The Book of Lost Names

Young, handsome, and daring, Rémy’s love and care for Eva is present from their very first interaction. He is a man willing to sacrifice himself for the good of mankind, not just his religion or nationality. Although he can be hot-headed and emotional, these traits only reveal a passionate character, and it is this passion that extends past Eva to the country that requires his assistance. Like Eva, he puts his personal desires aside to answer a greater call. Also like Eva, he never loses sight of the true love they found, even if it takes them 60 years to return to it.

In a manner similar to that of Père Clément, Rémy cannot live with himself by doing nothing while acts of injustice rage on. He chooses to put himself on the frontlines of the dangerous resistance instead of remaining in the safe confines of the church library forging documents. He prefers to take an active role rather than a passive one. Even when the opportunity to remain safe in Switzerland with Eva presents itself, Rémy chooses to return to the front lines in the battle against the Nazis. A man of his word and a daring hero, Rémy’s choice to continually risk his life for strangers facing a hostile world defines his character as noble and just.

Although he is a main character, he is not a dynamic one—there is not much change in Rémy from beginning to end, as his principles remain grounded from the moment of his first introduction. Eva is drawn to this captivating integrity and trustworthiness, as are the children he has sworn to protect on their travels to the Swiss border. He also serves as the example of unconditional love for Eva when her mother casts her aside, and he completes her story by the end of the novel long after she has erased those memories from her mind.

Mamusia, Eva’s mother and Tatuś’s wife, is a woman who becomes emotionally unmoored shortly after the novel begins. Although she and Tatuś emigrated from Poland to France many years ago, her mind remains locked in a perfect world that has remained untouched by the war. With her husband’s arrest, Mamusia loses all ability to rationalize, remaining bound to the illusion she creates.

As their paths intersect with the various citizens of Aurignon, and as Eva becomes more involved with the resistance, Mamusia’s judgment and condemnation of different faiths and ideas permeate every conversation she has with her daughter. Intent on believing that her husband is still alive, she jeopardizes her relationship with Eva constantly by placing the blame for their condition solely on Eva’s shoulders. She is a harsh critic of Père Clément and Rémy, unable to move past their Catholic faith, even as they risk their own lives to save other Jews like her. Mamusia is unable to recognize the good in people; she wishes Eva would cast Rémy aside due to his faith and choose Joseph, who is a good Jewish prospect in her mind, not seeing the true character of Joseph that lies within. While she is a bitter and jaded character, she too is redeemed by her death, as her final words on the execution block show the pride she had in Eva that she could never admit out loud.

Père Clément, the kindly priest of Église Saint-Alban in Aurignon, first approaches Eva with the desire to gain her assistance in forging documents for the French resistance. He is a young man with a servant’s heart who acts as one of the liaisons between the resistance fighters and the forgers. Although he is not much older than Eva, he is both a surrogate father and a spiritual father to her, even though his Catholic faith does not represent her own.

Père Clément is the central figure of faith in a war that was created to destroy faith. He is the human embodiment of the spirit and character of all believers. He first broaches to Eva the idea of dying for one’s virtue, as he would “rather die knowing [he] tried to do the right thing than live knowing [he] had turned [his] back” (162). Like any good Christian, his faith is tested in the concentration camp after his arrest, but he walks through the cleansing fire just as the Christian Bible teaches in the Book of Isaiah: “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” He returns only smelling of fire, as Eva notices, because his faith and purity have protected him.

Madame Barbier, a “short, portly woman in a dotted housedress” with “spiky and wild grey hair” (51) is suspicious but initially accommodating when Eva and Mamusia arrive in Aurignon. She is the proprietress of the local boardinghouse, and as such, her knowledge of what goes on in her town is profound. Proud and powerful, she points out the path to the resistance for Eva and becomes a surrogate mother to her when Mamusia falls apart. Madame Barbier has lost her husband and son to the war, but she symbolizes the strength and fortitude inherent in the women of Aurignon, all of whom have lost loved ones but not their desire to fight back against an inhumane regime.

A former schoolmate and friend of Eva’s from Paris, Joseph has spent his entire life close to Eva and her family, building a bond of trust and friendship. He is Eva’s first crush, and the knowledge of this is not lost on him; he is flirtatious, charming, and presents himself as the perfect young man. Joseph’s initial warning about the arrests of Jews in Paris alerts Eva and her family to the dangers ahead of them.

When Eva next sees Joseph, now in his mid-twenties, he goes by the alias Gérard Faucon and is a leader of the French resistance. His character has not changed—he is still flirtatious with her, perhaps more so due to the emotional nature of their work. His relationship with Geneviève, another forger, and his work as a leader of the underground makes him appear trustworthy and noble, but his outer façade is just a ruse for the coward underneath. When captured by the Germans for holding false ration cards, Joseph betrays the entire resistance, leading to the arrest and death of many of those he once called friends. He shoots Geneviéve in the stomach and attempts to kill Eva, but before he can do so he is shot in the head by Erich, the German officer working with the resistance. Ultimately, he turns into a vicious animal who threatens to torture Eva and “relish the opportunity” (347). A once good man, Joseph’s choice to betray his friends to save his own life runs counter to the integrity of the other members of the resistance who die for the cause. He dies a traitor to his friends and country.

Erich is a young, blond-haired, blue-eyed officer—a quintessential Nazi in looks but not in character. Although he aids in the genocide of the Jews for the first few years of the war as a soldier, Erich’s inherent sense of right and wrong prevents him from continuing under the Nazi regime, and he works alongside Père Clément as a spy for the resistance. Without Erich’s knowledge of German plans and movement, the resistance would never have been able to save so many children.

Although he has saved so many, Erich can never overcome the despicable and horrific acts he once committed as a Nazi officer, even though he has asked for and has been granted peace and forgiveness by Père Clément. When he saves Eva’s life by shooting Joseph, he turns the gun on himself, knowing that only torture and death await him at the hands of his former Nazi officers. His decision to save Eva symbolizes his personal redemption, as he “come[s] to terms with what eternity will hold for [him]” (349). Unlike Joseph, Erich represents a man who makes the correct, moral choice in times of war, even under the risk of execution.

These women of Aurignon make up the supporting network of the French resistance. By relying on their respective roles in society as covers, they are able to negotiate deals and protection for the men, women, and children fighting against the Nazis. After the local network falls, these women are all tragically executed by the Nazi officers once in captivity.

Ultimately, these women symbolize the fact that it takes a village—literally, in their case—to make a difference in the fight against evil. There is no role small enough to be insignificant. Without their daily sacrifices and the ultimate sacrifice of their lives, the Jewish children would never have made it to safety. Their arrest and summary execution counter Joseph’s arrest: When he is cornered by the Nazis, he betrays the resistance; when they are cornered by the Nazis, they give their lives for those who trust them.

Geneviève, though a minor character, plays a major role in Eva’s salvation. Brought in as a replacement forger when Rémy leaves to fight with the resistance, Geneviève works alongside Eva for the last half of the novel. She is a 26-year-old beauty with “a wavy black bob […] long legs, and good looks that might have made her a star” (225). She is also a woman without a family, as her brother died in the early years of the war and her parents followed soon after in their grief. Because of this, Geneviève is a woman with nothing to lose. Although she and Joseph have a short love affair, he betrays her, shooting her and leaving her for dead when she refuses to give up Eva’s location. Like so many other characters in the text, Geneviève chooses the moral and virtuous path over happiness, knowing that it is the only thing she can possibly do.

Eva’s father Tatuś is a Polish immigrant to France and a well-renowned typewriter repairman. He instills in Eva a love of books and education, inspiring her to pursue her dreams always—a skill that aids her when it comes to forging documents. His arrest and subsequent removal to Auschwitz—and the sense of the unknown surrounding his fate—influence the relationship between Mamusia and Eva for the remainder of the novel.

One of the major twists at the end of the novel involves Tatuś, as he is one of the few to survive Auschwitz and be liberated by Allied troops, proving that Mamusia’s intuition had been right all along. He returns a shell of the man he once was: “[H]e couldn’t have weighed more than fifty kilos. His cheeks looked sunken and carved out of bone; his hair had gone gray and his beard was patchy” (353). He grants Eva absolution from the guilt she carries about Mamusia’s death, and though his own death from lung cancer is not far away, Tatuś encourages her to live her life to the fullest.