THE QUIET LIBRARIAN

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 [Published: JANUARY 2025]