The Librarian Spy

On Friday I began reading the book, “The Librarian Spy,” by Madeline Martin who I recently did a Q&A with last month. I finished reading it late last night. “The Librarian Spy,” is a historical fiction book taking place during World War II and has two female main characters. Ava is an American librarian at The Library of Congress, and her job takes her to Portugal and Helene/Elaine working for the printing press run by the members of The Resistance. As the battle in Europe goes on Ava and Elaine correspond through coded messages to do their part to end the war in Europe and stop the Nazis.

Pros & Cons

I knew I would enjoy this book but I didn’t know I would love it as much as I did. I spent the whole day yesterday reading the majority of the book outside and then late last night I finished it. I had to know what happened. While I like stories about the resistance, I was more invested in Ava’s story than I was with Elaine’s. Elaine came off as too impulsive for me and constantly blamed Etienne for not saving her husband. Ava was a bit naïve but I like that she had her head on her shoulders. For a while I wasn’t sure how their stories would interconnect but once I did see it I was like “Oh!” My favorite part was the epilogue. I won’t spoil why because you have to read that on your own. I like the fact that the story took place in Portugal for Ava’s story. I had no idea Portugal was neutral during the war, but there were still some Portuguese who did choose sides and some whose loyalty could have been bought. You learn something new every day.

Overall   

I loved the novel. I can’t wait to read more from Madeline Martin in the future. I know I’m going to read her previous books while waiting patiently for her new one. If you enjoy historical fiction especially history that’s not well known I would suggest this book.