The Little Wartime Library: A gripping, heart-wrenching WW2 page-turner based on real events

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It helped children to learn to read, to come to terms with loss of family to help those living in the underground to bear the long hard years that war brought to their homes and cities. The almost furtive joy of being able to borrow books to read for free, and the emotional liberation and adventure this ability confers, suffuses every chapter of this novel. Reading this story made me realise how much I missed out on by not having access to a library growing up.

Alongside issuing books, chatting to the lonely, running a nightly storytime for the children sleeping down the shelter and a reading group that causes a stir, there are laughter, tears, company and moral support for all. While I enjoyed the story of Clara and Ruby -- our little library protectors and guardians, I must say that the notes at the end of the book really elevated the experience for me.The Little Wartime Library follows two brave and engineering women who control an underground library in the heat of World War Two. Beautifully written with emotion this story is based on true events is heart-breaking and heart-warming at the same time as we see Clara and Ruby stand up for the people who need this library, Clara is the most caring person as is Ruby both have been through so much and deserve happiness.

in East London Clara has created the the country's only underground library, built over the tracks in the disused Bethnal Green tube station. I loved getting to know the people who live in this underground world, I cried with them and cheered them one, anyone who loves reading and loves a library must read this story, it truly shows what a library means to so many people. There are moments of terrible suffering through the impact of war, balanced by light-hearted banter and humour.Overall: happily and highly recommend this gripping and engaging novel for any reader who enjoys historical fiction and/or novels that show a deep appreciation for librarians and literature. Clara and Ruby must come together to battle the enemies from within to keep their little library open. With a hearty author’s note, a select bibliography, a segment on the true story of the Bethnal Green Library and the fight to save it, along with a ‘Read for Victory’ bonus piece, I appreciated all the extra flourishes contained in this text. However, I can’t say that I had a problem with the breadth of this title at all, it was an easy page turner in all honesty.

The library played such a big part in their lives and all the emotions that came through the book so well and so vividly in the story made me laugh and cry. The Little Wartime Library is based on the real underground Library ingeniously created in the unfinished Bethnal Green Underground station ("knocked together on fifty bob and a wing and a prayer”) when the real public library is destroyed by a bomb. We may not have had the bibliobus that the East Enders had, but our community had a book bicycle that travelled between communities to the shut-ins. This October [2022] Bethnal Green Library – now firmly reinstated above ground – celebrates its centenary and its astonishing history as a symbol of resistance. During the war, Bethnal Green Library was destroyed and the tube station became an underground library and safe haven for all in Londons East End.There was even a mobile hairdresser, who used to come down the tunnels doing people’s hair out in rags before bed so they woke up with nice curly hair. This is the first of many battles that Clara and Ruby have with their snooty boss, Mr Pinkerton-Smythe, who has the temerity to dismiss Clara as “just a Children’s librarian” and soon find himself on the wrong side of half of Bethnal Green! Despite losing her mentor, Clara Button and her assistant Ruby Munroe open an underground library and a sanctuary in London's East End. Our barbarous foes may be hell-bent on burning London to the ground, but beneath the city’s surface, Mrs. The history of World War Two is full of surprises, mostly tales of unspeakable deprivation, sacrifice and bloodshed, but just occasionally, magic.

Can you imagine growing up in a tube station, your childhood unfolding next to the tracks, all your rites of passage taking place in the booking hall or along the tunnels? Clara must fight some adversity and people who are against what she is trying to do, as the war drags on Clara’s strength is tested many times over but she never gives up, with the Germans dropping their new bombs many people from the underground are affected and there are many tears shed. There was some great supporting characters too and through them the reader learns more about the war and social attitudes towards women at the time, some of which made my blood boil. The entire idea behind this novel – not just highlighting the remarkable library but the community at large, the war effort, the community spirit, the resilience, the love of books and so much more = is just brilliant. Based on the real history of the Bethnal Green Library, Thompson’s book reveals that although COVID and The Blitz are both very different, the effect on reading has been the same.I read THE LITTLE WARTIME LIBRARY in two sittings, left in awe by this inspiring story that remains with me still. Kate Thompson’s exploration of what the ‘little’ person can achieve in the face of adversity is truly inspirational. Along with her glamorous best friend and assistant librarian, Ruby Munroe, Clara ensures the library is the beating heart of life underground. While the world above remains at war, here in East London, the country's only underground library, built over the tracks in the disused Bethnal Green tube station is open for business. Six people are pulled dead from the scorched wreckage, eviscerated by Hitler’s first ‘revenge weapon’.