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“A fascinating, heartrending page-turner that, like the real-life forgers who inspired the novel, should never be forgotten.” —Kristina McMorris, New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday

Inspired by an astonishing true story from World War II, a young woman with a talent for forgery helps hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis in this “sweeping and magnificent” (Fiona Davis, bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue) historical novel from the #1 international bestselling author of The Winemaker’s Wife.

Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books when her eyes lock on a photograph in the New York Times. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in more than sixty years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.

The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer, but does she have the strength to revisit old memories?

As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris and find refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, where she began forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.

An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.

Review

“You’ll want to add [The Book of Lost Names] to your #TBR list.” ― –Parade Magazine

"If you love historical fiction about World War II, you will enjoy this story of Eva, a young woman who during the war helps Jewish kids escape France by forging documents." ― –St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“With meticulous research and an assured hand, Kristin Harmel once again spotlights French Resistance figures of the Second World War, unique heroes whose bravery and immeasurable sacrifices are too often lost to history. THE BOOK OF LOST NAMES is a fascinating, heartrending page-turner that, like the real-life forgers who inspired the novel, should never be forgotten. A riveting historical tale that I devoured in a single sitting.” -- Kristina McMorris, New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday

“Harmel brilliantly imagines the life of a young Polish-French Jewish woman during the depths of WWII...Harmel movingly illustrates Eva’s courage to risk her own life for others, and all of the characters are portrayed with realistic compassion. This thoughtful work will touch readers with its testament to the endurance of hope." ― Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Not since “The Nightingale” have I finished a book and been so choked with emotion. Harmel was inspired by the true story of French citizens who fought against evil during WWII with courage and conviction. She shines a brilliant light on those who had their identities erased and lives destroyed, on a country and its people torn apart, and young women like Eva, who risked their lives with everyday acts of epic heroism. Sweeping and magnificent."
-- Fiona Davis, national bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue

"A heart-stopping tale of survival and heroism centered on a female forger who risks everything to help Jewish children escape Nazi-occupied France." ― People (20 Best Books to Read this Summer)

“Harmel’s previous historical novels, including The Winemaker's Wife (2019), illuminate heartbreakingly real but forgotten stories from World War II, blended with a dash of suspense and romance, and this does the same. Recommend to fans of romantic historical fiction, including All the Ways We Said Goodbye (2020)." ― Booklist

“A celebration of the power of books to give hope and healing, this lovely tale offers hope in troubled times.” ― –The Toronto Star

“With exceptional skill, Kristin Harmel constructs The Winemaker's Wife between the past and the present, giving equal weight and importance to both, all the while weaving a tale full of secrets and betrayals that puts to the test mankind's strength, fragility and vileness. Once you start reading this moving novel, you will not be able to put it down until you reach the last page.” -- Armando Lucas Correa, bestselling author of The German Girl, on THE WINEMAKER'S WIFE

"Harmel's engrossing latest reminds us that love, like resistance, begins with courage." ― People on THE ROOM ON RUE AMELIE

"This book of historical fiction is also a surprising story of love, courage, and the resiliency of the human spirit....[Harmel] manages to draw her audience in, even to the point of unexpected tears at the story’s end.." ― Jewish Book Council on THE ROOM ON RUE AMELIE

“Kristin Harmel writes with such insight and heart that her characters will stay with you long after you’ve finished her books.”
-- New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin on THE SWEETNESS OF FORGETTING

About the Author

Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels including The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Room on Rue Amélie, and The Sweetness of Forgetting. She is published in more than thirty languages and is the cofounder and cohost of the popular web series, Friends & Fiction. She lives in Orlando, Florida.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One Chapter One

May 2005

It’s a Saturday morning, and I’m midway through my shift at the Winter Park Public Library when I see it.

The book I last laid eyes on more than six decades ago.

The book I believed had vanished forever.

The book that meant everything to me.

It’s staring out at me from a photograph in the New York Times, which someone has left open on the returns desk. The world goes silent as I reach for the newspaper, my hand trembling nearly as much as it did the last time I held the book. “It can’t be,” I whisper.

I gaze at the picture. A man in his seventies looks back at me, his snowy hair sparse and wispy, his eyes froglike behind bulbous glasses.

“Sixty Years After End of World War II, German Librarian Seeks to Reunite Looted Books with Rightful Owners,” declares the headline, and I want to cry out to the man in the image that I am the rightful owner of the book he’s holding, the faded leather-bound volume with the peeling bottom right corner and the gilded spine bearing the title Epitres et Evangiles. It belongs to me—and to Rémy, a man who died long ago, a man I vowed after the war to think of no more.

But he’s been in my thoughts this week anyhow, despite my best efforts. Tomorrow, the eighth of May, the world will celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. It’s impossible, with all the young newscasters speaking solemnly of the war as if they could conceivably understand it, not to think of Rémy, not to think of the time we spent together then, not to think of the people we saved and the way it all ended. Though my son tells me I’m blessed to have such a sharp mind in my old age, like many blessings this one is mixed.

Most days, I just long to forget.

I blink away the uninvited thoughts of Rémy and return my attention to the article. The man in the photo is Otto Kühn, a librarian from the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek in Berlin, who has made it his life’s mission to return books looted by the Nazis. There are apparently more than a million such books in his library’s collection alone, but the one he’s holding in the photo—my book—is the one he says keeps him up at night.

“This religious text,” Kühn has told the reporter, “is my favorite among the many mysteries that occupy our shelves. Published in Paris in 1732, it’s a very rare book, but that’s not what makes it extraordinary. It is unique because within it, we find an intriguing puzzle: some sort of code. To whom did it belong? What does the code mean? How did the Germans come to possess it during the war? These are the questions that haunt me.”

I feel tears in my eyes, tears that have no place there. I wipe them away, angry at myself for still being so emotional after all these years. “How nice it must be,” I say softly to Kühn’s picture, “to be haunted by questions rather than ghosts.”

“Um, Mrs. Abrams? Are you talking to that newspaper?”

I’m jolted out of the fog of my memory by the voice of Jenny Fish, the library’s assistant manager. She’s the type who complains about everything—and who seems to enjoy suggesting at every opportunity that since I’m eighty-six, I might want to think about retiring soon. She is always eyeing me suspiciously, as if she simply cannot believe that at my age, I’d still want to work here.

She doesn’t understand what it means to love books so passionately that you would die without them, that you would simply stop breathing, stop existing. It is quite beyond me, in fact, why she became a librarian in the first place.

“Yes, Jenny, indeed I am,” I reply, without looking up.

“Yes, well, you probably shouldn’t be doing that in front of library guests.” She says it without a trace of irony. “They might think you’re senile.” She does not have a sense of humor.

“Thank you, Jenny. Your advice is always so very helpful.”

She nods solemnly. It is also apparently beyond her comprehension that someone who looks like me—small, white-haired, grandmotherly—is capable of sarcasm.

Today, though, I have no time for her. All I can think about is the book. The book that held so many secrets. The book that was taken from me before I could learn whether it contained the one answer I so desperately needed.

And now, a mere plane flight away, there’s a man who holds the key to unlocking everything.

“Do I dare?” I murmur to the photo of Otto Kühn. I respond to my own question before doubt can creep in. “I must. I owe it to the children.”

“Mrs. Abrams?” It’s Jenny again, addressing me by my surname, though I’ve told her a thousand times to call me Eva, just as she addresses the younger librarians by their given names. But alas, I am nothing to her but an old lady. One’s reward for marching through the decades is a gradual process of erasure.

“Yes, Jenny?” I finally look up at her.

“Do you need to go home?” I suspect she says it with the expectation that I’ll decline. She’s smirking a bit, certain that she has asserted her superiority. “Perhaps gather yourself?”

So it gives me great pleasure to look her right in the eye, smile, and say, “Yes, Jenny, thank you ever so much. I think I’ll do just that.”

I grab the newspaper and go.

As soon as I arrive at my house—a cozy bungalow just a five-minute walk from the library—I log on to my computer.

Yes, I have a computer. And yes, I know how to use it. My son, Ben, has a bad habit of pronouncing computer terms slowly in my presence—in-ter-net and e-mail-ing—as if the whole concept of technology might be too much for me. I suppose I can’t blame him, not entirely. By the time Ben was born, the war was eight years past, and I’d left France—and the person I used to be—far behind. Ben knew me only as a librarian and housewife who sometimes stumbled over her English.

Somewhere along the way, he got the mistaken idea that I am a simple person. What would he say if he knew the truth?

It’s my fault for never telling him, for failing to correct the error. But when you grow comfortable hiding within a protective shell, it’s harder than one might expect to stand up and say, “Actually, folks, this is who I am.”

Perhaps I also feared that Ben’s father, my husband, Louis, would leave me if he realized I was something other than the person I wanted him to see. He left me anyhow—pancreatic cancer a decade ago—and though I’ve missed his companionship, I’ve also had the strange realization that I probably could have done without him much sooner.

I go to the website for Delta—habit, I suppose, since Louis traveled often for business and was part of the airline’s frequent-flier program. The prices are exorbitant, but I have plenty stashed away in savings. It’s just before noon, and there’s a flight that leaves three hours from now, and another leaving at 9:35 tonight, connecting in Amsterdam tomorrow, and landing in Berlin at 3:40 p.m. I click immediately and book the latter. There is something poetic about knowing I will arrive in Berlin sixty years to the day after the Germans signed an unconditional surrender to the Allies in that very city.

A shiver runs through me, and I don’t know whether it’s fear or excitement.

I must pack, but before that, I’ll need to call Ben. He won’t understand, but perhaps it’s finally time for him to learn that his mother isn’t the person he always believed her to be.

Review:

4.8 out of 5

95.38% of customers are satisfied

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. Read it very quickly because I was so interested in the story.

T.B. · June 5, 2025

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating on so many levels

B.C.C. · May 27, 2025

Truly a spellbinding read! As a retired English teacher, I am absolutely a book lover, as is our hero Eva. Historical fiction is a favorite genre of mine. This was especially fascinating because the complex story of a young Jewish woman falling into creating forged documents to help Jewish children escape from occupied France is embedded into the story of the same woman, now an ageing widow, who suddenly has an opportunity to recover the Nazi-stolen book in which she had recorded, in code, the original identities of all the children. Also in this secret lost book were messages between her and the true love of her life when they were separated working for different branches of the resistance.

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book

M.P. · April 24, 2025

I really enjoyed this book. I learned a lot more from this book than some of the others I read on the same subject. I just felt that the ending was a little far-fetched. But definitely worth the read.

5.0 out of 5 stars I read it twice!

J.f.D. · May 25, 2025

I first read this in a book club. A few years later, I am in another book club and it was picked. I thought I would skim it, but I ended up reading every page. All the things the Jews endured during this time is unimaginable. I really cared about the characters in this book, which is what makes a book good for me. It was exciting to wonder if people would meet again after being separated. There are a few betrayals that make things kind of juicy. The book did not go into a lot of the torture the Jews endured, which was fine with me. A real page turner for me. 😌

5.0 out of 5 stars Atrocities of War and Heroism Under Fire

V.W. · April 30, 2025

I raced through the pages of this book with its authentic horrifying details of the Nazis and their treatment of people in WWII. The book is historical fiction, but it is so much more. It is the story of two people doing their best, in some of the worst circumstances possible, to make a difference. Eva and Remy both find themselves in a small village in France after losing their homes to the German armies. There they meet a priest who encourages them to help refugees find their way to safety by providing them false documents. The action was fast-paced and the characters were completely compelling and realistic. I really loved this book and all of the details, many of which brought tears to my eyes at the cost of war and the loss suffered by so many innocents. Fans of historical fiction with romance woven into the story should not miss this book.Disclaimer: I checked out a copy of this book from my local library using the Libby App. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books that I've ever read (twice).

L.C. · June 20, 2025

I'm 83 and have done a lot of reading in my life and this book has to be one of my favorite books of all time. I've purchased at least 5 recently for gifts

5.0 out of 5 stars A good Book is uncomparible.

M.b.i. · June 8, 2025

This book goes back & forth many times but it is easier to follow than most. Hard to describe the danger and yet their faith in God's care gets us to end .Safe,, but Still questioning.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Familiar, Yet Different Story Perfect for Bookworms of all Kinds

S.M. · August 9, 2020

As a book lover, I automatically find books like this one enticing. Even the cover enchanted me; it's the way I like to picture myself in a historical novel, or walking along the contemporary Champs-Elysses with a paperback friend. Plus, I sensed this book would be similar to The Book of Lost Friends, one of the best novels I've read so far this year.While Lost Names wasn't as similar as I expected, it's still a strong, well-written book. Eva Traube Abrams' understated bravery and intelligence, and the way she is pulled quite unexpectedly into the resistance, kept me rooting for her. Her forging talents amazed me, and the idea she and Remy had about encoding the book was nothing short of brilliant. Speaking of Remy, I enjoyed his banter with Eva, as well as how their relationship blossomed from "slightly annoyed and unwilling partners" to love.Lost Names also contains a lot of the deep ethical questions I expect from a well-written WWII novel. I especially liked Mamusia as a conduit for those questions. At face value, her actions and reactions can seem overly bitter and selfish, and she's so entrenched in denial that it's easy to write her off. But the deeper into the book you go, the more you realize Mamusia is stronger than she looks and wants the best for Eva, which includes remembering who she is. Considering the unrelenting Nazi campaign to erase Jewish identities, Mamusia becomes heroic in her own right.i loved the unexpected spiritual thread in Lost Names, too. I usually read Christian fiction, and while this is not that, I could sense the characters had relationships with God and wanted to explore those. I was particularly struck by Eva finding solace in a Catholic church, the last place she usually should've been and maybe would have been welcomed. Pere Clement, as well, was a pleasant surprise in that he was not a stereotype. Overall, the idea of Jews and Christians working together to stop the Nazi regime was a sobering reminder of our humanity, and a heartwarming thread.The suspenseful threads here are spot on as well. I had an inkling of who the traitor was at various points, but was also thrown enough red herrings that I wondered a couple of times. Additionally, I loved the twist with Erich. You'd think you'd see something like it in more WWII novels, but I haven't come across it much if at all. I would like to see more characters like Erich and Joseph in other novels, characters whose motives are the exact opposite of what you might expect but make total sense in the big picture and add an element of surprise to familiar story conventions.As always, it's the little scenes that make a great book. I'd have liked to see more of some; for instance, I loved Eva's scene with little Anne/Frania and wanted to see her interact with the children more. I wanted to see more introspection from Eva, especially about faith, and maybe more interactions with people, like Madame Noirot. Often, it seemed like Eva or Remy or someone else would have a brief interaction or moment of development, and then move straight to the next phase. That's kind of a hazard of a war story, I know, but I sometimes felt like there were a few blank spaces needing to be filled in.With all that said, Book of Lost Names is a solid 4.5 and nets a recommendation. I'll be looking for more like it, across all historical periods. And yes, it is a good companion to The Book of Lost Friends if you want to compare and contrast, or share both with your book club.

FAbuloso!!!

C.M. · November 10, 2021

Historical Fiction at its best

A. · November 2, 2021

4,5 stars!What can I say! Another wonderful Historical Fiction. I loved that the story was told from right in the thick of the war, with the MC roaming the streets with false papers while Germans where lurking on every street corner ready to uncover her false identity. Many of the previous books I've read in this genre was told from the resistance point of view or from those deciphering secret codes at Bletchley Park, so this was an interesting change.The story centers around Eva a young Polish Jew who’s father is arrested and deported by the French police. Collecting an old favour from one of her father's friends, she manages to forge her own documents and those of her mother’s and flee into the Free Zone. Her talent for forging documents doesn’t go unnoticed by the resistance and soon Eva finds herself helping a priest and a young Frenchman forge papers to help Jewish children escape to neutral Switzerland.As in many historical novels, the story is told with a double timeline that jumps from 1942 to 2005, when Eva, now an 86-year-old librarian, finally discovers the whereabouts of a mysterious coded book from her past that only she can decipher.Once again this story is inspired by true events and I can only bow to all those heroes and heroines who risked their lives to save innocent children.Amidst the horror and grief, we also get to witness a poignant love story that had our group gasping and hoping for the impossible! I can’t deny that I shed a tear more than once by the end of the book!The writing is fluid and the plot is quite simple yet very engrossing!

One of the best books I have ever read!

M.B. · April 27, 2023

I have trouble finding the words to describe how much I loved this book! It is flawlessly written and the love story it offers was one of the best I found hidden within the pages of a book, leaving me wanting for more. I think a sequel to this story would make readers so happy. Highly recommended!

A masterpiece

T.D. · February 8, 2025

Beware - here there be spoilersETA: changed it to a 5 star read because any book that moves me to sobbing and is still right in the front of my thoughts hours after I finished it, is definitely a 5 star read.This book would have totally been a 5 star read, if not for the ending. The fact that Remy had survived but they never found each other again until they were in their 80s is nothing short of heartbreaking. So much lost time. It completely broke my heart. Why the author couldn’t have had them finding each other sooner is beyond my capacity to understand.That aside, the book was brilliant. Well written, engrossing and captivating, if you’re not someone who gets completely emotionally involved with the characters, you will love it!In my humble opinion, of course 💙

I am savouring the last few pages

N. · March 31, 2021

I have read this book so quickly, a very easy to read book, in that it had an easy to follow script and not too many or too confusing characters. I was very unsure of Eva to begin with, she seemed a bit curt. However, that didn’t last long and I fell in love with her character and Remy. I cant bring myself to read the last 10% or so, its a tremendous book, and my tears are flowing. Haven't, felt like that about a book for a while now. Probably since The Nightingale. I know what book I will order next, and thats another by the author. She captures so much tragedy yet love, and the bravery of these people who helped fight in what they believed in. Best book I have read in a while, honestly recommend if you like WW11 history, love stories, courage and bravery.

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The Book of Lost Names

Name: The Book of Lost Names
Brand: Gallery Books
SKU: U198213190K
Price: 69.75 AED
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.7 (13 reviews)

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