The Echo of Old Books: A Novel

The Echo of Old Books (2023) by Barbara Davis is a novel that follows the tragic and mysterious romance of two lovers, Hemi and Belle, who detail their story in conflicting, written accounts. The companion books are found decades later by Ashlyn Greer, a rare book dealer with psychometric abilities, who sets out to unravel the mystery behind the betrayal and heartbreak she senses from the story. The book explores themes of Heartbreak, Tragedy, and Starting Afresh, Two Sides of the Story, and The Power of Found Family.

Barbara Davis is an American author. She began writing women’s fiction after giving up a 15-year career as a corporate executive. Her books feature a blend of mystery, romance, and history. The Echo of Old Books is her eighth novel.

This guide is based on the 2023 Lake Union Publishing Kindle Edition.

Content Warning: This book contains mentions and descriptions of mental illness, death by suicide, and antisemitic sentiments.

Plot Summary

The Echo of Old Books unfolds across two timelines narrated in alternating chapters and interludes. In 1941, an aspiring English writer named Hugh Garret comes to the United States to work on a story about a New York businessman, Martin Manning. With the help of a newspaper mogul, Geraldine “Goldie” Spencer, Hugh attends the engagement party of Martin’s younger daughter, Marian, and the two are immediately drawn to each other. While Hugh initially attempts to get closer to Marian—whom he nicknames “Belle”—to learn more about her father, he soon develops real feelings for her. Marian, who calls Hugh “Hemi,” reciprocates, and the two begin a secret affair. However, Hugh grows unhappy with Marian’s reluctance to break off her engagement to Teddy, which she was forced into by her father. Teddy belongs to a wealthy and prestigious family. When Hugh asks Marian to marry him, they decide to elope to California.

The day before their scheduled departure, Hugh returns home after quitting his job to find that Marian has discovered his story notes for the article he was supposed to write: It is an exposé on her father’s antisemitic and pro-Nazi affiliations, couched in the larger revelation that he abetted the suicide of his wife, Helene, who was French and Jewish. A horrified Marian accuses Hugh of using her for information about her mother and twisting the truth for his own benefit. Hugh reveals that Martin had Helene committed to a mental health facility. Helene experienced depression and died by suicide there, helped along by Martin’s orders that a knife be placed in her room. Even though Hugh has told Goldie that he will not write the piece because of the disturbing turn it has taken, Marian is shaken that Hugh didn’t tell her any of this earlier and leaves in anger.

Hugh goes to the station as planned the next day, but Marian doesn’t show. Meanwhile, a torn Marian struggles to decide what she should do. She eventually pens a note to Hugh informing him of her decision, which she sends to him through Richard Hillard, her older sister Corinne’s son. When she heads to Hugh’s apartment the next day, however, she finds that he has packed up and left, accepting a job as a war correspondent for Goldie. A few days later, the story breaks about Martin and Helene, penned by someone named Steven Schwab. Martin’s businesses and social standing fall apart, and a heartbroken Marian, who discovers that she is pregnant, decides she must start afresh elsewhere.

Marian moves to California and befriends an Austrian woman named Johanna, who fled her country because of the war and lost her husband and son along the way. Johanna, who is also pregnant, dies shortly after giving birth to a daughter. As per Johanna’s wishes, Marian adopts Johanna’s newborn daughter, Ilese, as her own. Johanna also leaves Marian her dead son’s birth certificate, which Marian uses to legitimize her own son, Zachary, pretending he is adopted. Marian and her children visit France after the war, with Marian tracking down her mother’s family. She works with war orphans while there, before eventually returning to America and settling down in Massachusetts. She has no further contact with anyone in her family except Richard and makes no attempt to contact Hugh or tell him about his son—something that Richard disagrees with and constantly pushes her to do.

Thirteen years after their separation, Hugh sends Marian an account he has penned of their relationship, titled Regretting Belle, through Richard. Furious that he has portrayed events as if she were the one who betrayed him, Marian pens a response piece titled Forever, and Other Lies, which she sends back to him. However, she leaves out details about her children. Richard attempts to reconcile the two by organizing a meeting between them without informing Marian. She is irate when she discovers this, and aunt and nephew have a falling out.

After Richard’s death in 1984, his son, Ethan, donates a number of his old books to a vintage boutique. Ashlyn Greer, the owner of a rare books store who is gifted with psychometric abilities, comes across the companion pieces that tell Hemi’s and Belle’s stories. Intrigued by the sense of heartbreak and betrayal coming off the books, as well as the absence of an author or publisher’s name, Ashlyn sets about trying to unravel the mystery. She meets Ethan, who ends up reading the books with her, and they figure out the story is about his great-aunt. After some sleuthing, they manage to contact and meet Marian and learn more about her story, even divining that Zachary is Hugh’s son. Ashlyn encourages Marian to choose forgiveness over anger and reconnect with Hugh; Ashlyn herself has had a tragic past but is opening herself up to love again with Ethan.

Hugh arrives unexpectedly at an awards function where Marian is being felicitated, and the two of them finally talk about everything that happened between them 40 years ago. They discover that Corinne had switched the note that Marian had penned for Hugh, asking him to wait for her, with the one she had penned for Teddy, ending things with him. Marian and Hugh visit Corinne and confront her, and she admits to switching the notes. Hugh further reiterates that he had nothing to do with the article; he was already covering the war by then, but Goldie and Schwab found his old notebook and used it to write about the Mannings. Marian finally reveals the truth about Zachary to Hugh, and although initially furious with her, he sees it as a second chance at a relationship with Marian and a son gained. The two reconcile. The Epilogue shows a now married Marian and Hugh, a newly engaged Ethan and Ashlyn, and other members of Marian’s extended and blended family, gathered together to celebrate Hanukkah.