Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Format: Paperback & eBook; 384 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/Literary
Synopsis
Through letters with a famous author, one French librarian tells her love story and describes the brutal Nazi occupation of her small coastal village.
Saint-Malo, France: August 1939. Jocelyn and Antoine are childhood sweethearts, but just after they marry, Antoine is called up to fight against Germany. As the war rages, Jocelyn focuses on comforting and encouraging the local population by recommending books from her beloved library in Saint-Malo. She herself finds hope in her letters to a famous author.
After the French capitulation, the Nazis occupy the town and turn it into a fortress to control the north of French Brittany. Residents try passive resistance, but the German commander ruthlessly purges part of the city's libraries to destroy any potentially subversive writings. At great risk to herself, Jocelyn manages to hide some of the books while waiting to receive news from Antoine, who has been taken to a German prison camp.
What unfolds in her letters is Jocelyn's description of her mission: to protect the people of Saint-Malo and the books they hold so dear. With prose both sweeping and romantic, Mario Escobar brings to life the occupied city and re-creates the history of those who sacrificed all to care for the people they loved.
My Thoughts
Jocelyn Ferrec, ill with tuberculosis and her husband away fighting the Germans, is dismayed and concerned when Lieutenant Adolf Bauman, an SS officer, is billeted in her apartment. Bauman is a cruel and dangerous man. He takes an instant dislike to Jocelyn for her outspokenness against the Nazis' treatment of the people. She antagonizes him further by thwarting his attempts to plunder the library in which she works of valuable books and questioning the destruction of others banned as being seditious works.
Books are the one constant in her life, a love that she shares with her husband, Antoine. It is a passion that will place her in great danger and will also bring another German officer into her life, Lieutenant Hermann Von Cholitz, of the E.R.R., a branch of the Nazi Party set up to appropriate cultural property.
Jocelyn's love of literature, especially the works of Marcel Zola, prompts her to write to the famous author. In her letters she chronicles life in Saint-Malo during the German occupation, its destruction by Allied bombing and liberation, her part in the Resistance and the risks taken to protect the legacy of the books in her care.
It wasn't until I reached the end of this book and organised my thoughts that I realised how deeply Jocelyn's story had touched me. Here is a woman suffering from a disease that she acknowledges will eventually kill her, watching all that she holds dear being eroded by a regime promoting hate and the only weapon she has against this tyranny is her love of books.
While Jocelyn was courageous, I also felt she was a little incautious at times, especially in her dealings with Bauman and how readily she admitted Klaus, the young German soldier, into the Resistance meetings held at the library.
Until the final pages, I didn't fully understand why the author chose to tell Jocelyn's story as if she was writing letters to a famous novelist. The use of this plot device made the conclusion all the more poignant and memorable.
I enjoyed The Librarian of Saint-Malo and look forward to reading more from this author.
Where to Purchase
Amazon | Apple | Barnes and Noble | Google Play | Hudson Booksellers
Meet the Author
Connect with Mario: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Blog Tour Schedule
Excerpt at Passages to the Past
Wednesday, June 2
Review at Gwendalyn's Books
Thursday, June 3
Review at Hallie Reads
Friday, June 4
Review at Nursebookie
Saturday, June 5
Review at Reading is My Remedy
Review at Books, Writings, and More
Monday, June 7
Review at Little But Fierce Book Diary
Wednesday, June 9
Review at Novels Alive
Review at Library of Clean Reads
Thursday, June 10
Review at McCombs on Main
Friday, June 11
Review at Impressions In Ink
Sunday, June 13
Review at A Darn Good Read
Monday, June 14
Review at Girl Who Reads
Wednesday, June 16
Review at The Enchanted Shelf
Giveaway (US only)
Enter HERE to win a paperback copy of The Librarian of Saint-Malo by Mario Escobar! We have 5 copies up for grabs!
The giveaway is open to US residents only and ends on June 16th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for your great review!
ReplyDeleteAmy
HF Virtual Book Tours
As always, a pleasure!
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