The Book of Lost Names
Kristin Harmel, 2020
Historical fiction Contemporary fiction
A young woman in wartime France helps Jewish children escape by forging new identities—and keeps a coded record of their real names.
Feels like hope and grief. About identity, memory and war.
A page from the book
What is left of you once the labels are stripped away?
But we aren’t defined by the names we carry or the religion we practice, or the nation whose flag flies over our heads. I know that now. We’re defined by who we are in our hearts, who we choose to be on this earth. Kristin Harmel.Kristin Harmel is an American novelist and former magazine journalist; The Book of Lost Names draws on the real wartime forgers who created false papers for Jewish children.
Books that feel like this
Where to get it
Some of these links earn us a small commission, at no cost to you. It keeps BookFeed free.
Questions readers ask
- What is The Book of Lost Names like?
- Feels like hope and grief. About identity, memory and war.
- What should I read after The Book of Lost Names?
- If you liked The Book of Lost Names, try Girl in Pieces (Kathleen Glasgow), The Nightingale (Kristin Hannah) and Lilac Girls (Martha Hall Kelly).
A taste of the feed
Recovery isn’t restoration; it’s learning the shape of the pieces.
Everyone has that moment I think, the moment when something so momentous happens that it rips your very being into small pieces. And then you have to stop. For a long time, you gather your pieces. And it takes such a very long time, not to fit them back together, but to assemble them in a new way, not necessarily a better way. More, a way you can live with until you know for certain that this piece should go there, and that one there.
Girl in Pieces · Kathleen Glasgow
What we keep in boxes when we can't admit we're letting go.
I see the rocking chair I used when my grandchildren were young, then an old crib and a ratty-looking rocking horse set on rusty springs, and the chair my daughter was refinishing when she got sick. Boxes are tucked along the wall, marked “Xmas,” “Thanksgiving,” “Easter,” “Halloween,” “Serveware,” “Sports.” In those boxes are the things I don’t use much anymore but can’t bear to part with. For me, admitting that I won’t decorate a tree for Christmas is giving up, and I’ve never been good at letting go. Tucked in the corner is what I am looking for: an ancient steamer trunk covered in travel stickers.
The Nightingale · Kristin Hannah
The consolation a parent leaves behind: a flower that needs winter to bloom.
Caroline wiped her cheek with the back of her gardening glove, leaving a dark smudge below one eye, then pulled off her gloves. ‘But it’s fitting in a way - Father loved the fact that a lilac only blossoms after a harsh winter.’ Caroline reached over and smoothed the hair back from my brow with a light touch. How many times had my mother done that? ‘It’s a miracle all of this beauty emerges after such hardship, don’t you think?
Lilac Girls · Martha Hall Kelly
Read pages from books like this, one at a time
Keep reading in the feed