“The Library is my haven. I can always find a corner of the stacks to call my own, to read and dream. I want to make sure everyone has that chance, most especially the people who feel different and need a place to call home.”
A story about the love of books, I obviously had to pick it up! The Paris Library was going to land on my shelf sooner or later, and I'm so glad it happened sooner. I was completely drawn in from the first chapter of this book and did not want to put it down. An incredible story about friendships, family and love. A hidden gem of a storyline from the WW2 period that I had not come across before. The book perfectly describes how the American Library in Paris gave hope and an escape to people during the dark times, providing a sense of comfort and that feeling of being absorbed in a completely new world, which only comes from a good book.
1939, at the cusp of the Nazi Occupancy in Paris, Odile has just started her dream job at The American Library as a librarian. Odile embraces this mammoth library with all her heart. This job gave her a chance to meet people who cherished and appreciated books as much she did.
As the war began, life as they knew it turned around them. Yet, the library remained open. They started sending out books and magazines to the soldiers, delivering books on foot to their local subscribers, including Jews locked up in their homes. Masking their fears and thumping heartbeats as they crossed checkpoints where the German guards ruffled through their bags. The terror and uncertainty of the situation only increased with time. Yet, Odile found her little moments of joy with her beau Paul and her best friends Bitsi and Margaret.
“Like book covers, some leather, some cloth, each Parisian door led to an unexpected world.”
Things worsen when Odile comes across the anonymous crow letters at her father's office and realises what those letters mean and how the letters are affecting numerous innocent lives. When Odile has to face a gruesome truth about the people around her, she flees Paris leaving her life, her family behind without a word.
1983 Montana, Lily has a sudden interest in her elderly neighbour and is intrigued by this woman with an exotic French name. People around town called her war bride; One day Lily decides to knock on Odile’s door to interview her for a school report. After that first knock, the door was always open for Lily, and Odile found an unexpected companion to ease out her loneliness.
This book has very easily become one of my favourites. I loved how we got to know each character a little more through their trajectories through the course of the book. The portrayal of Odile and her friends at the library is so beautiful yet inspiring. As was the friendship she develops with Lily, so heartwarming and endearing. Something about how this incredible story unfolds in every chapter made it so special. This book is surely going to stay with me for a while.
“Libraries are lungs,’ she scrawled, her pen barely able to keep up with her ideas, ‘books the fresh air breathed in to keep the heart beating, to keep the brain imagining, to keep hope alive.”
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