Book Notes | A story of war and the valiant persons who risk their lives to help others
During World War II, France was initially divided into a northern, German-occupied area and the Vichy or free area in the south. Jews and others tried to flee from the occupied area to the Vichy area. The story told by author Kristin Harmel in The Book of Lost Names is set in the Vichy area, where there was an underground network to help Jews and children escape to Switzerland.
We first meet Eva Traube Abrams, the book’s main character, when she is working as a semi-retired librarian in Florida. While working at the library one day she sees a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. It is an image of a book she hasn’t seen in 65 years. As she returns to Germany to reclaim the book, her story is revealed
Eva was a student at the Sorbonne during WWII. She and her Jewish parents felt unsafe in Paris. Before her father was taken by the Germans, he told Eva to go with her mother to the Vichy area and then to Switzerland. This required making or getting forged documents that would hide their Jewish identity. Eva found she had the artistic ability to create forged documents for herself and her mother.
After arriving in Aurigon—a village with a large underground network to help Jews and children escape to Switzerland—Eva finds herself being recruited to work on the making of forged documents to help children escape. This entails giving them forged names. But how could these children be traced after the war ends? Eva and a fellow worker, Remy, devise an elaborate code that is kept in an old book, Epitres et Evangiles, on a church library shelf.
Chapters in The Book of Lost Names take the reader from the 1940s to the present time. The harrowing story keeps the reader immersed in the realities of WWII and the valiant persons who put their lives at great risk to help others.
Overall, members of the UMRA Book Club were engrossed by the book and the heroics of the people who helped Jewish people escape. We pondered how we might have acted if we were in a similar situation, and wished for more information on what happened to the children once they made it to Switzerland.
—Mariah Snyder, UMRA Book Club I member
January selection: ‘The Book of Lost Names’
Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 2pm
Mariah Snyder will lead the discussion of The Book of Lost Names by American novelist Kristen Harmel when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, January 20.
Email Pat Tollefson at [email protected] for more information, including suggestions for starting a new book club.
Read a summary of the group’s discussion of their November 2022 selection, West with Giraffes.
Upcoming Events
Stephanie Daily will lead the discussion of Good Night, Irene by the Mexican-American poet and novelist Luis Alberto Urrea when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom on Friday, March 21.
The U.S. Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John Roberts since 2025 is considered to be the most conservative and activist in history. But it has much in common with the 1963–69 Warren Court, widely viewed as the most liberal and activist. U of M professor of political science and law Timothy R. Johnson will put these claims into perspective as the guest speaker for UMRA’s March 25 brunch forum.
UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club will discuss The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson when it meets on Friday, March 28, via Zoom. It is a horrifying and compelling read.
The Family History Interest Group meeting on April 2 will feature a presentation by UMRA member Barbara Fifield Brandt (pictured), who will describe how she unlocked the story of her ancestor, Almira Fifield, MD (1833–63), the “lost heroine of Porter County (Indiana)” and one of the first female physicians in the U.S.
The UMRA Hiking Club will explore wildlife along the Mississippi River in Fort Snelling State Park. The 3.9-mile Pike Island Loop is generally considered an easy route and takes just over an hour. Hikers can leave at that point, or stay to add another short loop. The trail is located below the bluff on which the historic fort sits. The last time we were there we saw a lot of deer, and the river always provides fascinating views.
“Geometrical shapes” will be the theme when the UMRA Photo Club will meets on April 8 at the Hennepin County St. Anthony Library in the St. Anthony Village Shops shopping center at New Brighton and St. Anthony Boulevards. For those interested in lunch first, meet at 11:30 a.m. at the Great Dragon Buffet, located across the parking lot from the library.
The University of Minnesota Archives, with its major holdings largely tucked away in two huge underground caverns along the Mississippi River under the West Bank campus, holds the essential records of our University of Minnesota’s past. University Archivist Erik Moore will interpret the holdings and bring out a sampling of what it holds. We will also get a tour of the caverns (Minnesota Library Access Center), revealing where these precious materials are housed, including the original tapes of KUOM, now Radio K.
Would you enjoy gathering with a group of 15-20 other UMRA members to share breakfast and conversation about a specific topic? Then UMRA’s new topical breakfast gatherings at The Original Pancake House in Roseville are for you.
For UMRA’s April 15 Living Well Workshop via Zoom, professor emeritus, author, and Braver Angels co-founder Bill Doherty will share with us what he has learned about overcoming differences in our families and communities in a highly polarized world.
The UMRA Book Club will discuss Random Family by journalist Adrian Nicole LeBlanc when it meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 18, 2025.
The UMRA Hiking Club will welcome guest leaders Bion Beebe and Linda Bjornberg from Twin Cities Hiking Meetup to introduce our group to a “new-to-us” trail on Monday, April 21. We will hike approximately 4 miles at a moderate 17 to 18 mile pace along the Minnesota River to Bass Ponds, a floodplain marsh and premier birding area.
You are cordially invited to see Rick Huebsch, Associate VP for Research, Technology Commercialization at UMN, who will discuss UMN Technology Commercialization. Tech Comm facilitates the transfer of UMN innovation beyond the research lab, to benefit the public good, foster economic growth, and generate revenue to support the University's mission.
UMRA’s Earth Day forum on April 22 will feature a presentation by UMRA member Peter Moe, the recently retired director of the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. He is well known and admired for building an incredibly successful facility and program for the University.
UMRA’s Armchair Traveler program on Wednesday, April 23, will take us to the coast of British Columbia for a month-long cruise and—halfway around the world—to Rwanda, a landlocked country located just a few degrees south of the Equator in East-Central Africa.
The Black Count: Glory and Betrayal by Tom Reiss, published in 2012 and winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in biography, will be the selection for discussion when UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 25. Newcomers are welcome.
Peter Moe, retired Minnesota Landscape Arboretum director and UMRA member, will be leading a hiking tour of the Arboretum again this year. The amazing tulip display was at its peak for our hike last year, and we will undoubtedly enjoy seeing many spring-blooming trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and perennials. Plan to stay for lunch together (optional) after the hike at the Rootstock café in the Oswald Visitor Center.
Do you have a box or several albums of old family pictures that you are not quite sure what to do with? Or perhaps you just want to find out more about your ancestors and are not sure where or how to begin. This meeting of the Family history group will be an open discussion.
We will revisit the University of Minnesota Archives, with its major holdings largely tucked away in two huge underground caverns along the Mississippi River under the West Bank campus, holds the essential records of our University of Minnesota’s past. University Archivist Erik Moore will interpret the holdings and bring out a sampling of what it holds. We will also get a tour of the caverns (Minnesota Library Access Center), revealing where these precious materials are housed, including the original tapes of KUOM, now Radio K.
You are cordially invited to this presentation by Andy Whitman, Professor, Attorney, Volunteer Financial Planner. He will discuss investments for your grandchildren.
In May we will be doing a photo shoot at the Como Conservatory.
.Wood Lake Nature Center is a peaceful 150-acre cattail marsh, woodland, and restored prairie that is a haven for migrating birds and waterfowl. This UMRA hike is a great opportunity for those who would like a shorter, easier hike. The trails are dirt, grass, and woodchip, with some bridges and a bit of paved trails. Only a couple small hills to navigate, the park is mostly flat.