The Last Library: 'I really loved this . . . a brilliant first novel' Katie Fforde

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However, June's world begins to shift slowly when her library, along with others, is earmarked for closure and the building set to be sold. She is warned that as a council employee, she is forbidden to take part in or get involved with a protest action group that is has been set up to fight the closure, and at the beginning she adheres to this rule. An old schoolfriend, lawyer Alex Chen arrives in town to help run The Golden Dragon, his father is getting a hip operation, and as June recommends books for him to read, she listens to his advice about her quandry and he tells her to ask herself about a favourite fictional character, what would Roald Dahl's Matilda do? This spurs June to help the FOCL (the Friends of Chalcot Library) campaign, giving advice, information and ideas covertly as Matilda, but when a beloved daily library user, Stanley Phelps starts a sit in protest, she openly joins the protests. it may be defined as a romance only on a very secondary level - even in terms of June's specific story progression, it is more of an adapted coming-of-age of sorts. So, she is devastated when she learns that the City Council is planning to close the Charcot library where she works, following in her Mother’s footsteps, after she died a few years ago.

The book is one extended infodump much like that explanation up there, and what it needed most of all is a good, ruthless editor, or at the very least critical beta readers. I am not sure what can be done to improve the prose itself which lumbered along painfully, throwing me out of the story frequently -- other than practice. One of my friends who's now an award-winning author said she needed to write a million words before her books were worth publishing, but I read her work before she got published, and she was already a joy to read, so I am not sure that's true in and of itself. Maybe one needs to read more of what one wants to write? And the practice might need to be targetted and under the supervision of a capable instructor? Anyway, this was not written competently enough for me, alas. Unfortunately, since with that premise I so wanted to like it. There is also one public library left. The last one renaming, after all other libraries have been shut-down, their books burned. The Aylantik government is hell-bent on destroying all those books, and now the last library is about to be shutdown as well. World War I England, a young woman inherits a mysterious library and must untangle its powerful secrets She may be quiet, as she shelves the books that she imagines are whispering their stories to each other, but she always remembers her patrons names, associating them with the books they choose to borrow.And it took to 62% for really anything involving the library to really happen, beyond Ivy's headaches. There was some at the beginning, but it just disappeared. As the Last Librarian says, "Novels hold more contentious ideas and contemplate far more truth than nonfiction." (p. 167) There are some things going on with the council that will come as a surprise to the residents as well as the reader. This is a lovely debut novel from Freya Sampson that zeroes in on the central and critical place a local library has within a community, a timely piece of fiction that reflects contemporary British realities where so many libraries have been closed and so many are under threat. The timid and shy 30 year old June Jones lives on the 1960s Willowmead Estate with her hostile anti-social cat, Alan Bennett. She has lived an entirely predictable and routine life since her mother died 8 years ago, she has withdrawn from the world entirely, reading her books, getting the same takeaway from The Golden Dragon, working as a library assistant under her boss, Marjorie Spencer. She shuns all efforts to get her live, socialise and move on by the likes of her mother's friend and neighbour, Linda.

I simply loved it! I won't write the plot of the book because it'll give the story away! It's not something that I would usually read, but I was drawn in by the title and the beautiful and interesting cover. I'm very happy that I did read it. The Last Chance Library is a heart-squeezing and charming story about grief, love and the power of community. An absolute delight.”— USA Today bestselling author Colleen Oakley Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, the thirty-year-old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother. Ivy has no personality beyond "I like books." She is described as someone that grew up in a tough area and has had to defend herself, etc., but that is never shown, so when she does something "tough" it doesn't ring true. Her whole "relationship" is based on the fact that they like books. I can't. She's also just clueless. She didn't recognize the voices of two of the only servants in her household when they were talking in the kitchen. She also didn't recognize someone because they were wearing different clothes. Ivy also read as a young teen instead of a 20-something adult. OH! She also compares PTSD from the war to being surprised she inherited an estate. So, there's that.She studied History at Cambridge University and in 2018 was shortlisted for the Exeter Novel Prize.