The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

THE PARIS LIBRARY by Janet Skeslien Charles is a February2021 LibraryReads selection as well as being a “most anticipated book” for Library Journal and Goodreads. I truly enjoyed learning about the library (where Skeslien Charles has actually worked) and its functioning during WWII. The story alternates between Paris during the war where Parisian Odile is a young girl with her first job in the reading room and in Montana in the 1980’s where Odile, now widowed and a bit of a recluse, is neighbor to Lily who recently lost her mother. Readers will appreciate both the European setting with its sense of menacing German occupation and the more modern intergenerational story where Odile and Lily gradually set loneliness aside, develop trust, and support each other. A coming of age tale involving friendship, betrayal, and books.