It is a difficult position to hold: The Book Spy (by Alan Hlad)

I love books that feature librarians, booksellers and the worlds that they inhabit. This title shows how some of those who worked with books were essential to the WW2 war effort.

As the story opens, Maria Alves is working at the New York Public Library. She leaves the city when she is tapped for a mission to Portugal at the OSS’s request. Maria will be sending microfilmed documents to London for analysis.

Maria works with and gets to know Tiago. He is a bookstore owner but is also doing much more in his own war effort to help save those who are Jewish. The plot gets even deeper and more complex when Maria is given yet another assignment. Readers will turn the pages hoping that she is successful and alive at the novel’s conclusion.

There are so many WW2 books out now yet I still recommend this one. The setting, characters and plot will engage the reader.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

By the way, if this title appeals, also take a look at The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin. Both are set in Portugal and feature librarian protagonists.

#TheBookSpy #NetGalley

Pub date: January 2023

From the Publisher