This week I feature books on my “catch-up” stack. Books I meant to read earlier but…the reserve list at the library was long, blog and review deadlines got in the way, or the publication date changed. Let’s face it there are so many books and so little time.
The Paris Library: A Novel by Janet Skeslien Charles
The Paris Library tells the true story of the heroic librarians at The American Library in Paris which is a private library (or subscription library) that never closed during the war; never stopped sending books to their subscribers, on the warfront or in their Paris apartments. The story is told from two locations in two time periods.
Paris, 1939: Odile Souchet works at her dream job dream job at the American Library in Paris and has a handsome police officer boyfriend. When the Nazis march into Paris, Odile and her fellow librarians, join the Resistance with the best weapons they have: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.
Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager whose mother recently died living in small-town Montana. Her elderly neighbor never seems to go anywhere nor have many friends, so Lily decides to interview her. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language and the same intense jealousy of family and friends. But why and how did Odile come from Paris to Froid, MT?
This book was originally scheduled to be published in June 2020 but just shipped last week and it is so worth the wait! It is an excellent historical novel told by an author who grew up in Montana and had a dream job at the American Library in Paris. She tells a powerful story about the consequences of our choices and relationships that make us who we are as family, friends, lovers and libraries.
The Missing American by Kwei Quartey
When her dreams of rising through the Accra police ranks like her late father crash around her, 26-year-old Emma Djan is unsure what will become of her career. Through a sympathetic former colleague, Emma gets an interview with a private detective agency that takes on cases of missing persons, theft, and infidelity. It’s not the future she imagined, but it’s her best option.
Meanwhile, Gordon Tilson, a middle-aged widower in Washington, DC, has found solace in an online community after his wife’s passing. Through the support group, he’s even met a young Ghanaian widow he’s come to care about. When her sister gets into a car accident, he sends her thousands of dollars to cover the hospital bill—to the horror of his only son, Derek. Then Gordon decides to surprise his new love by paying her a visit—and disappears. Fearing for his father’s life, Derek follows him across the world to Ghana, Internet capital of the world, where he and Emma will find themselves deep in a world of sakawa scams, fetish priests, and those willing to kill to protect their secrets.
Not only has The Missing American been nominated for a 2021 Edgar in the Best Novel category but the sequel Sleep Well, My Lady released in January. Emma Dian is now one of my favorite foreign investigators. This is the start of a second mystery series set in Ghana by Quartey—which immediately made my “catch-up” stack twice as big!
Ireland is doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new Flu are quarantined together. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders -- Doctor Kathleen Lynn, a rumored Rebel on the run from the police, and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney.
In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over three days, these women change each other's lives in unexpected ways. They lose patients to this baffling pandemic, but they also shepherd new life into a fearful world. With tireless tenderness and humanity, nurses and mothers alike somehow do their impossible work.
The Pull of the Stars originally came out in July and if my library reserve is any indication many people were anxious to read this new book by the author of Room. Donoghue was inspired by the anniversary of the Great Flu and began writing the book in October 2018 with the last draft completed in March 2020.
One historic poster mentioned in the book shows how little pandemic alerts have changed:
THE PUBLIC IS URGED TO STAY OUT OF PUBLIC SPACES SUCH AS CAFES, THEATERS, CINEMAS AND PUBLIC HOUSES
SEE ONLY THOSE PERSONS ONE NEEDS TO SEE
REFRAIN FROM SHAKING HANDS, LAUGHING, OR CHATTING CLOSELY TOGETHER
IF ONE MUST KISS, DO SO THROUGH A HANDKERCHIEF
SPRINKLE SULPHUR IN THE SHOES
IF IN DOUBT, DON’T STIR OUT
Split apart by the war effort, the indomitable Kopp sisters take on saboteurs and spies and stand up to the Army brass as they face the possibility that their life back home will never be the same.
The U.S. has finally entered World War I. Constance, the oldest of the Kopp sisters, is doing intelligence work on the home front for the Bureau of Investigation while youngest sister and aspiring actress, Fleurette, travels across the country entertaining troops with song and dance. Meanwhile, at an undisclosed location in France, Norma oversees her thwarted pigeon project for the Army Signal Corps. When her roommate, a nurse at the American field hospital, is accused of stealing essential medical supplies, the intrepid Norma is on the case to find the true culprit.
Determined to maintain their sometimes-scratchy family bonds across the miles, the far-flung sisters try to keep each other in their lives. But the world has irrevocably changed—when will the sisters be together again?
This is the sixth book in the Kopp sisters series based on real-life women who lived a century ago. The war adventures of Constance, Nora and Fluerette are told through letters as the sisters serve their country. Dear Miss Kopp came out in January so maybe I can now relax and look to March releases.
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