Books & Audiobooks
Allen Eskens has written a story that could be classified as crime-mystery with a hint of romance against a backdrop of historical fiction. In this case, the history covered is the war between Serbia and Bosnia, a chilling modern war with enormous losses and heinous behaviour on both sides. Those of us lucky to never have been directly involved in a war are incapable of knowing what we could be driven to do under such excruciatingly gruesome conditions. The Quiet Librarian follows the journey of a young girl who also was naive about her own ability to feel rage, revenge and love.
The story opens with an introduction to the protagonist, Hana Babic, who is a quiet, reserved middle aged librarian. A detective comes to the library and informs her that her best friend Amina is dead, perhaps by suicide or maybe foul play. So begins Hana’s quest to find out what happened to Amina and to ensure the secrets that they have brought to adulthood remain just that…secret. The story flips back and forth between present time and the time in her youth when her entire world was horrendously torn upside down.
This a great page-turner and while chilling in some spots, a great example of women’s strength and courage! It also shows that you can’t judge a book by its cover.