!

This was very good. Hard to read because it will break your heart. But very good. It was not at all what I expected by the title but I was pleasantly surprised. I am embarrassed to say that I did not know much about the genocide in Bosnia and how it happened in my lifetime. This book was eye-opening, heart-wrenching and gripping. I would definitely recommend it.

Hana Babic is a middle-aged librarian in Minnesota who wants to be able to live without disturbance. She appears a bit dowdy, with her worn cardigan sweaters and long skirts, and she performs her work without fanfare.

When she learns that her best friend has been murdered, she knows that danger is coming from their shared past as young militia members fighting with the Bosniak forces against the Serbs in the early 1990s. In fact, she was not just a soldier: She was the much-feared Night Mora, with a huge bounty on her head. Now, she must leave the quiet librarian behind.

This is an outstanding novel of historical fiction, as the chapters alternate between Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Minnesota. And it is also an excellent mystery and thriller.

I found this title a little misleading because aside from the opening scene featuring the titular character quietly working in a library, to my recollection, no other part returned to that location nor focused heavily on her chosen career path. It was more about how she was hiding from her tragic past in that role. And it was v. sad and brutal but also a little sad that it turned her into such a lethal person. The ending was a bit too neat for me as well. I'm sure there are plenty of thriller readers who will like it fine though. Just not my cup of tea, as a not-so-quiet librarian myself.

This book was a bit out of my normal genre so I didn’t quite know what to expect. Only took me a minute to get used to the dialect, foreign names and locations. I really enjoyed his writing style, absolutely full of passion. Dark and gritty yet with a brilliant spark of hope. Could not put it down.
Thank you NetGalley, Allen Eskens and Mulholland Books for the opportunity to read and review this book

Allen Eskens did it again. He wrote, The Quiet Librarian, another powerful book, this one somewhat out of his normal genre.

Nura/ Hana lives with guilt, feeling she did nothing to stop the murder of her family. Serbian soldiers came into her home in the mountains of Bosnia and killed her family while she hid. She goes on to live her life hunting the murders so that she can avenge the death of her mother, father and brother. She becomes known as the Night Mora, a hunter, a warrior, a legend.

There are so many twists to this story. It will keep you up into the wee hours of the night. The bonus is that the ending was perfect too.

Thank you NetGalley and Mulholland Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A librarian, dressed in her worn cardigan, holds thirty years of secrets behind her quiet stare. Hana Babic lives a simple, discreet life. No one would ever guess her real name is actually Nura Divjak, a wanted criminal for the murder of innocent civilians in Bosnia.

Nura was a teenager during the Bosnian War and suffered immense heartbreak when her father, mother, and young brother Danis were killed by Serbian soldiers. Nura narrowly escaped the attack and promised to spend her life avenging for their deaths. Allen Eskens, the author, does an incredible job describing an absolutely horrific, yet deeply moving scene of death, cruelty, and utter heartbreak for Nura.

Thirty years later, Nura's childhood friend Amina is killed by an unknown assailant. She suspects her death is connected to their role in the war and Nura's relentless desire to seek revenge towards the men who killed her family. She begins to unravel the mystery surrounding Amina's death and discovers an unlikely person from their past may hold the key to it all.

The Quiet Librarian is a heartbreaking and deeply thoughtful novel based on true accounts from Bosnia refugees. Nura is an incredible leading character who never stops loving her family and demonstrates remarkable bravery throughout her life. Esken's powerful and highly entertaining novel is definitely worth a read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for an advanced reader copy of The Quiet Librarian in exchange for my honest review.

Allen Eskens is an underrated author and deserves more publicity. I hadn't read one of his books in awhile, and I was intrigued by this story which takes place in the 1990s during the Bosnian War. Not knowing much about this war, I entered the book blindly in present day, resulting in a suspenseful story with well developed characters.

Hana and Amina flee war-torn Bosnia to start life over in America. Many years later Amina is murdered. Hana is determined to solve her best friend's murder and avenge her family as well, on her own. Told in alternating times and locations (there then and here now)

This is a beautiful and haunting story of the atrocities that war brings, but the life that can be in the after. I highly recommend this book!

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first read by Allen Eskers but it definitely won't be my last. What a story! It was so well-written I felt like I was in the book living the moments. The characters have depth and the way the story is intertwined in the present and the past is magical. Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc.

Wow! What a heart wrenching story. A historical fiction with bits of mystery/thriller mixed in.

The eye opening reality that this is a fictional story based on real events in very recent history.

The female heroism was honorable and inspiring. The torture and sheer brutality these families and soldiers had to endure was harrowing to say the least.
I really enjoyed the chapters that alternated between the past (war time) and current time. I truly respected Hana/Nura, the main character, and bonded with her story making this absolutely unputdownable. I found myself researching the Bosnian War while reading and sympathizing with all those affected.

Thanks to NetGalley, MulHolland Books, and Allen Eskens for the ARC and chance to give my honest feedback!

A well-written story that focuses on the war in Bosnia and it's impact on one woman in particular. While the book does not shy away from the atrocities that took place, the story is told in such a way that the reader is able to bear the violence. The author has inspired me to learn more about the war and it's effect on the people of the region.

Thank you Net Galley and Mulholland Books for this ARC of The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens.

I’ve read several of Eskens books and even featured him in an installment of my blog, Dee Reads. What I wrote there and am reiterating today is that I believe Mr Eskens is one of those authors who just doesn’t get the praise he deserves. He’s a “Little Sung” author that should get a rousing chorus of kudos. Acclaim for this book should join the choir.

If you’re like me, you know little of the Serbian/Bosnian War and the horrific crimes perpetrated on innocent men, women, and children. This book left me a little better informed, but even more horrified.

“ Hana Babic is a quiet, middle-aged librarian in Minnesota who wants nothing more than to be left alone. But when a detective arrives with the news that her best friend has been murdered, Hana knows that something evil has come for her, a dark remnant of the past she and her friend had shared.”

The above opening sets off a sequence of events, in two timelines, that depict wartime events and a present day attempt by Hana to maintain the secrecy of her
past, while determining her friend’s cause of death. Scarred by her own family’s deaths, Hana has lived quiet life up until she begins the search into Amina’s death when everything begins to unravel. Even more troubling, are Hana’s growing feelings for the detective investigating Amina’s death.

The Quiet Librarian is another quiet masterpiece by Allen Eskens. Don’t miss this book.

This is the latest release by Allen Eskens. I read his first book; a well-done, complex mystery story. This is a very different tale. In the present, Hana is a quiet library assistant, living on her own farm in the Midwest where she keeps to herself. But Hana grew up in Bosnia, during the brutal Bosnian War, and her past, as a soldier in that war, haunts her. Then her best friend, who followed her from Bosnia to the USA, is thrown off her balcony, leaving Hana to care for her son.

The tales of her present and her past are equally compelling and the conclusion is certainly satisfying, though perhaps a bit over-the-top. I think Bosnia would be very interesting to Americans, who know very little about the Bosnian War and the extent of the brutality that took place there.

Psychologically intense and complex story of Hana Babic, a middle aged, nondescript librarian in Minnesota, and survivor of the Bosnian-Serbian war some 30 years before. When her best and only friend is murdered, Hana fears the past has caught up with her, and her friend may have been killed in an attempt to find her. Unwilling to work with authorities because of her past, Hana sets out to find the killer herself. Beside this present day story is that of Nura Divjak, Hana's real name, as a child and teenager in Bosnia as the Serbian war breaks out and true horror ensues. As Hana searches for a killer, her traumatic past is gradually revealed.
This is a powerful depiction of the psychological scars from war and atrocities. Hana and her friend both found different ways of coping, not always successfully, not always that healthy. Subsequent isolation also has its toll. But this is a story of survival, both physical, emotional and psychological, and how both hard and necessary it is to grab on to every scrap of hope available. You don't see characters like these very often. Highly recommended.

Based on other reviews, I'm clearly the unpopular opinion, but I had a really hard time connecting with this book. The characters and events felt unrealistic to me, there was a lot of violence that I didn't expect, and the romance aspects felt flat to me. I think that perhaps that I prefer when female main characters are written by females, so this could very much be a "me" thing. I did really enjoy learning more about the Bosnian war (although absolutely heartbreaking) and appreciated that it brought their conflict to light.

AN ASTONISHING NOVEL WITH AN AMAZING FEMALE CHARACTER

Hana Babic is a quiet, dowdy librarian in Minnesota who wants nothing but to be left alone.  This middle-aged woman prefers to be invisible. When a St. Paul police officer comes to the library to tell Hana that her best friend of many years, Amina, has been murdered in her apartment.  Hana is stunned.  She believes that whoever killed Amina may be coming after her next. Hana’s search for answers leads to another time and place: a war in Bosnia 30 years ago. For her, it is a time full of secrets and painful memories she would prefer to forget.

The extraordinary story is told in an alternating timeline between Bosnia starting in 1977 and Minnesota now, over 30 years later. The story is extraordinary.

I am exhausted by the number of books published in recent years with female protagonists in war sagas.  Just when I thought I could not read another historical fiction war story, along came this one, and I am so very glad I read it. The Quiet Librarian has one of the best female characters I have read in a while.  She is realistic, loyal, has strong family ties, and has plenty of courage and perseverance—hats off to Allen Esken’s creation of this wonderfully stoic character.

Esken’s writing is gut-wrenching and brilliantly plotted. He embroils us in Hana’s life and takes us on her heart-stopping journey. I could not put this book down. It would be a great book club pick. Esken captures the Bosnian culture, times, and circumstances of the war through first-hand accounts from two very real women who survived it.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


Publisher Mulholland Books
Published February 18, 2025
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

Hana Babic leads a quiet life, well-disguised from her past as an almost mythical figure the Bosnian War 30 years ago.. But when her best friend, fellow war survivor Amina, is killed, the past becomes present and Hana must complete unfinished business.

The characters--good, bad, male, female, old, young--are well developed. The juxtaposing chapters that reveal a fully fleshed out past and a painful, intense present, is effective. Part historical fiction, part thriller/crime drama, the book works on all levels and is thought-provoking to boot. I've read everything Allen Eskens has written and have liked everything, but this is my favorite Eskens book. A solid 4.5 stars (I give very few books 5 stars).

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.