Thanks to a recommendation by Laura, I listened to this audiobook and learned about work done by American women to help the French in a rural area in the north of France as World War I was coming to an end. Anne Tracy Morgan, daughter of J.P., funded the work to provide basic needs to the populace around Blérancourt, which is not far from the border with Belgium.
The novel comes in two stories, that of Jessie Carson, a librarian hired to work along with the society women working as volunteers. The other story is set in 1987 as Wendy Peterson, an aspiring writer working in the New York Public Library comes across Carson’s name, sets out to learn about her, then writes her story.
The story of the work of Jessie Carson is based on a historical character of that name who rehabilitated four devastated libraries in France and extended library services in France to children. The fictional story tells of the work she and the brave and hard-working society women did to support the villagers as the war continued nearby. The Allies were not able to contain a German advance in the area and for a second time the area was evacuated; the women worked to get the villagers on trains to take them to safety. And then the influenza came. The fictional account conveys the kindness, love, and heartbreak experienced by the historical figures.
The fictional Jessie Carson always has an appropriate book to give a a villager or soldier or story to tell children in this love story for librarians. The other voice, the Wendy Peterson character, experiences the joy of successful research. Her colleague at the public library turns out to be a great boyfriend, as well as a researcher who both found materials for her and taught her about research. Their big fight happened when he discovered she was taking rare materials out of the library to use at home.
From this book I learned about the red zones in northern France that were established at the end of World War I. Farming, housing, and forestry were permanently or temporarily forbidden in the zones, 460 square miles of non-contiguous land. The unexploded ordnance, human and animal remains, and polluting chemicals such as lead, arsenic, and mercury make the area completely devastated. The French agency charged with cleaning the area estimates that at the current rate of work, it will be finished in 300 to 700 years. You can read more at this Wikipedia page on Zone Rouge. I wonder how much of Belgium has this level of pollution.
It was inspiring to read about the women who gave up their comfortable lives to help strangers in France. And of course it’s always fun to read a book that mentions beloved authors.
Janet Skeslien Charles, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade, Atria Books, 2024, 318 pages (I listened to the audiobook). Available in the public library.