I love books set in Paris and anything set during the second world war, so I was keen to read The Paris Library.
Odile Souchet is a young Librarian at the American Library
in Paris and we first meet her in 1939 before the outbreak of war. She has
befriended an English lady called Margaret who has found herself lonely and
feeling out of her depth in Paris. The two strike up a close friendship and
before long their lives become intertwined.
As the Occupation hits Paris, it is not just the Library
which is under threat, but also the workers and the subscribers are in danger
too. We soon learn about Odile’s life at home with her parents and brother Remy
and her boyfriend Paul.
This novel is told in two timelines and forty years later in
the 1983 in Montana, we meet a young girl called Lily. She is suffering from
grief and becomes friends with her older neighbour, a French lady called Odile.
The closer that they become, the more that Lily is determined to piece together
what really happened to Odile in Paris and how she came to live in Montana.
This novel is moving and emotionally charged. I loved
learning about the American Library in Paris and the heroic people who worked
there.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s full of twists and
turns with heroism, cowardice and long-held secrets awaiting you around every
corner.
4.5 stars
