Books, Codes, and Quiet Courage in WWII Europe

⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Librarian Spy is a thoughtful WWII spy novel inspired by the true history of America’s little-known “library spies.” I enjoyed learning the fascinating ways books, newspapers, and printed materials were gathered, analyzed, and transformed into intelligence during the war. The story follows two women on parallel paths. Ava, a librarian at the Library of Congress, is recruited by the U.S. military and sent to neutral-but-dangerous Lisbon, where she works undercover collecting and microfilming enemy publications. Across the ocean, Elaine joins the French Resistance through a clandestine printing press, fully aware the Nazis are hunting both the press and those who run it. Their stories connect through coded messages and […]

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Books, Blackouts, and a Mother’s Choice

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Madeline Martin’s The Booklover’s Library drops us into Nottingham during WWII, where widow Emma Taylor faces an impossible choice: risk keeping her daughter Olivia in a bombing zone or send her off to live with strangers in the countryside. With little hope and even fewer job options—married and widowed women were barred from most work—Emma persuades Boots’ lending library to hire her. There she finds unlikely friendships, quirky patrons, and a reminder that books can keep people afloat when the world is sinking. What caught me most wasn’t the “library angle” (frankly, I’m getting a little worn out on book-about-books stories), but the history tucked inside. I had never heard of […]

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