genre: historical fiction
When Odile manages to get a job at the American Library in Paris, it's a dream come true. To be surrounded by books, interacting with all the intelligent and thoughtful people who use the library as their personal salon, in the late 1930s, the library is exactly where she wants to be. We all know what's coming, though and when the German army machine arrives in Paris, nothing stays the same.
As readers, we know that Odile survives the war because this story is told in alternating timelines, the second one being in the early 1980s in a small town in Montana. Lily lives next door to an older, solitary Frenchwoman whose aloof classiness makes her stick out like a sore thumb but Lily is intrigued enough to do something about it. The relationship that grows between Odile and Lily and the lessons they have to learn from each other is another big piece of this story about regret and taking chances.
Overall, I found it totally readable. The choices that our two main characters make are sometimes frustrating and the way their emotions impact their choices sometimes felt juvenile. But their rashness, their quickness to judge and their jealousy do make you think about how we let our inner world impact how we show up with people - especially people that have the potential to really be good friends if we could just work through our own stuff. I liked the vibe of the library a lot, the cohesion between the stuff and subscribers, that was really cozy. From what other things I've read of the period in France, I'm not sure that Odile's naiveté regarding the situation with France's Jewish citizens is believable, but it didn't spoil the story for me. The 1980s sections gave me a great dose of nostalgia. I'm not sure how to put my finger on why it didn't CAPTURE me, maybe it's just that literarily it wasn't astonishing and that the romantic plot felt kind of forced. What I did love was all the book title dropping, that was a fun exercise, to see all the different titles mentioned.
3.5 stars, rounding up to four because it kept my attention so well.
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