The Librarians of Lisbon: A WWII Story of Love and Espionage

“sharp writing keeps the reader eagerly turning pages. The characters are all nuanced and real, the situations they confront full of tension . . .”

Suzanne Nelson, an accomplished children's book author, makes an impressive debut in the adult book world with this fast-paced war story. Librarian spies are having a moment of recognition now in recent historical releases. Nelson expands here on the jobs they did collecting and saving rare editions, along with informational materials essential for fighting the Nazis. She's done the necessary research, as the author's note outlines, and that background work pays off in the rich world she's able to create.

Her two Boston librarians, Bea and Selene, arrive in Lisbon prepared to track down important printed material but quickly dive deep into actual spy work, tracking down Nazi collaborators in neutral Portugal.

"Each of the women, when they weren't sorting the printed materials that flooded the IDC office each day from other librarians 'in the field,' were tasked with scouring the city's bookshops and newsstands for more. They bought what books and periodicals they could, bartered or others, and smuggled some in through IDC channels working behind enemy lines. They'd acquired dozens of indispensable items in their most recent hunting and gathering expedition—maps, machinery manuals, and uncensored copies of German newspapers."

So the work begins for the friends, but they each ends up recruited into intelligence work that requires taking real risks. Each is drawn into their own secret mission on eerily parallel tracks, work they can't tell each other about. And each is pulled into a powerful romance with men, Luca and Gable, who play complicated roles in the dangerous world the women are trying to navigate.

The book opens with Bea and Selene reuniting in Lisbon after decades of silence. The war is long over and the two are back in the city that launched their espionage careers. Nelson deftly sets the stage:

"She [Selene] clasped Bea's hands, memories taking her back to secret battles fought in glittering ballrooms and shadowy alleyways, to where truths and deceptions mingled like bubbles in champagne, and every soul had something to hide.

A jewel in a world of bloody darkness. Lisbon, 1943."

The pages that follow describe these battles, along with the glitter and champagne. Nelson's style is pithy and sharp. A typical chapter opening reads:

"Selene Delmont draped an arm across the bar and surveyed the casino's elegant gaming room, wondering who might want to dance with her, and who might want her dead."

That kind of sharp writing keeps the reader eagerly turning pages. The characters are all nuanced and real, the situations they confront full of tension. Bea and Selene are especially well drawn, but so is everyone else in the book, from their fellow librarians to the glitterati they have to infiltrate.

The narrative strikes a balance between danger in bed and out, with bodice-ripper pages alternating with the perils of espionage. It's a swirling dance of sensations, an effective mirror for the world of betrayal, loyalty, and daring the librarians find themselves in.

"There were treacherous, war-torn days ahead, but the promise of stolen tomorrows with Gable was the peace she was granted tonight."

This is history made vividly alive. Nelson deftly blends elements of the war, from smuggling essential minerals needed for weapons, to escape routes for refugees. She draws on actual historical figures for her characters and evokes Lisbon as a city at a very particular time, both part of the war and outside of it, far from rationing, yet full of desperate misery. Here's hoping for more like this from Nelson. The children's book world may lose a talented star, but the adult book world will gain one.