Book Description:
In this gripping World War II historical about the power of words, two people form an unlikely friendship amid the Nazi occupation in Paris and fight to preserve the truth that enemies of freedom long to destroy.
Paris, 1940. Ever since the Nazi Party began burning books, German writers exiled for their opinions or heritage have been taking up residence in Paris. There they opened a library meant to celebrate the freedom of ideas and gathered every book on the banned list . . . and even incognito versions of the forbidden books that were smuggled back into Germany.
For the last six years, Corinne Bastien has been reading those books and making that library a second home. But when the German army takes possession of Paris, she loses access to the library and all the secrets she’d hidden there. Secrets the Allies will need if they have any hope of liberating the city she calls home.
Christian Bauer may be German, but he never wanted anything to do with the Nazi Party—he is a professor, one who’s done his best to protect his family as well as the books that were a threat to Nazi ideals. But when Goebbels sends him to Paris to handle the “relocation” of France’s libraries, he’s forced into an army uniform and given a rank he doesn’t want. In Paris, he tries to protect whoever and whatever he can from the madness of the Party and preserve the ideas that Germans will need again when that madness is over, and maybe find a lost piece of his heart.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading The Collector of Burned Books, a historical fiction novel set in Paris in 1940 during WW2. Christian is a German Professor at the University of Berlin who witnessed horrendous racism and political upheaval in his homeland during the 1930s. Desperation to save a loved one inspired Christian to join the Party that has no tolerance for his Catholic values and ideas that don’t fit within the Party’s propaganda narrative. An uncomfortable and dangerous situation for an intelligent man like Christian who is watching the Party systematically destroy the social fabric of his beloved country. The Party assigned Christian to a military post in Paris to catalogue and destroy banned books containing ideas they consider dangerous to young minds.
Corinne is a strong and independent Parisian in her thirties who has chosen an academic career over marriage and children. Her beloved books are being destroyed, and she works with family friends in the Resistance to smuggle out precious books and relay intelligence via coded messages in the book margins. She lives in a flat in Paris that’s next door to the Library of Burned Books and close to Sorbonne University, where she teaches literature.
Many Parisians have fled the city for a safer haven. Life is hard as Parisians deal with the terrifying German occupation of the city with enforced food rations, curfews, checkpoints, and witch hunts for people with Jewish ancestry and anyone who resists the tyranny.
Christian and Corinne cross paths in Paris and start out as enemies on opposite sides of the war. Circumstances draw them together and reveal secrets that form the foundation of a friendship that could become something more—if only the war wasn’t an enormous obstacle in their path.
I loved seeing Christian and Corinne journey in the story as they faced extreme adversity and fought for the freedom of thought and ideas within the confines of a cruel totalitarian regime. I recommend The Collector of Burned Books to historical fiction readers who like thought-provoking WW2 novels with drama, danger, and intrigue set in Paris with forbidden love, romantic elements, and strong faith threads in the story.
Many thanks to Tyndale and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
