The Librarian Spy: A Novel of World War II

Helene Belanger lives in occupied Lyon, France, and longs to join the Resistance, but her husband Joseph, who fought in the Great War is adamantly opposed, which leads to a fight and Joesph storming out. It has been two days and he has not returned, Helene is worried, she cannot go to the police as they are in with the Gestapo, and even Joesph’s best friend Etienne is missing. She is debating her options when there is a knock at her door and a woman looking for a man named Pierre, she is frantic, she is Jewish and needs new ID papers and Helene soon realizes that her husband is the man she is looking for and gives the woman her own papers. She then sets out to find Etienne for answers, but he finds her when she is stopped by the Nazi patrol asking for her papers. Etienne gives the man papers, proclaiming her to be Elaine Rousseau. Etienne takes her back to his flat and Helene learns the awful truth, her husband is part of the Resistance and has been captured. At that moment, Helene is no more and Elaine is born, Elaine who will stop at nothing to save her husband and annihilate the Nazis. She begins to work for the Resistance by delivering and later printing anti-Nazi tracts. It is how she meets a young Jewish woman named Sarah and her son Noah, Sarah’s husband Lewis is in America, she stayed behind to tend to her sick mother, thinking that she would be safe. But now she is being hunted and has no way to get a visa or even a flight to the States. Despite being told to leave it be by her superiors, she can’t ignore Sarah’s plight, with so much loss in her life, she needs to help them and sends a coded message in the Resistance’s publication “Combat”.Ava Harper is a librarian working in the Rare Book Room at the Library of Congress when she is asked to join the war effort by working for the Office of Strategic Services, gathering publications that may contain covert information on the Nazis. She would have to relocate to Lisbon, Portugal, a trip that she is not keen on making, but when she is reminded that her brother Daniel and many other soldiers fighting in the war need this intel, there is no way she can decline and makes the move to Lisbon. She is trying to settle in but soon learns that spies abound in Lisbon, and feels somewhat adrift. But luckily, an experienced British agent intervenes and takes her in under his wing and soon she is making her own contacts with other agents and the many refugees seeking asylum in neutral Portugal. She falls into a routine of collecting papers and magazines each day from around the world, and it is in the French paper “Combat” that she finds a coded message begging for help in extricating a young Jewish woman and her child from occupied Lyon and reuniting them with her husband in America. And even though her job is to simply collect data, there is no way Ava can ignore this cry for help. And so begins a joint collaboration to save Sarah and Noah from under the noses of the Nazis.When I first read the blurb for this book, I was sure I wouldn’t like a story with two protagonists' POVs, but couldn’t have been more wrong! The imagery and the attention to historic detail are outstanding and the writing is practically flawless. I was sucked in from the first page and could barely read the words fast enough to satisfy my need to know what would happen next. Be warned and have your tissues at the ready, because war is ugly and cruel, and this book doesn’t shy away from the horrors, nor does it sugarcoat the egregious acts perpetrated by the Nazis. But even with the death, destruction, and malice running rampant, there are moments of joy, comradery, and even love, that save this book from becoming a dark, depressing read. I loved this story and can’t recommend this powerful and emotional story highly enough.

Recently, on Goodreads, casting about for something to read, I saw this book. Although not prone to women’s fiction (other than Austen, the Brontes, and Eliot I read as a youth), a World War II spy tale was appealing.The main character, Ava Harper, is a DC government librarian doing her best to support the war effort; “she had complied [with rationing] long before it became law. She gave blood [as often as allowed].” “Rather than dance and drink at the Elk Club like her roommates “, she worked with the Red Cross, “repairing uniforms, rolling bandages”, and doing anything else asked of her.Ava is reassigned to the American Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, a neutral country free of the war strictures she’d known at home. Her job is to gather intelligence by acquiring newspapers and photographing them on microfilm that is regularly sent back to the states for analysis.Chapter two introduces another main character, Helene Belanger, a member of the French underground in Lyon, who runs a partisan press, disseminating news of Nazi atrocities to their countrymen. Before joining the resistance, Helene acted within societal norms in the role of a housewife.Early in the book Helene changes names (becoming Elaine), acquiring fake identity papers to avoid arrest. Other characters take on false names for the same reason, a necessity in the clandestine world of the French Resistance. The juxtaposition of identities could be confusing, but I kept it straight, taking notes.Author Martin skillfully writes dual plots with each heroine’s story told in alternate chapters as the narrative threads gradually shift toward each other, becoming more entwined until the final chapters where the stories merge. The plots are based on the good hearted nature of the two main characters, both wanting to salvage lives from the suffering humanity they see around them every day.Elaine, in occupied France, sees Jews rounded up for the death camps and members of the resistance detained and tortured. Ava, in Lisbon, sees throngs of refugees in ever growing lines at the embassy, many who have sold everything in an effort to get a visa and gain transit to America. Both women carry separate burdens, Ava worried about her brother, a U.S. soldier on the front lines, and Elaine, fearful for her husband, arrested by the gestapo. The author writes delicately of relationships strained by the uncertainties of war and with sensitivity for her character’s feelings.Eventually, Elaine is detained and brought before German torture master Werner. In her mind she slips back into the role of housekeeper, becoming steadfast, claiming she is a “mere housewife”, stating her chores one by one.Martin surprises us at every turn as the two heroines face setbacks and reversals in their individual quests to save lives and ease suffering. These events don’t feel contrived but rather have a sense of inevitability as the author skillfully resolves each reversal.In one instance the story seems to rely on a deus ex machina for resolution but even here Martin’s use of language keeps the reader from feeling cheated. As the two plots steer toward one, both heroines go through emotionally wrenching events, suffering losses themselves and among friends and companions.The author uses vivid prose to reveal the emotions of the two heroines, allowing the reader to feel what the characters are experiencing. In Ava and Elaine’s clandestine world, there are persons who may not be whom they appear to be. The possibility of deception is a constant worry for both women, especially Elaine who at any moment could be arrested and taken away to be tortured. The reader is right there, frayed nerves and all.Martin artfully blends emotion with action, fulfilling Conrad’s dictum, “to make you hear, to make you feel – it is, before all, to make you see.” This is a modern day classic on more than one level. Reading Martin’s work gave me a better understanding of the female mind than John Gray’s pop psychology classic.

It was £10 on Amazon for the paperback (yet) and I’m not sure it’s worth it. I just don’t get why writers feel they have to use long, rarely used words when a simpler word would do - it’s not enjoyable and sometimes it’s plain boring. I think she’s trying too hard.

Wonderful story of love and loss, plus intrigue. The years of war and the brave people who fought, some giving their lives is well described. The two women, divided by oceans but destined to share a story is wonderful xx

I am not crazy about the way each chapter goes back and forth to Ava in Portugal and Elaine in France. Other than that the storyline is good.

Great historical WW2 fiction!I couldn't put the book down. Another fantastic book by Madeleine Martin.Absolutely 5 stars 🌟

Interesting, held my attention. Well written.