Current

JANET SKESLIEN CHARLES, THE PARIS LIBRARY

As a child in Montana, Janet lived on the same street as a war bride and enjoyed learning French phrases. She grew up during the Cold War in the 1980s and was interested in peeking behind the Iron Curtain. She got a job teaching English in Odessa, Ukraine for two years. She wrote Moonlight in Odessa, a novel about the booming business of email-order brides. After Odessa, Janet moved to France and first became interested in the story of the librarians who stood up to the Nazi ‘Library Protector’ when she worked as the programs manager at a library in Paris.

The Paris Library, which is based on a true story, is a testament to the importance and the power of books, most especially in troubled and challenging times. The intricacies of friendship, which are built on trust and the intimacy of fear, can also be destroyed by those very traits.

The heroes in this book are not the soldiers at the front or the soldiers in the foxholes, but rather everyday people who refused to be bowed by the travesties of evil.

Read Cece’s full interview with Janet by clicking here.

And make sure to register in advance for this January 26, 2 pm. by clicking here