The Book of Lost Names

Toward the end of the novel, Eva reflects on the permanence of the book Epitres et Evangiles: it has seen wars, revolutions, executions, freedom, and liberty in its centuries-long life, and Eva is “only the latest person to put her mark on it” (342). Yet these marks of Eva’s and Rémy’s represent a new stage in the book’s life: hope. The Book of Lost Names symbolizes the last shred of identity of hundreds of Jewish children who stand to be erased by the Nazi regime. By using the simplest of codes, Eva and Rémy preserve these children’s legacies in a book that has stood the test of time, creating tangible proof that they once existed. Unassuming and unimportant to those outside of devout Catholics scholars, the book is the perfect ruse for protecting the innocent.

The book also represents something more personal to Eva: It is the document of her love for Rémy and the one item that connects them across six decades. The twist in the final chapter—that Rémy is alive—is tempered by the reminder that it is only the Book of Lost Names that can bring them back together, just as it brought them together in the beginning. In the beginning, the Book symbolizes Eva’s budding trust for Rémy, as he is the one who helps her achieve her dangerous desire of preserving the children’s identities, and it offers the vehicle through which he can finally return to her in the end.