The Paris Library Review

portuguelo
Feb 5, 2021
3 min read

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles is a historical novel set in two timelines: 1940s Paris where we meet Odile, a young woman trying to avoid her family expectations while starting her first job and 1980s Montana where The Cold War is only a detail in pre-teen Lily's life.

General Impressions

I was not at all prepared for how much The Paris Library would amaze me, and as someone that doesn't usually read much historical fiction, I can honestly recommend it to everyone without hesitation.

There is so much heart and passion imbued in this story, so much realism and life that I found it impossible to let go while dreading having to set it aside after the last sentence.

This is a book where the action happens not because of the war but despite it. Battles and battalions are mentioned but only in how much people worry about the ones they love that are far away and in danger. In Paris as in Montana, that is often secondary to the worries, joys and dramas of everyday life that didn't disappear just because a man they have never met declared war.

The Paris Library further set itself apart for me, by being a historical novel where, most chapters being told by women, the female experience is put on the limelight. The author was able to write about all the ways women chafed and bowed to the rules of their circumstances without ever claiming that being a woman was the same as being powerless to act according to their conscience. Not being a man was not used as an excuse for bad behaviour or inaction and that was a breath of fresh air.

I would have liked this book no matter what but what made me treasure it was how obvious the love for literature transpired in every page, in both the characters and the author. Books as windows and bridges, books as teachers and friends, books as an escape, a balm to ignorance and remedy to hate, something so dangerous and even more necessary in times of war.

Characters

Although I'll focus on Odile and Lilly, The Paris Library was able to offer a great cast of characters, not because they were heroic or evil but because they were real people who made choices based on their experiences and prejudices and the reader more than agreeing or disagreeing, learnt with them.

At the start of the story, Odile's biggest concern is not the threat of war or occupation but being able to avoid marrying any of the suitors her father keeps trying to get her to accept instead of embarrassing her family as a working woman. She is young, sheltered and stubborn as well as smart, hard-working and persistent and I loved getting to slowly learn the reasons why.

One of the of my favourite themes in Odile's storyline was what marriage meant for a woman when being married was being dependent, being single was being unprotected and being divorced was being a pariah. More than that, through her friends and family we see the consequences of each one of those.

At the same time we see twenty-something years old Odile navigate her first job and the day to day effects of the Nazi Occupation, Lily meets a mentor and friend in her octagenarian self forty years later.

We stay with Lily through most of her teenage years and it throughout the loss of her mother, her father's second marriage, her relationship with her new blended family all the while struggling with school, friendships and crushes.

While with Odile, we learn the importance of speaking up and acting, in Lily, we learn that listening and extending a hand in friendship can be just a courageous.