Kate Thompson has written a meticulously researched historical fiction novel about an underground library in London during the Blitz. The characters are so real at Bethnal Green tube station where an entire community including a theater, cafes, doctors, and a library has sprouted up. Most important is how the library was the center of it all and how it influenced the lives of so many people during this five year time frame. With a reading room, children’s story hours, and book groups, the library was the saving grace for so many adults and children. Some 5,000 people lived underground….coming to sleep every night, children making their homes there without parents, etc. The novel captures what life was like living during this horrific period for the common East End Londoner. It was such a heartwarming novel filled with struggle, hope,, and survival.

Historical fiction, particularly WWII, is my favorite genre so a book about an underground community and its library during WWII is right up my alley. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t. I can’t get past the first few chapters, which are a jumbled mess. There is way too much going on but nothing is clear (the jumbled mess I mentioned). The author had the chance to tell a wonderful story but missed the mark entirely.

3.5
This book caught my eye right away with the cover, and I was delighted (and saddened at the same time, because many were tragic events) to find out that many elements of this story are based on real historical events, people, and places. I loved reading the articles at the back of this novel based on the author's research for this book.

Overall, I enjoyed the trip into the past and into Clara and Ruby's little wartime library. I loved imagining this community built through hardship in the tunnels and the importance of books in times of crisis, if only for a temporary escape. It was kind of interesting to start the story with an unknown woman and not really know who it was returning to the little library site for awhile.

I did feel some parts were strangely repetitive, and I wish we got to know some of the other characters better. Tragic things were happening, but I somehow didn't have enough of an emotional connection to the characters or to this community to feel the real impact of it. There was also, for me personally maybe, a kind of unusual juxtaposition with major themes or focus on the impact of libraries on children and the children of this story and the sexual exploitation/harm/liberation of women against the backdrop of the war.

I enjoyed it, but with the fantastic premise, I was hoping to enjoy it more that I actually did.

Thank you Netgalley and Forever for a chance to review this book. All opinions are my own.

I was a big-city public librarian for thirty-five years, and I retired at the turn of the century, so my career was almost entirely in the days of books and readers, not computers and “information technology.” Which means I will approach any historical novel about libraries with both automatic interest and a little bit of caution. And you might not think that books would be important during World War II, but they played a major role in providing the civilian population of London with at least a temporary escape from the nightly bombings.

The focus here is the small library that was resurrected in and operated out of the Bethnal Green tube station during the blitz after the local library itself was bombed. In fact, since it had been shut down shortly before the war started, the station wasn’t being used, and it was reopened and occupied by the local people -- several thousand East Enders -- without bothering to get the government’s permission. It became a full-time village seventy feet below the surface of people who went off to their jobs during the day and returned to the dorms they had build in the station to eat, sleep, and entertain themselves.

Now it’s 1944 and the lending library run by the young widow, Clara Button, the trained Children’s Librarian under the Branch Librarian who was killed in the bombing, is now a very popular part of the tube station community, largely via her READ FOR VICTORY! program. Plenty of women who spend the day doing war work like to relax in the evenings with Georgette Heyer or Dorothy Sayers or the latest paperback bodice-ripper. She’s supported tirelessly by her best friend the mouthy and courageous Ruby Munroe, who has also suffered tragedy in the War and who now works as Clara’s assistant in the library.

Clara has problems, both with her judgmental mother, who thinks she be looking for a replacement husband instead of working, and also with the misogynistic Pinkerton-Smyth, head of the government’s Library Committee, who thinks encouraging women to read is disruptive to their domestic duties. (Because, of course, keeping her husband happy is a woman’s most important job.) He’s gunning for Clara, whom he sees as an unfeminine trouble-maker, but he’s never come across a strong, smart woman like her before, someone willing to fight for the library’s many clients. Fortunately, she also has a growing relationship with Billy Clark, an ambulance man who rescues her from a mugger (or worse) and then sticks around.

Meanwhile, Ruby, who knows people consider her a fallen floozy, but who is a very sharp young woman when it comes to street smarts and has contacts everywhere, is trying to find a solution to her dangerously abusive stepfather who is making her mother’s life hell. And that bastard has no idea who he’s dealing with. Ruby, too, acquires a love interest in the form of Eddie, an American GI from Brooklyn, who met her a dance the year before and comes back to London to find her again after he finishes his training. In fact, he’s so taken with Ruby, he works at winning her attention by sending the library shipments of books.

Both the main characters are interesting and well developed, as are the supporting cast. The author’s style is smooth and engaging, and she has certainly done her homework. In fact, the Notes and Reading Guide at the end run thirty pages and describe the historical facts behind the story of the library at Bethnal Green tube station and her journey to uncover them.I recommend this one without hesitation.

Clara has a terrible family. Her mother and mother-in-law want her to give up her job in the library, even though her husband died and she has no children to take care of at home. Her boss is also a caricature of a judgmental misogynist. He believes libraries and the books they contain should be reserved for the educated. He tries to get Clara to stop taking trashy romance novels to the women factory workers, ban the “tube rats”, and limit the hours she has the library open.

For a book which obviously wants to show books should be for all people and their varying tastes, the characters all seem to fall into set characters: horny lower-class women who want to read bodice rippers, children reading children’s classics, and mystery readers. I didn’t like how the author wanted me to admire this woman for supplying what amounts to smut to the masses. I enjoyed the few scenes where Clara tries to guess library patrons’ favorite books. However, this only happens in the first few chapters and once toward the end and not really anywhere else in the book. She also makes no effort to recommend other books to her lower-class patrons.

Ruby is introduced as a crass slut. Her first chapter has her taking her lipstick out of her cleavage and applying it. Really? I’m expected to believe this woman doesn’t have pockets or carry a handbag? Ruby sleeps around London and slowly descends into alcoholism to cope with the trauma of losing her sister and other terrible things in her life. The book in general celebrates the sexual liberty to war supposedly brought. By 30% into the book, I felt “icky”.

A friend of mine encouraged me to finish the book so I could give an accurate review. The book seemed to get better around 60% in. It focused less on cramming feminism into every turn and more on the people Clara and Ruby interacted with through the library. They started a book club as a way to reach out to people. Although, this lead to at least two women leaving their husbands.

Clara becomes close to two girls from Jersey. She and Ruby help them out while their mother supposedly works the night shift. They even take the girls to Jersey after its liberation from the Nazis. Clara ends up adopting them with her second husband. Overall, I’m satisfied with how Clara’s story ends.

Ruby ends up giving up drink. I think the author glosses over how much Ruby would struggle with that. Once Ruby’s step-father dies and quits beating up her mom, she seems to cope better with the trauma she has lived through. Ruby moves to America to marry a GI she had met a couple of times in London. Although, it seems like her greatest accomplishment is writing several bodice rippers of her own.

I recommend skipping this book. If you want to read a book about how books can knit a community together during horrible times, read The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin. If you want to read about books positively influencing children, read A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus. I would by far rather re-read one of these books than this one.

Any book or movie relating to World War II strikes a nerve with me and this was no exception. I did not realize until about half way through that it was based on actual events which made it all the more emotional and touching. World War II touched so many lives but growing up in America I can say I never put myself in the shoes of someone living so closely too it. Reading this story was breathtaking, sad, beautiful and encouraging. The strength of the people living through this and what they had to do to retain some semblance of normalcy is beyond words.

Reading, books and community are so strong in this story.

I wish I could put it into better words how moving this book was but you just have to read it to understand.

I received the ARC of The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson, courtesy of Forever ( Grand Central Publishing) and Netgalley. This amazing WWII historical novel portrayed the true events surrounding the Bethnal Green tube and library. While the characters were courageous amidst horrifying occurrences, I found this story to be heartwarming, featuring the importance of books and the power of literature. Highly recommend!

A small, underground library provides hope, escape, and community during WWII London. The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson presents a new story to what we know about World War 2, as this historical fiction book is based around a true story. After the Blitz, a neighborhood of sorts is set up in an unused section of the London underground, and this includes a library. Clara is the librarian of this unique library, and along with her assistant and friend, Ruby, she does her part to provide her patrons with a safe place and books to check out and disappear into. Clara and Ruby have not been untouched by tragedy themselves, and as the story unfolds, their histories are revealed. The horrors of war and the ones that seem to plaque society in every era are on display in this book. Even though our heroines are strong and resilient, the hits keep coming for them and their loved ones. I found Clara and Ruby to be inspiring, and as a librarian, I love the library love in this book and the recognition that a librarian’s work goes beyond books and reading.

The Little Wartime Library is an interesting story, and it is one I had not heard of before. I did find it to be a bit drawn out. There were several times during the book that felt like it was ramping up to conclude, yet it kept going. And I would have loved some more character exploration of our core characters. I think this is a nice book, and if you like WW2 stories and stories about libraries, you should definitely give this a read.

This was a lovely novel. Clara Button, a war widow, finds herself in charge of an impromptu library in an unfinished tube station housing thousands of Londonites left homeless after the Blitz. Clara is in for a fight to keep her library open and provide essential services for the patrons who live in the station and she finds become more like family than customers. I appreciate NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Little Wartime Library I received and ARC of this book from Hodder & Stoughton Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I thought I was tired of World War II historical fiction, as it’s been a very popular subject in publishing for several years. But as The Little Wartime Library shows, there are still plenty of stories out there that need to be told.

Based upon a true story, the book is set in the Bethnal Green tube station after The Blitz, where an entire community is living after being bombed out. An unfinished portion of the tube, it’s transformed into a dorm for 5,000 and boasts a theatre and more importantly, an underground library led by former children’s librarian Clara Button, whose husband died at Dunkirk, and assisted by Ruby Monroe, a young woman who lives life to the fullest and breaks the conventions of the day by playing around.

There’s actually a host of characters, including the Tube Rats, the young children who have grown up underground, like Sparrow and Tubby. There’s also two special girls, Marie and Beatty, shipped to London from the Channel Islands after Germans occupied the land (something for which I was unaware until reading), whose Mom always seems to be working when asked to see her. Then there’s the warden of the underground living space, Mrs. Chumley, and the elderly Mr. Pepper, who helps out in the library after he loses his wife in a German V2 rocket bomb attack.

Not only do you have the historical fiction of the real-life underground wartime library, you’ve got the undercurrent of feminist overtures throughout the book. The husbands who frequent the library to complain that they don’t want their wives reading because it gives them ideas and women aren’t supposed to think for themselves, the library director who barely puts up with Clara only because she was featured in the local paper but would just as soon seen her and her progressive thinking out the door. He keeps telling her she’s only a placeholder until the men come back from war, and the only reason she has the job is because her boss, Peter, was killed during the Blitz on the first night, when the real library was bombed.

Of course, there’s also love interests for Clara and Ruby, whose stories are told with alternating chapters. Clara finds herself falling for an ambulance driver, a “conchie” (Conscientious objector) who gave up his commission after Dunkirk, and for Ruby, an American G.I. named Eddy, who is shipping out to France soon. The romance aspect of the book isn’t heavy at all, and there are no real sex scenes, which I thought was great because of the greater story being told.

The author’s notes at the end of the book, with pictures of the actual library in the tube, the bombed out original library, and the importance of libraries in Britain are explored in depth and give a fuller picture to what was a wonderful World War II historical fiction book. Five stars!

Reading for Victory

Clara Button starts the first underground library above the tracks of an unused tube station. It is a village there with bunks, a nursery, cafe, and theatre all protected from the bombs falling on London. With the help of her assistant Ruby Munroe she strives to make live a little better and a little more normal for all those living in the underground community. Especially the children often referred to as tube rats. The library is open to all and has a story time for the children every day.

There is a bit of romance with Ruby's GI friend, Eddie from America and the good looking head of the emergency ambulance station, Billy, who is sweet on Clara. It is rough going as both Clara and Billy have secrets.

Then there is the new library director of the board Mr. Pinkerton-Smythe that does not agree with how the library is run and keeps trying to get rid of Clara and change the library. It almost works until Clara and Ruby discover something about Mr. Pinkerton-Smythe that is a game changer.

It is an endearing story of two young women trying to run a library in a male oriented society. They stand strong for the women in their community and through their book club they help them to live better and fuller lives.

It is a really good read, I enjoyed it very much. I really liked the strong independent woman theme and how well Clara and Ruby handled the male critics and Mr. Pinkerton-Smythe.

Thanks to Kate Thompson for writing a great story, to Forever Grand Central Publishing for publishing it and to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to read and review.

I wanted to love this book, and in some respects, I did (that gorgeous cover?!, the historical basis for this story, and learning more about the Tube lifestyle of so many during London's Blitz), but I admittedly struggled with many parts of this book. To name a few, the plot felt jumbled and misguided, lacking any real motivation or dynamics. The author's voice and writing style lacked strength, which left the characters feeling one-dimensional. The pacing was also quite slow and I struggled to gain interest in the story. Overall, this read was just not for me, but it was a quaint story nonetheless and had a very interesting and educational premise. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review.

What an eyeopening story! This book was such a joy to read. I had a hard time putting it down. I couldn't wait to learn more. I am so grateful to the author for writing a book that showed me so much. I am dumbfounded. I am ashamed to admit how naive I have been about the suffering of the people in WW2 England.

The story is based on actual events that took place during World War 2 in the East End. Many people had resorted to living in the Bethnal Green tube station which hadn't been completed before the war. They have lost their homes. They no longer feel safe above ground. In fact, a small village has been constructed. There is 3/4 mile of triple bunks lining a section where many residents sleep. A Theatre has been constructed along with other places to help the residents survive.

But what brings them together, the most, is the creation of a little library; after their neighborhood library was destroyed. Claire survived the bombing of the library and now works to create a place of community underground with the help of Ruby. They are the safe haven for so many.

The people are drowning in grief. Their fears are growing. But life goes on. Prejudice remains. Societal beliefs influence daily life. What better way to escape than in a library. I couldn't help but become emotionally involved with those struggling, with those trying to move forward.

A story based on reality has taught me what textbooks never shared. Because of this story I gained understanding for relatives that I didn't quite get until now. Because of this story I understand why important it is to many to keep their towns beautiful.

It is hard to believe that a story about the horrors of war could be so wonderful. But it is. The Little Wartime Library is story about heroes and survivors. I closed the book in awe of the those that survived the war.

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson was so well written. I received an ARC from @netgalley and was so excited! They chose little ol’ me!

This story is told from two points of view. Clara and Ruby. Clara is newly widowed children’s librarian living her life in London during the Second World War. Ruby is the best friend who has deep dark secrets of her own. Since the city’s library was bombed a new one was built and Clara and her bestie Ruby ran it. It’s underground. It is also the home of many families who live in tunnels. These tunnels are a safe haven for most. Picture a whole city underground. As the war continues, Clara and Ruby navigate through the ache of loved ones death, the love for other peoples children, and a new found love.



Although this book wasn’t something I’d normally in my own pick up, I enjoyed it. The author tells the story with so much history. I found myself Googling the history of the world. The author had a way of creating scenes within the book that laid out an entire picture of events that came from her own personal research. I love when authors do their research prior to writing a book. This can suck readers in and make things relatable. I loved the dual points of view and the whole idea of books being a way to escape the chaos of life. I mean isn’t that why we all pick up a book? To take us to another time, another place or to become another persons life witness?

I loved the premise of this book and many of the plot points of the story. It had interesting details and really brought out the intensity and myriad of problems that made up living in wartime Britain. Overall the protagonists were mostly likeable, though the antagonists (locally and not just the Nazis) were very one-dimensional.
The real problem I had with the novel was that it just wasn't very fun to read. There were too many people who all had stories that were being woven together and almost every single one of them had to have some an overwhelming feeling of guilt over something that was not at all their fault that made their life, and along with it the telling of their story, miserable in some way. It felt exhausting to read, and instead of looking forward to picking up the book the next time I had time to read I procrastinated, and finally just had to force myself to finish so that I could move on to something else.

Review will also be posted to "Reading Lately" on booklistqueen.com

The premise of this book caught my interest, but unfortunately it did not live up to expectations.

The concept is good, great even. I love that this was based on true events, and the bones of the narrative were good. However, the execution was lacking.

There was way too much dialogue and not enough description of environment/ambiance/characters. Even the simplest things weren’t described enough. Take for example, the red dress Clara wore in chapter one to accept the award. The dress is initially described as “entirely unsuitable,” then later the word “poured” is used to describe Clara fitting in to it. These are fine descriptions, but they are the ONLY descriptions. What does the dress actually look like? I have no clue.

The dialogue throughout the book seemed so forced. It read like a play script sometimes, like the only way to give backstory or any information was to have people speak it. The took attention away from the description of setting and characters you rely on when reading a book to create the scene.

The frame of the story was interesting as well, but it was a bit disorienting as a reader to expect the story be told at least partially from Beatty’s point of view since she is the one telling the story to her daughters, then have all chapters from Clara’s or Ruby’s POV.

Overall an interesting concept, but I was left wanting so much more.

Bethnal Green tube station became a refuge for many during WWII. Clara and Ruby run the library there and this is their story. The women experience love and loss on the Homefront (there is, perhaps a bit too much drama) but most of all they learn about themselves. Don't miss the afterword. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of WWII fiction.

"The Little Wartime Library" is a heartwarming and inspiring novel based on a true story of resilience and bravery. Kate Thompson's writing is rich in detail and brings the underground library of East London to life, transporting readers back in time to the midst of World War II. Clara Button and Ruby Munroe are strong, determined women who create a safe haven for those seeking refuge from the bombs. The plot is moving, and the story is filled with moments of hope and triumph amidst adversity. This book is a must-read for fans of historical fiction, especially those who enjoyed "The Paris Library" or "The Last Bookshop in London." I am grateful to NetGalley and Kate Thompson for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A warm and comforting look at the power of community and love of reading during a dark hour. Will delight fans of Madeline Martin and Patti Callahan Henry with its lovely language and expert characterization. I loved learning more about the daily life of Londoners during the Blitz; but also was inspired by Clara's resilience and indefatigable belief that the slightest action can make a profound difference.

Wow! What can I say I loved this novel.

A beautiful and powerful story set during WWII of an underground library run by Clara Button and her best friend Ruby Munroe. During extraordinarily tough times, the underground library brought everyone together - faith, hope, resilience, community, love and family.

I loved all the characters in this novel.
I was completely invested in the story from start to finish. It was so wonderfully written and just left me with a WOW feeling. The author includes her research, interviews and pictures of Bethnal Green Library at the end.

“The library is the glue that holds a community together and you only miss it after it has gone unfortunately.”

Support your local library