The Librarians of Rue De Picardie
Publisher,Headline Review
Publication Date,
Format, Paperback
Weight,
No. of Pages, 336
Shelf: FICTION / ADULT FICTION / GENERAL FICTION
Kindly ask our staff if you cannot locate the shelf.
The New York Times bestselling author of the The Paris Library returns with a powerful, moving new novel based on the extraordinary true story of Jessie Carson, the American librarian determined to bring books to the children of war-torn France.
Under what was left of the roof of the ruined cottage, a girl with pigtails perched on a pile of rubble, hunched over a book...
1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France, a group of women determined to rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen - children's libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.
1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsession, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York's famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.
Published under the title Miss Morgan's Book Brigade in the US
'This is hands down my book of 2024. A rich, glorious life-affirming ode to the power of books and female solidarity. Simply unforgettable!' —KATE THOMPSON
'A wonderful story about the power books have not only to inspire, but also to rescue and restore. The characters are so richly drawn... I absolutely loved it' —RUTH HOGAN
About the Author
Janet Skeslien Charles is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Paris Library. Her work has been translated into 38 languages. She has spent a decade researching Jessie Carson at the Morgan Library, the New York Public Library, and archives across France. Her shorter work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Sydney Morning Herald, Literary Hub, and the anthology Montana Noir.
Dimensions: 12.8 x 2.8 x 19.6 cm
