Librarians of Rue De Picardie. Janet Skeslien Charles. 2024.

1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this international group of women helps rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front lines. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that  the French have never seen - children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles, and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.

1987: When aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson while working in the archives of the New York Public Library, she becomes consumed with learning about her fate. In her obsessive research, Wendy discovers that  she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea that their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.