“On December 22, 1941, Colonel William Donovan, head of the Office of Coordinator of Information, America’s newly created centralized intelligence agency, asked President Roosevelt the following, “With your approval, I’d like to establish a committee to acquire enemy newspapers, books, and periodicals for American war agencies. As you’re aware, we’re using the Library of Congress to support the intelligence needs of the COI, but we lack capabilities to acquire Axis documents.” And when Roosevelt asked who would staff this special group, Donovan responded: librarians.
I’m Betty Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and those are some lines from the first chapter of Alan Hlad’s historical novel The Book Spy. The main character, Maria, is a librarian who is sent to neutral Lisbon to find and purchase Axis materials, microfilm and send them to the United States.
One of the book stores where she is able to purchase these materials is owned by Tiago Soares. He and his assistant Rosa secretly forge passports to help Jews fleeing persecution. If they are found out by the local police, they will be imprisoned.
As the story progresses, Maria is asked to work as a secret agent and pass along misinformation about U. S. military plans. The author’s notes say, “During the war, Lisbon was considered the last gate out of Europe. An estimated one million refugees fled there to acquire ship passage to the United States, Canada, or Latin America. But neutral Lisbon was also a city of espionage with their hotels crawling with Allied and Axis spies.”
If you’re looking for a book about the part librarians played in WWII and some of the atrocities that were heaped on those trying to help innocent people escape, then you must read The Book Spy by Alan Hlad.
