The Paris Library

I really enjoyed reading this book and to find out it was based on a true story of resistance set at the American Library in Paris, made it even more intriguing.

This story is told in two timelines from two perspectives. One during the war with Odile, a librarian who, along with her colleagues, risk their lives to save books and deliver them to Jewish subcribers. The second part (based in the 80s or 90s) is about a young girl named Lily whose curiousity leads her to finally meeting her older and mysterious neighbour, Odile.

It is a lovely story about love, friendship, loss, courage and resistance that is beautifully told through these two characters who realize they have so much more in common than they, or even others, believe.

A lot of the book is spent reading about Odile's time in Paris during the war and the only thing I would have wanted more of is time with Lily. I felt myself rushing through Lily's parts which made it feel like she was unimportant to the story when really her story is important to who Odile becomes to her later on.

I gave this book 4 stars out of 5 and would definitely recommend it to readers who love historical fiction.