The Book of Lost Names

Sixty-three years before the events of Chapter 1, Eva is working on her PhD in English literature at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Like the other Jewish people, she must wear the yellow Star of David on her clothes identifying her as such, a symbol which erases all other aspects of Eva’s identity. She plans to walk home from the library rather than to face the new regulations for Jewish people to ride in the back of the Metro railcar. On the way home, she runs into the object of her affection: Joseph Pelletier, an old childhood friend who also studies literature at the university. Their mothers had known each other since before they were born, but Joseph’s nickname for Eva (“my little book rat”) makes her feel infantilized, even though Joseph is only three years older than her

Joseph has sought her out specifically to warn her of an upcoming German plan to round-up 20,000 foreign-born Jews. As the daughter of Polish immigrants, Eva knows that her parents would fall on that list, though she immediately dismisses Joseph’s concern as she cannot fathom the removal of 20,000 people from the city. As she walks home in the rain, a passerby sees her star and calls her a “dirty Jew” (9).

Over the dinner table, Eva and her parents trade stories of their day. Eva’s mother, whom Eva calls “Mamusia,” expresses concern that Eva is wasting her time at school since the German forces will never allow her to finish. Eva’s father Leo, whom Eva refers to as “Tatuś,” is a renowned typewriter repairman. He shares some of Eva’s optimism yet realizes that the opportunities for Jews in this society are becoming scarce. Eva shares Joseph’s rumor, and both Mamusia and Tatuś find the concept almost impossible, even though notices have been slipped under their door warning of potential danger. After Mamusia goes to sleep, Tatuś tells Eva to escape to the Free Zone, the area of France left by Germans to French rule, if anything happens to them. He has secured false documents for her with the help of his boss, Monsieur Goujon.

Two nights later, a knock at the door awakens Eva and her parents in the middle of the night. Fearing the worst, Eva relaxes when it’s only Madame Fontain, their neighbor. She requests Eva and Mamusia’s assistance in watching her children while she goes to care for her ailing mother. Although Madame Fontain is outwardly prejudiced against Jews, Eva and her mother agree to help, knowing that Madame Fontain’s husband is away at war, and she is very much alone. Eva’s mother encourages her to continue to show kindness to those who might be antisemitic towards her, so that she can continue to show them how wrong they are about Jews.

While at Madame Fontain’s, Eva hears a noise in the hallway and glances through the keyhole to see three French policemen knocking on her family’s apartment door. When Tatuś answers, they interrogate him as to the whereabouts of Eva and Mamusia. The policemen take him into custody along with many of the other neighborhood Jewish people. Eva pulls back Madame Fontain’s curtains and witnesses the Jewish families in her neighborhood getting pushed into trucks by police officers.

With the dawn comes the grim reality that all the Jews in the neighborhood have disappeared without a trace. Mamusia is traumatized by her husband’s abduction which forces Eva to be the rational one in this moment of chaos. Inspired by Madame Fontain’s daughters’ desire to “play dress-up” (22) to feel better, Eva realizes that the only way to get out of Paris is for her and her mother to pretend to be what they are not. Eva knows she must ask Monsieur Goujon to forge papers for her mother as well.

After returning to her apartment to hurriedly pack a bag of their clothes, Eva takes her father’s typewriter down to the police headquarters in the hopes that Monsieur Goujon can use their identity cards to forge new documents, free of the “juive” label. She uses her womanly wiles to get past the predatory German security officer at the front desk, but Monsieur Goujon proves more difficult to convince. Unwilling to risk his safety, Goujon instead gives Eva a stack of blank documents and tells her to use her “gift of artistic skills” (30) to forge them herself. He directs her toward Aurignon, a small town in Vichy France, where volunteers operate in secret to move Jewish children to safety in Switzerland. On her way out, the German officer remarks that the Jewish people deserve what’s coming to them, which leads Eva to respond that certain people will “get what they deserve one day soon” (31).

Eva returns to their apartment to get the final requirement for forged documents: small photographs of each of them for the identity cards. She cuts out their faces from her parents’ anniversary photo and her own from her high school graduation. After giving one final, longing glance at the well-worn and beloved books lining the shelves, Eva leaves to get her mother from the Fontain’s apartment.

She finds Mamusia still in a state of traumatized shock, unable to move. To reach her, Eva reveals the plan: to forge their travel documents under the names of Sabine and Collete Fontain, a risky but reliable idea that provides them with verifiable records if checked. Mamusia doubts her ability to recreate official documents, but Eva makes swift work of it, precisely copying, down to the smudges, the style of their official documents onto the new blank identity and travel cards provided by Monsieur Gougon. She finishes their two sets of documents and starts working on her father’s false set in case they are able to find him, but Madame Fontain suddenly returns, putting an end to Eva’s illegal activity.

Madame Fontain is unapologetically rude and seems surprised that Eva and Mamusia have escaped the round-up by the French officers. She orders them to leave immediately, since their presence puts her in the “position of harboring fugitives” (40). Though Mamusia attempts to rebel against Madame Fontain’s remark of relief that the police at least “got one of [them]” (41), Eva pushes her out the door, knowing time is of the essence.