Aug 31, 2025
One of my favorite things about Roseanna M. White's books is her attention to detail not just with historic facts but LOCATIONS. She does a fabulous job of ensuring that the faiths of her characters match their locales (she has a great blog post about this that you don't want to miss, too!). Speaking of research and faith, listen in to learn more what went into The Collector of Burned Books.
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Of course, when you talk to a historical fiction author, you learn all kinds of new facts you didn't know. I think my favorite (and most surprising!) fact was that the Catholic sectors were most against Nazis. I shouldn't be surprised, but I was.
I love how she wove the horrible facts of history together with a beautiful commitment to truth and freedom and created this story. You won't want to miss it.
The Collector of Burned Books by Roseanna M. White
In this gripping World War II
historical about the power of words, two people form an unlikely
friendship amid the Nazi occupation in Paris and fight to preserve
the truth that enemies of freedom long to destroy.
Paris, 1940. Ever since the
Nazi Party began burning books, German writers exiled for their
opinions or heritage have been taking up residence in Paris. There
they opened a library meant to celebrate the freedom of ideas and
gathered every book on the banned list . . . and even incognito
versions of the forbidden books that were smuggled back into
Germany.
For the last six years, Corinne Bastien has been reading those
books and making that library a second home. But when the German
army takes possession of Paris, she loses access to the library and
all the secrets she’d hidden there. Secrets the Allies will need if
they have any hope of liberating the city she calls home.
Christian Bauer may be German, but he never wanted anything to do
with the Nazi Party―he is a professor, one who’s done his best to
protect his family as well as the books that were a threat to Nazi
ideals. But when Goebbels sends him to Paris to handle the
“relocation” of France’s libraries, he’s forced into an army
uniform and given a rank he doesn’t want. In Paris, he tries to
protect whoever and whatever he can from the madness of the Party
and preserve the ideas that Germans will need again when that
madness is over, and maybe find a lost piece of his
heart.
Learn more about Roseanna M. White on her WEBSITE (with all the bookish merch) and follow her on BookBub and GoodReads.
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