Miss Morgan's Book Brigade

Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles (2024) unfolds across two timelines: beginning in 1918, American librarian Jessie “Kit” Carson works with members of the American Committee for Devastated France to rebuild villages and help civilians during World War I (WWI), bringing literature to devastated French communities; in 1987, aspiring author Wendy Peterson discovers Kit’s forgotten legacy while working in the archives of the New York Public Library. Based on real-life figures and research, the interwoven timelines follow as Kit transforms ambulances into bookmobiles and sets up children’s libraries in the war-torn regions of France, while Wendy uncovers the profound impacts of Kit’s efforts, realizing their shared stories of resilience, the power of community, and the transformative nature of books.

Janet Skeslien Charles is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Paris Library, which also follows a true-life story, about librarians who hand-deliver books to Jewish patrons during World War II in Nazi-occupied Paris. The author once worked at the American Library in Paris and spent a decade researching Jessie Carson.

This guide uses the Simon and Schuster 2024 hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide features depictions of attempted sexual assault and wartime trauma.

Plot Summary

Jessie Carson leaves her job as a librarian at the New York Public Library (NYPL), traveling to the North of France in January of 1918 as a newly hired member of CARD, the American Committee for Devastated France. Her career as a librarian, traveling from coast to coast before getting a job at the NYPL, attracted the attention of philanthropist Anne Morgan and CARD president Anne Murray Dike. While most members come from well-to-do society families, Jessie has little money beyond what CARD pays her. In France, Jessie finds a country devastated by bombs, violence, and privation, but also populated by strong and competent women. Fellow CARD members Lewis, Breckie, and Cookie nickname her “Kit,” and with them she supports and connects with people in the nearby villages.

Kit often lacks confidence and retreats to the “library of [her] mind” to find comfort in books she loves (194), but she must overcome this to help others. Kit meets the proud people who have returned to their land since it was reclaimed from the German army: Madame Petit and her daughter, Jeanne; Sidonie Devereux, who is a recluse mourning her husband and baby daughter; the strict Madame Moreau and her mischievous sons; and her daughter, Marcelle, who at 15 has a mind of her own and idolizes the CARD members. Kit gradually bonds with the people through thoughtful discussions, book loans, and story hours that do as much for the adults as for the children. The CARD members and villagers gradually rebuild the town and their spirits. Breckie and Kit bring Sidonie out of her seclusion, Jeanne Petit meets and gets engaged to a man named Henri, and Marcelle learns to drive as a member of CARD. Kit meets and has a love affair with a soldier named Tom, bonding over their love of books. It is a meaningful romance for her because she is a “spinster” who put her career first despite her mother’s urging to find a husband.

On the day of Jeanne and Henri’s wedding in March, the German army begins a new offensive, and CARD members evacuate the villages again. At a makeshift Army hospital, Kit helps triage injured soldiers and sets up a rest tent where they can talk and read. Kit and Cookie bond over their shared status as CARD “outsiders” who are not heiresses. Kate Lewis arrives with news that Tom has been killed in action; he sent her the last book she loaned him, filled with his comments to her in the margins.

At the end of August, it is deemed safe for the CARD members and villagers to return to Blérancourt. As they rebuild life a second time, the influenza pandemic strikes, infecting many and killing Cookie, whom Kit feels she has just begun to know. In November, the war ends with much celebration, but then Kit receives a telegram from her sister, Mabel; their mother has died from influenza. Kit wants to go home but learns that Anne Morgan has called her “indispensable” to their efforts.

Kit keeps working, training Sidonie, Madame Petit, Marcelle, and other women to be librarians. Together they implement her plan to turn decommissioned ambulances into bookmobiles, bringing story hour to villages across the North of France and helping to rebuild the town library. On one of their travels to a deserted village in the Red Zone, Kit and Marcelle are attacked by an escaped German soldier while stuck on the side of the road. Marcelle saves Kit’s life by smashing the soldier’s head with a jack, but his death haunts her.

The library opening is a huge success, and a library director from Paris offers Kit a job designing a new library there. As her renown spreads, Kit’s old boss from the NYPL, the domineering Winnifred Smythe, pays a visit and tells Kit it’s time to come back to New York. Around the same time, Kit and Marcelle overhear a conversation between Anne Morgan and CARD president Anne Murray Dike in which they consider giving Kit a bonus for her hard work, but then decide against it. These events tell Kit it’s time to move on, and she takes the library job in Paris, bringing Marcelle with her.

Interwoven with Kit’s story is the story of aspiring writer Wendy Peterson, who works at the NYPL and is inspired to research Carson and the CARD members after reading their file in the archives. Wendy mirrors Kit in many ways, including her love of books and difficulty connecting with people; learning Kit’s story helps Wendy build strength and resilience in her own life. She forms new friendships and begins a love affair with Roberto, a librarian; he helps her research the CARD members and Kit’s history until she is able to locate Marcelle Moreau, now 87 and living in New York City. Marcelle helps Wendy fill in her story about the CARD members with important details and agrees to be the first speaker at a new program Wendy has proposed for the NYPL. After her presentation, Marcelle passes Kit’s handkerchief on to Wendy, a symbol of her faith and their enduring connection.