The Little Wartime Library, Kate Thompson
The Little Wartime Library, Kate Thompson
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

The Little Wartime Library

Author: Kate Thompson

Narrator: Sarah Durham

Unabridged: 12 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Forever

Published: 02/21/2023


Synopsis

An uplifting and inspiring novel based on the true story of a librarian who created an underground shelter during World War II, perfect for readers of The Paris Library or The Last Bookshop in London. 

London, 1944: Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While war ravages the city above her, Clara has risked everything she holds dear to turn the Bethnal Green tube station into the country’s only underground library. Down here, a secret community thrives with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café, and a theater—offering shelter, solace, and escape from the bombs that fall upon their city.

          Along with her glamorous best friend and assistant Ruby Munroe, Clara ensures the library is the beating heart of life underground. But as the war drags on, the women's determination to remain strong in the face of adversity is tested to the limits when it may come at the price of keeping those closest to them alive.

About Kate Thompson

Kate Thompson an award-winning journalist, ghostwriter and novelist who has spent the past two decades in the UK mass market and book publishing industry. Over the past eight years Kate has written eleven fiction and non-fiction titles, three of which have made the Sunday Times top ten bestseller list.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Karren on March 06, 2023

During the first week of the blitz, the Bethnal Green library was destroy, due to the war, construction of the Bethnal Green tube station had stopped and the vast empty space wasn’t being used. Despite losing her mentor, Clara Button and her assistant Ruby Munroe open an underground library and a sa......more

Goodreads review by Darla on February 17, 2023

Do you love books that celebrate the community benefits from libraries? Then you will love this book. 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. That was when I w......more

Goodreads review by Teresa on February 06, 2022

Just brilliant!! I can't describe it any other way. The fact it's based on true events adds more layers to it. The author's note at the beginning clicked with me. She spoke of the importance of books in her life and the list of her favourites were also mine, I devoured every Enid Blyton title I coul......more

From the time I was a young girl and had learned how to read, l always enjoyed visiting the local library where I grew up. During my elementary school years, I remember looking forward to the day that the big bookmobile showed up on my street. The librarian allows greeted me with a smile and was mos......more

Goodreads review by Dale on March 12, 2023

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......more


Quotes

"A heartwarming story of how friendship and the written word sustain us in the toughest times."—Janet Skeslien Charles, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library

"Gripping, emotional and uplifting."—Gill Paul, USA Today bestselling author of The Secret Wife

"A captivating tale about the power of libraries and how they connect us . . . [a] fascinating slice of history."—Andie Newton, author of The Girls from the Beach

"Kate has such a talent for bringing history to vivid life. Utterly transporting, vivid and fresh."—Iona Grey, bestselling author of Letters to the Lost

"[A] splendid warm-hearted novel of wartime resilience and romance."—Rachel Hore, bestselling author of A Beautiful Spy