The Book of Lost Names, Kristin Harmel

 

Characters
2005	1942
Eva Abrams – age 86 Ben – son Louis – husband, deceased   Otto Kuhn – photo in paper   Jenny Fish – Library Assistant Manager	Eva Taube “Tatus” – father Faiga – “mamusia”   Madame Fontain – neighbor Simone and Colette – children   Madame Barbier – owner of boarding house   Peres Clement – pastor, Eglise Saint Alban   Remy Charpentier (real name Duchamp)   Madame Gremillan – brothel, supported Jewish cause   Genevieve Marchand – new forger   Joseph Pelletier “Gerard Faucon” – student with Eva, betrayed the resistance cell   Enrich – German soldier   Madame Travere – hid children   False identities: Colette Fountain Madame Fountain   Marie Charpentier   Eva Moreau Yelena Moreau   Lucie Besson – for trip taking children across border

 

 

 

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       Did you understand Eva’s mother’s anger, feelings of betrayal, and her attitude and behavior toward Eva? 

2.       Why was her mother so resistant to the good things that Eva was doing?

3.       Her mother’s last act was to protect Eva.  Do you think she understood what she had been doing and forgave her?

4.       Can Eva forgive herself?   After learning that her mother had been killed, she asked Pere Clement “How will I ever forgive myself if the decisions I’ve made cost my mother her life?” (page 328).

5.       What do you think Eva’s mother would have thought if she had learned that Joseph Pelletier, who she hoped Eva would marry, was the one who betrayed Eva and the others?

6.       Were you surprised that Eva did not tell her husband and son about her previous life?  How do you think they would have reacted?

7.       When Eva was boarding the flight to Germany, she observes a boy who looks like her son as a child.  Eva things, “I’ve always thought that it’s those children – the ones who realize that books are magic – who will have the brightest lives” and “Books change the world, I think” (page 165).  How can books influence the lives of children and change the world?