The Quiet Librarian

In the present timeline, Hana goes downstairs to her workout room. After immigrating, she struggled with anger and depression. She purchased a heavy boxing bag and began to box in order to manage her emotions. Amina, on the other hand, sought out therapy for her PTSD. Hana cautioned her against it, arguing that no one needed to know her secrets. Claypool has the name of Amina’s therapist, and Hana hopes that Amina provided no incriminating information. She wonders if she should tell him about Zaim. Claypool does not know his name, and Hana thinks that if he did, he might be able to give her more information. Hana no longer uses her birth name, but she is sure that if Amina was truthful with her therapist, Claypool will identify her. She worries that he will then feel that it is his duty to report her. She knows that she would be deported and would likely die in a Serbian prison. Still, she needs his help. Recalling the day on which Natasja cut her hair and she donned army fatigues, she heads to the local mall. She needs to channel the same feeling of power that long-ago makeover had given her. She gets a chin-length haircut and selects black pants and a flattering black blouse in addition to a pair of heels. Then, she calls Claypool and asks to meet.

In a flashback, Nura becomes increasingly drawn to Adem, and the attraction seems mutual. She begins to do calisthenics with him and a few of the other soldiers in the morning. She learns how to drive supply trucks, use a compass, and shoot various firearms. One day, Adem takes her on a picnic, and they shyly hold hands for the first time. He tells her about his experiences before the war. He worked in a shoe factory in Banja Luka, a city in Bosnia with a Serbian majority. The Serbs began to target civilians, and one of the soldiers crushed his uncle’s hand with a hammer. That was when he joined Kovać’s rag-tag group of soldiers in the hills, hoping to defend his country.

In the present timeline, Claypool does not recognize Hana when she arrives at the restaurant. When he realizes it is her, he compliments her on her appearance. She notes that he also looks good and tells him so. The restaurant is nice, and Hana orders wine mostly to loosen Claypool’s tongue. She explains that she can help him locate Zaim but that she would like to know why he is looking into Amina’s therapist. After a tense exchange in which he reminds her that she is a witness and he a detective, he admits that Amina’s therapist’s records were recently stolen by someone who began to blackmail the therapist’s other patients. Claypool wonders if Zaim was part of that scam. Hana tries not to panic: Amina swore that she would never identify Hana in her therapy sessions. Still, she is surer than ever that there is a bounty hunter searching for her.

In the past, Adem and Nura go on another picnic. He tells her that their unit will be reassigned to the main Bosnian army and perhaps sent to Srebrenica. The Serbs have the city surrounded, and there are rumors that it will soon fall. Nura hopes to be able to fight alongside him. The two kiss and then spend the evening talking before heading back to the command center.

In the present timeline, Claypool and Hana continue to flirt and talk. She has never dated because she cannot run the risk of her real identity coming out. She learns that Claypool was married, but the relationship ended in a divorce because he spent too much time at work. He used to believe that his job made a difference, but then he lost his faith during a difficult case: A young girl was killed in a gang shooting, and no one would testify against the shooter. The girl’s father killed his daughter’s murderer, and Claypool had to arrest him. After that, Claypool felt like he was just going through the motions. Hana wishes that she could tell him more about herself, but she remains mostly quiet. After dinner, he almost kisses her but explains that to do so would be crossing a professional line.

In a flashback, Nura drives one of the trucks in the convoy to Srebrenica. She is initially nervous, but Adem’s presence calms her. On the way, Serbian forces attack them. There is a loud firefight, and Nura shoots two Serbian soldiers. Captain Kovać is wounded, and their unit’s physician dies. Adem, Enes, and Natasja survive.

In the present, Hana picks up a tearful Dylan from his temporary foster home. He reminds her so much of her long-dead brother, Danis, that spending time with him and Amina was always difficult for Hana. She puts her own feelings aside, however, when Dylan runs crying into her arms.

In the past, Nura heads into the hills to make sure that the men she shot are dead. The first is clearly dead, but the second is still alive. She angrily asks why, given the fact that he is wearing a wedding ring, he is out in the hills killing Bosnians and not at home with his family. He asks for her mercy and tells her that he has two children. She becomes even more enraged and explains that he killed her family. He notes that it was not him who fired the bullets and asks if he is meant to answer for other people’s crimes. She explains that all the Serbs are equally guilty for each death that they cause. She feels pity for him and even gives him water as he is dying, but she realizes that he would kill her if he were able. He prays quietly to himself, and then she fatally shoots him and moves on.

In the present timeline, Hana takes Dylan to Dairy Queen. She explains that his mother is dead, but she says that she loves him very much and that he is going to live with her. She promises to always protect him. The two then head to the Bosnian Community Center in Minneapolis to arrange for Amina’s funeral. There, she enquires about Zaim and learns that he has was once a member of the community but is no longer welcome there. The man whom Hana speaks with tells her that Zaim is dishonorable; after several complaints from women, community members looked into his history. There is no record of him before the war, and they now believe that he is a Serb who stole the identity of a deceased Bosnian man from Srebrenica.

In the past, Nura and her unit move to a new camp. Kovać does not survive his wounds but tells Nura before he dies that she did well driving the truck and has become a real soldier. Life in their new camp is more regimented than in their previous one, but Nura adjusts. One day, Natasja tells her that Srebrenica has fallen: The Serbs entered the city, separated the men and women, and bussed the women out. They systematically shot the men and boys and buried them in a mass grave. One boy survived by pretending to be dead, and it is from him that the Bosnian army heard the story. The unit of Serbian soldiers that carried out this mass killing, the Scorpions, have decamped to a nearby town. Natasja and Nura are to be sent there to gather information. If their identities are discovered, they will be tortured, or worse.

In the present timeline, one of the women at the community center, Berina, helps Hana write an obituary for Amina. During their conversation, Hana discovers that Berina once dated Zaim. Berina confesses that she was a prisoner at the now-infamous Vilina Vlas, a disused hotel that was repurposed by the Serbian army to house captured women who were subjected to repeated sexual assault by Serbian soldiers. During one dark night, Berina persuaded a soldier to rape another girl instead of herself. The girl was killed after being raped. Berina confided her guilt to Zaim, and he blackmailed her. She tells Hana that Zaim might be hiding out on a small, rural property that he knows. Hana does her best to comfort Berina: Vilina Vlas is infamous, and she is well aware of the horrific abuses that took place there. She thanks her for the information and decides to set out for Zaim’s property.

In the past timeline, Adem is upset to hear that Nura will be part of their unit’s reconnaissance mission, but he tells her that he and Enes will be their extraction team. He promises to get her and Natasja out safely. Nura reflects that if it were not for the war, they would have just married quietly and shared a life together. They would have lived in a small village and raised children together. They are both afraid that they will not survive the mission, and neither wants to die without having consummated their relationship. In the woods beyond camp, they have sex for the first time and spend the rest of the night talking.