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The Marshalltown Public Library invites members of the community to a program at either 2 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 22 in the library's Matt Perkins Lounge to discuss the 2026 Adult All Iowa Reads title, "The Quiet Librarian," by Allen Eskens.
This program is free and open to the public, and library staff will lead the discussion. Copies of the book are available to borrow at the Checkout Desk.
Hana Babic is a quiet, middle-aged librarian in Minnesota who wants nothing more than to be left alone. But when a detective arrives with the news that her best friend has been murdered, Hana knows that something evil has come for her, a dark remnant of the past she and her friend had shared. Thirty years before, Hana was someone else: Nura Divjak, a teenager growing up in the mountains of war-torn Bosnia--until Serbian soldiers arrived to slaughter her entire family before her eyes. The events of that day thrust Nura into the war, leading her to join a band of militia fighters, where she became not only a fierce warrior but a legend--the deadly Night Mora. But a shattering final act forced Nura to flee to the United States with a bounty on her head. Now, someone is hunting Hana, and her friend has paid the price, leaving her eight-year-old grandson in Hana's care. To protect the child without revealing her secret, Hana must again become the Night Mora--and hope she can find the killer before the past comes for them, too.