The Book of Lost Names

The Book of Lost Names is a 2020 New York Times bestseller from author Kristin Harmel. The narrative, which alternates between France in World War II and modern-day America, is based on the true story of the document forgers who aided the secret underground French resistance in helping thousands of Jewish children escape to the safety of neutral Switzerland. Set against the backdrop of one of history’s most evil periods, The Book of Lost Names questions the morality of people during war, the power of love and relationships, and the protection of individual identity.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide include instances and discussions of antisemitism, war, genocide, and the Holocaust.

Plot Summary

The novel opens in 2005 with 86-year-old Eva Traube Abrams, a widowed librarian who spots a picture in the newspaper of a German librarian attempting to reunite books stolen by the Nazis with their previous owners. She recognizes the book he is holding as one that belonged to her 60 years before and immediately books a flight to Berlin to reclaim it.

The story then flashes back to young Eva, a Jewish student at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1942. The sudden arrest of Eva’s father during a mass roundup by the Nazis leaves Eva as the head of the family.