Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
(Print: February 9, 2021; Atria Books; ISBN 978-1982134198; 368 pages.)
(Digital: Yes)
*Audio: 2/09/2021; Simon and Schuster Audio Publishing Group; Duration 11:57:35; 11 parts; Unabridged
(Feature Film or tv: I think it would make a great movie. But it isn’t one yet.)

SERIES: No

Major characters:
Odile Souchet—Newly hired Librarian
Margaret – Margaret’s British friend
Miss Reeder – Library Director
Bitsy – Children’s Librarian
Remy – Odile’s brother
Paul – Odile’s beau
Lily — Student
Mary Louise – Lily’s friend

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
Odile has recently gotten her library science degree and interviews for a position at the American Library. Tensions build with the war against Germany and life becomes a struggle. Friendships are tested. Citizens turn on one another.
Meanwhile, decades later, young Lily yearns to meet and know her reclusive elderly neighbor, Odile. A school assignment provides the perfect opportunity and Lily’s curiosity serves her well, until coupled with a streak of judgmentalism and a compulsion to speak before she thinks, it drives her to the brink of the destruction of more than one relationship. In fact, the impulsiveness of youth spurred by jealousy and pride is a recurring theme throughout the pages.
I loved this book!

AUTHOR:
Janet Skeslien Charles. From her website:
“Janet Skeslien Charles is the award-winning author of Moonlight in Odessa and The Paris Library. Her shorter work has appeared in revues such as Slice and Montana Noir. She learned about the history of the American Library in Paris while working there as the programs manager. She divides her time between Montana and Paris.”

NARRATORS:
Nicky Diss. Nicky has other narrations to her credit. I don’t see a bio for her.
Sarah Feathers. Sarah has other narrations to her credit. I don’t see a bio for her.
Esther Wane. A paragraph from Esther’s webpage:
“Warm, elegant and reassuring British RP voice actor with a keen ear for other accents, especially my native West Midlands. I am a professionally trained actor with a love of breathing language into life.”
Janet Skeslien Charles. Janet reads the informative epilog.
All of the narration was done well. There may have been the usual occasional thought, “I might have emphasized different words there” Or, “is she sure that’s how that’s pronounced?”

GENRE:
Historical Fiction

LOCATIONS:
Montana; Paris

TIME FRAME:
1939 ; 1983

SUBJECTS:
WWII; Paris, France; The American Library; Jews; Foreigners; Germans; Nazis; Romance; Family; Ethics; Morality; Psychology

DEDICATION:
"For my parents”

SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter 1: Odile Paris, February, 1939
““Who’s your favorite author?” Miss Reeder asked.
Who’s your favorite author? An impossible question. How could a person choose only one? In fact, my aunt Caro and I had created categories—dead authors, alive ones, foreign, French, etc.—to avoid having to decide. I considered the books in the reading room I’d touched just a moment ago, books that had touched me. I admired Ralph Waldo Emerson’s way of thinking: I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me, as well as Jane Austen’s. Though the authoress wrote in the nineteenth century, the situation for many of today’s women remained the same: futures determined by whom they married. Three months ago, when I’d informed my parents that I didn’t need a husband, Papa snorted and began bringing a different work subordinate to every Sunday lunch. Like the turkey Maman trussed and sprinkled with parsley, Papa presented each one on a platter: “Marc has never missed a day of work, not even when he had the flu!”
“You do read, don’t you?”
Papa often complained that my mouth worked faster than my mind. In a flash of frustration, I responded to Miss Reeder’s first question.
“My favorite dead author is Dostoevsky, because I like his character Raskolnikov. He’s not the only one who wants to hit someone over the head.”
Silence.
Why hadn’t I given a normal answer—for example, Zora Neale Hurston, my favorite living author?
“It was an honor to meet you.” I moved to the door, knowing the interview was over.
As my fingers reached for the porcelain knob, I heard Miss Reeder say, “ ‘Fling yourself straight into life, without deliberation; don’t be afraid—the flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again.’ ”
My favorite line from Crime and Punishment. 891.73. I turned around.
“Most candidates say their favorite is Shakespeare,” she said.
“The only author with his own Dewey Decimal call number.”
“A few mention Jane Eyre.”
That would have been a normal response. Why hadn’t I said Charlotte Brontë, or any Brontë for that matter? “I love Jane, too. The Brontë sisters share the same call number—823.8.”
“But I liked your answer.”
“You did?”
“You said what you felt, not what you thought I wanted to hear.”
That was true.
“Don’t be afraid to be different.” Miss Reeder leaned forward. Her gaze—intelligent, steady—met mine. “Why do you want to work here?”
I couldn’t give her the real reason. It would sound terrible. “I memorized the Dewey Decimal system and got straight As at library school.”
She glanced at my application. “You have an impressive transcript. But you haven’t answered my question.”
“I’m a subscriber here. I love English—”
“I can see that,” she said, a dab of disappointment in her tone. “Thank you for your time. We’ll let you know either way in a few weeks. I’ll see you out.”
Back in the courtyard, I sighed in frustration. Perhaps I should have admitted why I wanted the job.
“What’s wrong, Odile?” asked Professor Cohen. I loved her standing-room-only lecture series, English Literature at the American Library. In her signature purple shawl, she made daunting books like Beowulf accessible, and her lectures were lively, with a soupçon of sly humor. Clouds of a scandalous past wafted in her wake like the lilac notes of her parfum. They said Madame le professeur was originally from Milan. A prima ballerina who gave up star status (and her stodgy husband) in order to follow a lover to Brazzaville. When she returned to Paris—alone—she studied at the Sorbonne, where, like Simone de Beauvoir, she’d passed l’agrégation, the nearly impossible state exam, to be able to teach at the highest level.
“Odile?”
“I made a fool of myself at my job interview.”
“A smart young woman like you? Did you tell Miss Reeder that you don’t miss a single one of my lectures? I wish my students were as faithful!”
“I didn’t think to mention it.”
“Include everything you want to tell her in a thank-you note.”
“She won’t choose me.”
“Life’s a brawl. You must fight for what you want.””

RATING:
5 stars. Yes, I want to read more from this author too.

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
3-7-2022 to 3-25-2022 ( )

2024 book #14. 2021. The story moves between young Odile in Paris, living her dream of working at the American Library just as Nazis march in and much later, her living in 1983 Montana passing along her wisdom to a young Lily having home troubles. Read for book club. Good story. ( )

This book was really well done. It had a dual timeline, spanning from 1939 Paris to 1983 Montana, and I felt it was pretty easy to keep track of the plot. Both stories held up well on their own. I’ve never visited Paris and I had never heard of the American Library there, but I’m proud of the efforts everyone put in to promote reading and sending books to all the troops. Not a lot of focus was put on how the rest of the city or the Jews were faring during the occupation, but it was interesting to learn how the librarians struggled and adapted.

“After the darkness of war, the light of books.” (ALP’s motto) ( )

Wow! I enjoyed this book. ( )

Set partly during WWII and partly in the 1980s, this well researched historical fiction is ultimately as much a story of human failings and redemption as it is an exposition of the librarians who risked their safety to keep the American Library in Paris open throughout the Nazi occupation of Paris. Many of the book’s characters were actual figures in the real story, which I learned in the informative Author’s Note. ( )