Kristin Harmel

Inspired by an astonishing true story from World War II, a young woman with a talent for forgery helps hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis in this unforgettable historical novel from the international bestselling author of the “epic and heart-wrenching World War II tale” (Alyson Noel, #1 New York Times bestselling author) The Winemaker’s Wife. Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names. The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war? As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears. An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.

The Book of Lost Names

Indie Next List pick for July 2021 * Parade “Best Books of Summer” pick * Real Simple summer reading pick * SheReads “Best WWII Fiction of Summer 2021” pick The New York Times bestselling author of the “heart-stopping tale of survival and heroism” (People) The Book of Lost Names returns with an evocative coming-of-age World War II story about a young woman who uses her knowledge of the wilderness to help Jewish refugees escape the Nazis—until a secret from her past threatens everything. After being stolen from her wealthy German parents and raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe, a young woman finds herself alone in 1941 after her kidnapper dies. Her solitary existence is interrupted, however, when she happens upon a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror. Stunned to learn what’s happening in the outside world, she vows to teach the group all she can about surviving in the forest—and in turn, they teach her some surprising lessons about opening her heart after years of isolation. But when she is betrayed and escapes into a German-occupied village, her past and present come together in a shocking collision that could change everything. Inspired by incredible true stories of survival against staggering odds, and suffused with the journey-from-the-wilderness elements that made Where the Crawdads Sing a worldwide phenomenon, The Forest of Vanishing Stars is a heart-wrenching and suspenseful novel from the #1 internationally bestselling author whose writing has been hailed as “sweeping and magnificent” (Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author), “immersive and evocative” (Publishers Weekly), and “gripping” (Tampa Bay Times).

A Novel

The Forest of Vanishing Stars

Instant #1 bestseller from The Globe and Mail (Toronto) and The Toronto Star “Love and betrayal, forgiveness and redemption combine in a heady tale of the ever-present past…fantastic!” —Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Paris The author of the “engrossing” (People) international bestseller The Room on Rue Amélie returns with a moving story set amid the champagne vineyards of northern France during the darkest days of World War II, perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale. Champagne, 1940: Inès has just married Michel, the owner of storied champagne house Maison Chauveau, when the Germans invade. As the danger mounts, Michel turns his back on his marriage to begin hiding munitions for the Résistance. Inès fears they’ll be exposed, but for Céline, half-Jewish wife of Chauveau’s chef de cave, the risk is even greater—rumors abound of Jews being shipped east to an unspeakable fate. When Céline recklessly follows her heart in one desperate bid for happiness, and Inès makes a dangerous mistake with a Nazi collaborator, they risk the lives of those they love—and the champagne house that ties them together. New York, 2019: Liv Kent has just lost everything when her eccentric French grandmother shows up unannounced, insisting on a trip to France. But the older woman has an ulterior motive—and a tragic, decades-old story to share. When past and present finally collide, Liv finds herself on a road to salvation that leads right to the caves of the Maison Chauveau.

The Winemaker's Wife

For fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Martha Hall Kelly’s Lilac Girls, this powerful novel of fate, resistance, and family—by the international bestselling author of The Sweetness of Forgetting and When We Meet Again—tells the tale of an American woman, a British RAF pilot, and a young Jewish teenager whose lives intersect in occupied Paris during the tumultuous days of World War II. When newlywed Ruby Henderson Benoit arrives in Paris in 1939 with her French husband Marcel, she imagines strolling arm in arm along the grand boulevards, awash in the golden afternoon light. But war is looming on the horizon, and as France falls to the Nazis, her marriage begins to splinter, too. Charlotte Dacher is eleven when the Germans roll into the French capital, their sinister swastika flags snapping in the breeze. After the Jewish restrictions take effect and Jews are ordered to wear the yellow star, Charlotte can’t imagine things getting much worse. But then the mass deportations begin, and her life is ripped forever apart. Thomas Clarke joins the British Royal Air Force to protect his country, but when his beloved mother dies in a German bombing during the waning days of the Blitz, he wonders if he’s really making a difference. Then he finds himself in Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, and he discovers a new reason to keep fighting—and an unexpected road home. When fate brings them together, Ruby, Charlotte, and Thomas must summon the courage to defy the Nazis—and to open their own broken hearts—as they fight to survive. Rich with historical drama and emotional depth, this is an unforgettable story that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.

The Room on Rue Amélie

The Paris Daughter

In this heartwarming story of love, family and baked goods, bakery owner Hope McKenna-Smith, the divorced mother of a surly preteen girl, is summoned by her aging grandmother who, ready to reveal the secret she has kept for 70 years, sends her on a journey across the world that will forever change her life. Original. 50,000 first printing.

The Sweetness of Forgetting

After 10 years, widow Kate Waithman is ready to move on into another marriage, but dreams of her late husband make her begin second-guessing herself. By the best-selling author of The Sweetness of Forgetting. Original. 35,000 first printing.

The Life Intended

Emily thinks she’s lost everything…until a mysterious painting leads her to what she wants most in the world. The new novel from the author of international bestsellers The Sweetness of Forgetting and The Life Intended shows why her books are hailed as “engaging” (People), “absorbing” (Kirkus Reviews) and “enthralling” (Fresh Fiction). Emily Emerson is used to being alone; her dad ran out on the family when she was a just a kid, her mom died when she was seventeen, and her beloved grandmother has just passed away as well. But when she’s laid off from her reporting job, she finds herself completely at sea…until the day she receives a beautiful, haunting painting of a young woman standing at the edge of a sugarcane field under a violet sky. That woman is recognizable as her grandmother—and the painting arrived with no identification other than a handwritten note saying, “He always loved her.” Emily is hungry for roots and family, so she begins to dig. And as she does, she uncovers a fascinating era in American history. Her trail leads her to the POW internment camps of Florida, where German prisoners worked for American farmers...and sometimes fell in love with American women. But how does this all connect to the painting? The answer to that question will take Emily on a road that leads from the sweltering Everglades to Munich, Germany and back to the Atlanta art scene before she’s done. Along the way, she finds herself tempted to tear down her carefully tended walls at last; she’s seeing another side of her father, and a new angle on her painful family history. But she still has secrets, ones she’s been keeping locked inside for years. Will this journey bring her the strength to confront them at last?

When We Meet Again

Sweetness of Forgetting

Harper Roberts is a corporate attorney in Manhattan.She’s smart, attractive, and funny. So whycan’t she find a date? Men flock to her at parties whenthey think she’s a dumb blonde. But, as soon as theyrealise she’s a Harvard-educated lawyer, they flee.Harper’s best friend is a magazine editor whosuggests Harper go on assignment for a month as a 'dumb blonde' andsee if it changes her dating perspective. So, for two weeks, Harpergoes undercover. She changes her wardrobe, her conversation, her bodylanguage. The result is a series of comical encounters.Soon, Harper must take a good look in the mirror and realise thatit’s not just men who judge people on theirlooks.

The Blonde Theory

The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau

een geheim uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog zet Emily aan tot een speurtocht naar de waarheid over haar familie

Als we elkaar terugzien

Rose leidet an Alzheimer. Bald wird sie sich nicht mehr an die geliebten Menschen erinnern können, die sie verlor. Doch bevor es so weit ist, bittet sie ihre Enkelin, nach Paris zu reisen. Diese trifft hier auf die berührende Geschichte eines Paares, das sich 1942 ewige Liebe versprach ...

Solange am Himmel Sterne stehen

Champagne, 1940: Inès tocmai a devenit soția lui Michel, proprietarul legendarei case producătoare de șampanie numite Maison Chauveau, când germanii invadează Franța. În timp ce pericolele se înmulțesc, Michel își neglijează căsnicia ca să înceapă să stocheze muniție pentru luptătorii din Rezistență. Inès se teme că totul se va afla, dar pentru Céline, soția pe jumătate evreică a șefului de cramă care lucrează pentru Chauveau, riscul e și mai mare, fiindcă au început să se înmulțească zvonurile conform cărora evreii ar fi ridicați și trimiși spre est, unde îi așteaptă o soartă îngrozitoare. Atunci când Céline face imprudența de a-și urma impulsul inimii și de a încerca să fie fericită cu orice preț, iar Inès comite o greșeală gravă, în care este implicat un colaborator al naziștilor, ele pun în primejdie viețile celor pe care îi iubesc, precum și existența casei producătoare de șampanie care le este cămin tuturor. New York, 2019: Liv Kent tocmai a pierdut totul, când excentrica ei bunică franțuzoaică își face apariția pe neașteptate, insistând să-și ia nepoata cu ea în Franța. Însă bătrâna doamnă are un motiv secret pentru această călătorie – și o poveste tragică, veche de mai multe zeci de ani, pe care trebuie să i-o împărtășească nepoatei. Atunci când, în cele din urmă, trecutul și prezentul sunt puse față în față, Liv se trezește mergând pe un drum al izbăvirii care duce drept către pivnițele de la Maison Chauveau. Captivant... o poveste plină de suspans, despre trădări, atât de ordin personal cât și politic, precum și despre curaj și sacrificiu. Tampa Bay Times Cu o măiestrie excepțională, Kristin Harmel construiește acțiunea din Ultima geană de lumină întrețesând planul trecutului cu cel al prezentului, acordându-le pondere și importanță în mod egal și urzind, în tot acest timp, o poveste plină de secrete și de trădări care pun la încercare rezistența, fragilitatea și josnicia ființei umane, în general. Din clipa în care începeți să citiți acest roman emoționant, nu veți mai fi în stare să-l lăsați din mână înainte de a fi ajuns la ultima pagină. Armando Lucas Correa

Ultima geană de lumină

De bortglömda namnens bok

door dramatische gebeurtenissen in de Tweede Wereldoorlog raken drie heel verschillende levens met elkaar vervlochten

Jij kan me helpen

Finché le stelle saranno in cielo

«Sono passati più di sessant'anni da quando vidi questo volume per l'ultima volta, da quando vidi lui, per l'ultima volta, ma il passato sembra essere di nuovo qui, in questa stanza con me, e mi sento soffocare.» Florida, 2005. Eva Traube Abrams, bibliotecaria quasi in pensione, leggendo il giornale una mattina si imbatte nella fotografia di un libro per lei molto speciale. Il volume, risalente al Diciottesimo secolo, fa parte dei numerosi testi saccheggiati dai nazisti durante la Seconda guerra mondiale; recentemente ritrovato in Germania, sembra contenere una sorta di codice che i ricercatori non sanno decifrare. Parigi, 1942. Eva è costretta ad abbandonare la città dopo l'arresto del padre, ebreo polacco. Rifugiatasi in una cittadina di confine, inizia a falsificare documenti per i bambini ebrei che fuggono nella Svizzera neutrale. Insieme al misterioso e affascinante Rémy, Eva decide di annotare in un libro in forma criptata i veri nomi dei ragazzini che, essendo troppo piccoli per ricordare, rischiano di dimenticare la propria identità. Così nasce il Libro dei nomi perduti, che diventa una testimonianza ancora più preziosa quando la cellula di resistenza viene tradita e Rémy scompare. Alla fine del conflitto, Eva, sola e tormentata dai sensi di colpa, decide di ricostruirsi un'altra vita, lontana e diversa. Ha imparato a voltarsi indietro tante volte e ogni volta un pezzo di sé è andato smarrito. Ma ora che il passato bussa prepotente alla porta, avrà il coraggio di rivivere i vecchi ricordi? Ispirato a una sorprendente storia vera, Il libro dei nomi perduti è molto più di una semplice vicenda di falsari. È un indimenticabile romanzo sull'identità e sul potere dei libri, una testimonianza della resilienza dello spirito umano e della forza dell'amore di fronte al male.

Il libro dei nomi perduti

Thirty-four-year-old Manhattan accountant Cat Connelly has always lived life on the safe side. But after her little sister gets married, Cat wonders if she has condemned herself to a life of boredom by playing by the rules. She decides to take a chance for once, accepting an invitation to spend a month with an old flame in Italy. But her reunion with the slick and gorgeous Francesco is short-lived, and she finds herself suddenly alone in Rome. Now, she must see if she has the courage to live outside the lines for the first time - and to face a past she never understood. It will take an unexpected friendship with a fiery Italian waitress, a whirlwind Vespa tour of the Eternal City with a handsome stranger, and a surprise encounter with an old acquaintance to show Cat that life doesn't always work out the way you expect, but sometimes you have to have fall in order to fly.

Kristin Harmel

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