The Quiet Librarian: A Novel

by Allen Eskens

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.

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.

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316566315
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	02/18/2025
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Allen Eskens is the USA Today bestselling author of The Life We Bury, which has been published in twenty-six languages, and eight other novels, most recently Saving Emma, Forsaken Country,The Stolen Hours, The Shadows We Hide, and Nothing More Dangerous. His books have won the Barry Award, the Rosebud Award, the Silver Falchion Award, and the Minnesota Book Award. Eskens is a former criminal defense attorney and lives with his wife, Joely, in greater Minnesota.

Editorial Reviews

01/06/2025

This uneven dual timeline thriller from Eskens (Saving Emma) toggles between present day Minnesota and the war in Bosnia. In early 1990s Yugoslavia, Nura Divjak lives with her Muslim parents and younger brother in a farmhouse near Tuzla (in what is now Bosnia). When her family is murdered by Serbian soldiers, Nura joins the Bosnian army and falls in love with a fellow soldier named Adem. During an ambush, Nura is captured and meets a woman named Amina Junuzović in prison. After Adem dies in battle, Amina helps Nura escape, and together, the pair flee to the United States, where Amina gives birth to Sara, the daughter of a Serb who raped her, and Nura reinvents herself as a meek librarian named Hana. Thirty years later, when Amina is thrown off her balcony, “Hana” becomes Nura once again, determined to hunt down the killer before he comes after Dylan, Amina’s grandson. Nura first teams up with a handsome detective, then takes justice into her own hands, with dramatic results. Eskens strains to connect his past and present timelines, with a weak romance plot and a limp through line about Nura’s affinity for building traps—first for hunting food, then for hunting her adversaries—failing to raise the cumbersome present-day sections to the level of the fast-paced, well-researched historical chapters. It’s a mixed bag. Agent: Amy Cloughley, Kimberly Cameron & Assoc. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"A searing and timely story of regret, retribution, and reinvention, set against a powerfully drawn backdrop of war and suffused with the reminder that we always have within us the power to light the way to a better tomorrow."—Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Daughter

“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

“No typical whodunit, this is an intense and emotional story about grief, loss, and the horrors of war. . . . Hana is a compelling character readers can’t help but root for, even if they disagree with her actions. This book is perfect for fans of intense mysteries and those who like fiction featuring real-life history.”—Booklist (starred)

“Eskens renders a searing suspense of wartime that chronicles the loss of homeland and family, with an utterly unforgettable heroine and her heartbreaking journey for retribution. Potent and exquisitely written, The Quiet Librarian comes to life in brutal war-torn Bosnia and present-day Minnesota with a shocking conclusion that will leave you breathless."—Kim Michele Richardson, New York Times bestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek series

“Allen Eskens is such a gifted writer, and all of his books succeed at doing their part in explaining the human condition through authentic characters whose feelings ring true. The Quiet Librarian is no exception and uses the horrors of war as a backdrop for readers to submit to a deeply layered tale of grief and pain. Most of his novels utilize his home state of Minnesota as a setting, and switching off between there and Bosnia lends additional credibility to a story that you will not soon forget.”—BookReporter

"In The Quiet Librarian, Allen Eskens brings readers a suspenseful, heartrending story of friendship, strength and endurance, set against a history too rarely explored in fiction. This is a truly breathtaking read from a masterful storyteller and one I cannot recommend highly enough."—Kelly Rimmer, New York Times bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say

"Fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale or Kate Quinn’s books will be caught up in this violent story of a courageous woman."—Library Journal (starred review)

"The Quiet Librarian is a devastating and engrossing novel, a breathtaking thriller that gets to the complex heart of grief, regret, and re-invention. Hana Babic is an absolutely unforgettable main character."—Lou Berney, USA Today bestselling author of Dark Ride

“Rich in detail and perfectly paced, Allen Esken’s The Quiet Librarian immerses readers in an often forgotten war, but also takes us on an emotional journey with a gutsy protagonist who is suddenly forced to step out of the shadows to settle an old score when her past unexpectedly comes calling. Mystery, history, and a kick-ass female lead—what’s not to love!?”—Barbara Davis, bestselling author of The Echo of Old Books

“This book has it all—a fast-paced, spellbinding mystery, a terrifying war tale, a truly fascinating, heroic protagonist that confronts her past trauma and sets it right. Just terrific.”—Christina Kovac, Author of The Cutaway

"A searing novel of one woman's ferocious courage during a bloody conflict the world has tried to forget; a story of enduring friendship between two women, sacrifice and secrets held for decades, and one final, desperate act to save an innocent child."
 —Kathleen Kent, author of Black Wolf

"Hana Babic is a ghost in every sense of the word until she hears news that threatens her solitary existence and for her past to bleed into her present. The Quiet Librarian is a beautifully written, harrowing account of the lengths one will go to keep a secret and the horrors that await when the shadows come to light."—David Swinson, author of Sweet Thing and the Frank Marr Trilogy

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)

From the Publisher

★ 01/31/2025

In 1995, Bosnian Muslim teen Nura Divjak watched Serbian soldiers slaughter her parents and younger brother while she hid. Fleeing her home to avenge her family's deaths, Nura joined a militia group to take guerilla action against the Serbs, becoming a fierce fighter known as the Night Mora. When she's captured, she assists another teen, Amina, in a daring escape, and the two are sent from the country for their safety. Given a new identity as Hana Babic, she ends up in Farmington, MN, where she hides as a librarian. Then a police detective informs her that Amina has been murdered and has left her grandson in Hana's custody. With a warrant out for her arrest in Serbia, Hana realizes that her past has caught up to her, and now it's up to her to protect Amina's grandson and finally take revenge on the men hunting her. VERDICT Eskens's (The Life We Bury) novel alternates between two timelines: 1995 Bosnia and present-day Minnesota to tell the brutal story of war and its repercussions 30 years later. Fans of Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale or Kate Quinn's books will be caught up in this violent story of a courageous woman.—Lesa Holstine

Library Journal

Narrator Ilvana Muratovic's Bosnian heritage adds power to Eskens's extraordinary historical novel of the 1990s War in Bosnia and its repercussions. Muratovic gives Hana Babic, a Bosnian now living in Minnesota, a subtle accent. It soon becomes clear that Hana's secret past, buried for the last 30 years, threatens to resurface and upend her quiet life. As the story flashes back to Bosnia in the 1990s, Muratovic's accent becomes more pronounced. That part of the story involves Nura Divjak, a 15-year-old girl whose life was upended when war came to her family farm in the mountains of Bosnia. The intertwining of these tales of family, war, revenge, and redemption has powerful lessons we can learn from today. N.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2025 - AudioFile