Publisher Description
The New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the “captivating, richly drawn” (Woman’s World) The Paris Library returns with a brilliant new novel based on the true story of Jessie Carson—the American librarian who changed the literary landscape of France.
1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild destroyed French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.
1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.
Based on the extraordinary little-known history of the women who received the Croix de Guerre medal for courage under fire, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, the power of literature, and ultimately the courage it takes to make a change.
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About Janet Skeslien Charles
Janet Skeslien Charles is the author of the New York Times bestselling The Paris Library. Her work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. For her book Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade, she has spent a decade researching Jessie Carson at the Morgan Library, the New York Public Library, and in archives across France. Her shorter work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Sydney Morning Herald, Literary Hub, and the anthology Montana Noir. To connect, visit her website JSkeslienCharles.com, @JSkeslienCharles on Instagram, or @SkeslienCharles on Twitter.
About the Narrators
Cassandra Campbell has won multiple Audie Awards, Earphones Awards, and the prestigious Odyssey Award for narration. She was been named a “Best Voice” by AudioFile magazine and in 2018 was inducted in Audible’s inaugural Narrator Hall of Fame.
Marin Ireland is a voice artist who has won five Earphones Awards as well as the prestigious Audie Award for Best Female Narration in 2020. She is an award-winning actress known for her starring role in the Broadway show Reasons to Be Pretty, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. She has appeared in a number of off-Broadway shows and television series, including Homeland, Unforgettable, The Killing, The Following, and others.
Emily Tremaine is an actress and audiobook narrator. She has acted in several major motion pictures, including The Wolf of Wall Street and Obvious Child, and was one of the narrators featured on the audio version of Chuck Klosterman’s Eating the Dinosaur.