The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles is a historical fiction novel unfolding across two timelines, 1939 Paris and 1983 Montana.
In 1939, a young, unconventional Odile Souchet is working as a librarian at the American Library in Paris. She is part of the middle class, and the world is her oyster, until the Nazis arrive. Like her twin brother and the other librarians, she joins the Resistance. Instead of weapons, she carries books. Knowledge is power. In protecting banned books and ensuring that outcasts and her Jewish neighbors still find hope in the pages of books, she risks it all. By the end of the war, Odile is not the same girl she once was, and her friendships and path have changed.
When Lily befriends an older Odile in Montana in 1983, she is at once intrigued by her reclusive French neighbor. Lily is fighting her own battles: being a teenager; a dying mother; and a father who remarries quickly. Odile and Lily share a love of language, interests, and the same insecurities in friendships. Odile becomes a steadying force in Lily’s life until betrayal brings to light truths in Odile’s past that have festered and remained unaddressed.
While an historical fiction novel, Odile and Lily’s struggles are not unique to them or their times. The Paris Library brings to light ordinary people, living ordinary lives, but whose circumstances lead them to do extraordinary things.
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