The Quiet Librarian: A Novel

by Allen Eskens Narrated by Not Yet Available

Overview

After the murder of her best friend, a librarian's search for answers leads back to her own dark secrets in this sweeping novel about a woman transformed by war, family, vengeance, and love, from award-winning writer Allen Eskens.

Hana Babic is a quiet, middle-aged librarian in Minnesota who*wants nothing more than to be left alone. But when a detective arrives with the news that her best friend has been murdered, Hana knows that something evil has come for her, a dark remnant of the past she and her friend had shared.
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Thirty years before, Hana was someone else: Nura Divjak, a teenager growing up in the mountains of war-torn Bosnia-until Serbian soldiers arrived to slaughter her entire family before her eyes. The events of that day thrust Nura into the war, leading her to join a band of militia fighters, where she became not only a fierce warrior but a legend-the deadly Night Mora. But a shattering final act forced Nura to flee to the United States with a bounty on her head.
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Now, someone is hunting Hana, and her friend has paid the price, leaving her eight-year-old grandson in Hana's care. To protect the child without revealing her secret, Hana must again become the Night Mora-and hope she can find the killer before the past comes for them, too.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book will stay with me for a long, long time. From the very first lines, I knew I was in the hands of a master storyteller. Eskens effortlessly interweaves a compelling mystery in modern day Minnesota with a devastating account of one young girl’s experience of war thirty years prior. The novel unflinchingly urges its readers to consider the morally grey concept of retribution in light of the most terrible crimes. In stunning prose, it shows all too clearly the way war has the ability to make monsters of ordinary people and how neither side, victor or not, will be free of its poison for decades to come. Lamentably, this is all too relevant in today’s world. The Quiet Librarian is exquisitely written, profoundly affecting, and is undoubtedly one of the best books I will read this year.”—Louise Fein, author of The London Bookshop Affair

Praise for Saving Emma

“Ambitious, absorbing, and deeply satisfying.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Superb . . . Eskens delivers carefully calibrated dual plots that give equal attention to both the legal aspects and the domestic storyline. Another Eskens novel to be savored.”—South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“Eskens brilliantly combines legal and personal drama in this stellar standalone mystery. . . . Eskens peppers the thorny, propulsive plot with superior turns of phrase and fully realized characters. Scott Turow fans will be enthralled.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940192019580
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	02/18/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged