In 1983, upon the pretense of writing a school report about France, Lily knocks on her reclusive neighbour’s door. She carries these memories to Montana, leaving behind family and friends and her younger self. During the coming years, tragic events impact Odile’s life: the imprisonment of her twin brother, the internment of a beloved mentor, tragedy and betrayal surrounding her best friend, and the Occupation itself. This is a risky task Odile and her co-workers willingly undertake. Jews are forbidden entry, and some libraries are closed down, but the Directress is determined to keep the ALP open and continues to arrange delivery to subscribers and soldiers. With the arrival of the Nazis, libraries are targeted for banned books and given lists to cull the stacks. Charles frames her dual narrative with the voices of Odile, a young woman working at the American Library in Paris (ALP) from the pre-war period in 1939 to liberation in 1944, and a young, lonely teenager, Lily, in small-town Montana from 1983 to 1988.
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