The novel begins through the eyes of Eva Traube Abrams, an 86-year-old widowed library worker. While processing book returns, she spots a picture in the New York Times of a book she last saw “six decades ago” and that “meant everything to [her]” (1). Along with the photograph is an article about a German librarian who is trying to reunite books that the Nazis stole during World War II with their original owners. Eva knows that this book, Epitres et Evangiles—which translates to Epistles and Gospels in English—once belonged to her and Rémy, a man she knew long ago when she lived in France.

Eva’s thoughts turn to tomorrow’s date—the eighth of May, known as VE (Victory in Europe) Day, the sixtieth anniversary of Allied victory against Hitler and Nazi Germany. She ponders how many people she and Rémy saved together during those horrible times. The memories are clear but painful. Through her tears, she reads the article in the newspaper about Otto Kühn, the Berlin librarian who uncovered the book in the German library and became fascinated with the intriguing code within its pages.

After being ridiculed about her age and senility by the library’s assistant manager Jenny, Eva decides to take the newspaper and go home, utterly consumed by the emergence of this relic from her past life.