The Library of Leaving takes us to 1920s Switzerland, where American librarian Helen Fox has created a quiet life cataloguing collections left behind by diplomats and expatriates. That carefully controlled existence is disrupted when she receives part of a manuscript written by a man she knew during the First World War.

Helen met the author while volunteering as a nurse at a camp for wounded Allied soldiers, and his supposedly fictional story contains details that come dangerously close to her own past. As more of the manuscript arrives, she has to confront the decisions she made during the war and the relationships she thought she had left behind.

I loved the idea of someone's former lover essentially writing a book about their relationship and forcing them to revisit a version of their own history. The different forms of storytelling also raise interesting questions about memory and whether the person writing the story gets to decide what becomes the truth.

The literary references were another highlight for me, particularly with Helen being a librarian and books playing such an important part in her life. I also liked that the supporting characters were given enough depth to make their own stories feel important rather than existing purely around Helen.

The structure did occasionally make the story feel longer than necessary, and I think some sections could have been more concise. However, there is plenty of mystery surrounding Helen's wartime past and what might eventually be revealed.

A very bookish historical story combining wartime secrets, romance and betrayal with an interesting exploration of how the stories we read and write can reshape the way a life is remembered.

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