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

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The characters are the highlight of this delightful book. Clara, a war widow, had every reason to be bitter. She disregards her ‘imposed upon’ obligations and her losses and channels her energy into providing equal opportunity books to everyone in the secret community. Ruby has a big heart and puts others before herself, desperately wanting to hide her inner unhappiness and loss. You’ll be in awe of the sense of community the author creates and come to love many of the library patrons. Based on real life events, Kate Thompson has penned a beautifully written fictional story, which oozes strength and courage, resilience, resistance, and defiance. And the mainstay at the heart of this story is Clara Button.

And we see how books such as The Wind in the Willows, Rebecca, Treasure Island, and Gone with the Wind gave vital respite from the deadly blitz and the resulting tragic deaths; from grief over loved ones lost on the battlefield; from domestic violence, sexual assaults, and other crimes that ensued as before. Bunk beds in the tunnels at Bethnal Green underground station: Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives Clara and Ruby run the underground library after the overground library was bombed, There is a whole community living in the Underground Station and the library helps foster the community spirit. They try to encourage children into storytime sessions and get books out to the women working long hours. There's an assumption - an unfair one - that if you work in a library, you are a cardigan-wearing introvert. Bethnal Green Library, where my novel is set, is one hundred years old this year, so I set myself the goal of interviewing one hundred library workers. From post-war librarians, to feminist and activist librarians, school librarians to Britain's oldest library reading volunteer, qualified and unqualified, all share one thing in common, a passionate belief in the power of books and reading to change lives.A]splendid warm-hearted novel of wartime resilience and romance. bestselling author of A Beautiful Spy Rachel Hore

This book made me so angry. Angry at the closed minds and attitudes against women, reading and children. Mr Pinkerton-Smythe is just one example of the judgmental and wrong attitudes that abound. Sadly, it is not only the men either. Some of the women’s blinkered attitudes are just as bad. The other thing that made me my blood boil is the horror that is war and the lives lost. And the blind eye turned to the abuse dished out to women on a regular basis by their husbands. Young childless widow Clara Button is doing her bit for the war effort, running Britain’s only Underground Shelter Library.... Our barbarous foes may be hell-bent on burning London to the ground, but beneath the city’s surface, Mrs. Button calmly carries on stamping books and ensuring everyone has a thumping good read to take their mind off the bombs." Amongst the plethora of WW2 stories, The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson is a shining beacon of factual truth, authenticity and beautifully written fiction.

Kate Thompson редуваше лекотата на общуването между всички герои със страшните моменти на обреченост. Толкова много мили персонажи загинаха безпричинно и заради това, че бяха на неподходящо място в неточния момент. Но както винаги живите трябва да продължат напред , дори ако едва преодоляват загубата, спомена или болката!

Contrary to popular belief, during the Second World War, not all shelterers slept in an amorphous huddle on a dirty Underground platform. The history of World War Two is full of surprises, mostly tales of unspeakable deprivation, sacrifice and bloodshed, but just occasionally, magic. This is a story about love, loss, forgiveness, acceptance, sacrifice, the importance of the human bond, having faith in oneself, finding your place and purpose in life. There was mystery, suspense, history, and of course so much about the amazing institution of the Library. This takes us into the heart and soul of what it means to be a part of something bigger than oneself. Libraries in converted shops, in village halls, in mobile vans, are common enough. But libraries in Tube shelters are something new under the sun,” Stanley wrote with pride.Informative and enlightening, heart-wrenching yet hopeful, this is a story that will stay with me. Fans of historical fiction and stories revolving around libraries would certainly enjoy this novel.