Historical Fiction isn't my go too genre and though I enjoy women's fiction, I haven't read it for a while. Maybe it was the gorgeous cover of this book or its title that appeals to avid readers that grabbed my attention, but I'm so glad I read this book. I briefly studied about Nazism and WWII in history at school, but of course a story puts things into perspective and makes it so much clearer. I liked all of the 3 MCs that we followed through the course of the story, with their own very unique plotlines and stories. The book is raw, intense and honest, while still being charming and beautiful. There are some triggering scenes in here with physical trauma, PTSD, abuse, neglect and anxiety. You can't call a book like this one a HEA, but it left me with a bittersweet feeling.

I'm fairly confident that the events described in the book are well researched, making for an immersive and very believable experience with what I feel is great world building. As a lover of books, it makes me happy to see how the characters found solace in reading and that gave them so much joy. At the end of the day, the fact is that these characters found each other because of the library and how that changes their lives for the better brings me immense pride. Now I barely read classics because I'm not a fan of them, so I can't comment on how accurate the literary recommendations and references are.

Please do read this book if not for entertainment, then just for awareness on some atrocities in our world history. (Be mindful of the TWs as the book addresses many sensitive and emotional themes)

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballentine for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
I am always attracted to a story based on libraries and books. This one was so good. It is the story of a community in London during the Blitz. When the library is hit by a bomb, the deputy librarian, Julie Lansdown, sets up a temporary library in the Underground Station. This is very significant because this is where a lot of the community members hide when bombs are being dropped on their city. I loved how the books were used to help the people somewhat escape the war for a few minutes The underground library also brought the community together through the sharing of books and listening to stories being read aloud... I also liked that it was based on true events. I think Jennifer Ryan has just written a wonderful story, and I highly recommend it!

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with a digital ARC of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I was not familiar with Jennifer Ryan, but am a sucker for any book based on a library. I am glad I got the chance to read The Underground Library. It is a well written historical fiction based on a small English town during World War II. It provided good perspective on women in the workforce, life during the war, and the strength and resilience when community pulls together. There were so many great characters and I loved how they liftend and strengthened one another. Individuals may have ideas and dreams, but it is the support of community that makes those dreams reality and lifts one another in our weaknesses and trials.

Te Underground Library follows three woman living in London during the Blitz. Katie is an aspiring student working at the Bethel Green Library whose fiancee has gone MIA. Juliet is the new manager and is learning what she wants out of of life. She is the main character who ends up creating a library in the underground railway station. Lastly, there is Sadie. She is a Jewish girl from Berlin that has come to London on a work visa but is trapped working for a horrible old man.

These three woman meet and help each other as they all try to survive the bombings and trials that come their way. I thought it was a good read and I loved it was based on the real Bethel Green station underground library!

Only complaint would be that Easiest story feels incomplete and she us not given much character. She feels almost like an add-in to the story instead of a main character.

Another great WWII novel by Jennifer Ryan. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC to review!
Having enjoyed previous works I was very eager to read this and it did not disappoint. The story focuses on 3 very different young women experiencing London during the Blitz. What brings them together is the Bethnal Green library. Juliet comes to be an assistant librarian from her country roots. Her fiancee is MIA and his fate is most uncertain. Katie is another young woman from the country working at the library waiting to attend university. Her love is killed in the war. Sofie is a Jewish refugee who has escaped to London - hired on as a servant to a most unpleasant man. The library becomes a haven for her. The friendships that develop are wonderful.
Each woman's story was extraordinary and touching ! When the library is bombed in the Blitz they take to the Underground to continue to provide reading services to the citizens of London.
The characters were beautifully portrayed. One felt their stories so passionately. It is a very character driven novel.
There are certainly some tough moments in the book but overall it is quite uplifting.
This is definitely a book for book lovers as one sees what literature has to offer to enrich lives especially in trying times.

Another great story from Jennifer Ryan. She has a way of making your heart connect with each of her characters....you root for them, cry for them, and celebrate with them.

Libraries aren't only about books; they're about people. They're about human life, how books can mend hearts, comfort wounds, and inspire us. But most of all, books can bring people together. 97% mark

I have enjoyed Jennifer Ryan's books throughout her historical fiction writing career. Her characters are so heartwarming and her stories of these small villages and towns and how, during WWII as England was trying to find its footing and survival, the women holding down the fort and doing what they could do for the war effort, brought strangers together as they bonded to be come life long friends. Ryan tells the reader in her Afterwards that the concept of the library established inside the Underground really existed and kept the Londoners forced to flee their homes during the Blitz occupied and, for a little while, free from worrying about the bombs dropping around them. The main characters Juliet, Katie and Sofie all have their own unique storylines and alternate chapters as their stories unfold.
Juliet has left the comfort of the countryside and her rigid parents who pushed marriage matches for her befitting their status though against their wishes, she became engaged to a man who has turned up missing following the Dunkirk extraction with no word as to where he is. Now she has come to London to become a deputy librarian. It is a job she loves and hopes to help bring books and reading to more residents much to the current head librarian's chagrin. He has no interest in making the library more accessible, in fact, he wants out of London all together and go to a library in a safer section of England and hopes the library will close. But Juliet perseveres and starts a book club which becomes very popular. When the building is bombed, Juliet and other volunteers, bring books into the Underground to establish a safe way to give the residents of Bethnal Green access to books.
One of the new members is Sofie who is a Jewish refuge has obtained a work visa to get out of Berlin and becomes the housekeeper for a very hateful man who verbally abuses her and keeps her at his beck and call. She must comply because she needs this job. She had to leave her family behind and will discover people in town who are connected with the resistance in order to find her sister and her husband who have also escaped Nazi occupation.
Katie is a regular at the library and lives with her parents whose parents have a very difficult marriage and due to his job in insurance, her father feels they have to keep up certain appearances for business reasons. Katie's boyfriend is Christopher who has enlisted like so many young men and has been missing for sometime with no word if he is dead or alive. Things in Katie's life will have her having to grow up and grow up quickly, especially when the air raids send them down into the Underground and she catches glimpses of her father with a woman, not his wife!
Also woven in and out are the kind ladies of Bethnal Green who take in boarders like Juliet and all these women grow a deep friendship with each other as they are all going through the difficulties of war. These friendships are always a satisfying part of Ryan's stories as they show the support that existed during this terrible and difficult time.
I liked this story well enough but I would have liked Juliet and Sofie to be the only voices as their stories were more interesting, especially Sofie's. I learned for the first time that Jews like her were rounded up and taken to the Isle of Man where they lived pretty normally though the island was wrapped in barbed wire keeping them unable to escape. They could leave if they could secure a legitimate war job and in her case, she translated German newspapers for the war effort. In this way, she could return to Bethnal Green and didn't have to work as a housekeeper.
Thank you to Netgalley for the privilege to read this ARC of one of my favorite authors. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

After reading a fairly complex abstract novel this book was a ray of sunshine. It is a bit predictable but an interesting piece of historical fiction. And it’s always a plus when it’s a story I haven’t read before.

5 stars! A book about women doing men's work. The main characters were amazing and lovable. Such a heart warning story!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

The Underground Library is for book lovers and history lovers alike. I confess that didn’t know much about The Blitz so I enjoyed being taken on this library loving journey. There was a lack a gloominess you come to except from this era, but I’m actually kind of grateful for that.

Overall, an enjoyable book lovers book!
Thank you for the advanced copy!

This book was very well written. I enjoyed the main characters Juliet, Katie and Sofie. I didn't know about the underground library during the war, now I want to read more about it. It's a heartwarming story about women in men's jobs, the struggles during the war in London and those working for the allies. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.

The Underground Library is another wonderful story by Jennifer Ryan that is based on some true events.The Blitz is going on in London and this story follows three young women.. Juliet Lansdown has come from her small village to be the new deputy librarian of the Bethnel Green Library.Her boyfriend is missing at the front lines .Sofia Bauman is a Jewish refugee who has escaped her country only to be a servant to an abusive old man.She is looking for help for her older sister Rachel who is still in Europe.Katie Upwood works in the library but in the fall will go to the university.Her boyfriend serves in the army.This story follows the twists and turns in the Ives of these women as bombs destroy the library and they move it to the local underground station which many people use as a bomb shelter.Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books Random Publishing group for allowing me to read this ARC!I It is a very special book and will be enjoyed by all who love books and libraries!

Thank you @netgalley and Ballentine Books for my free e-ARC of The Underground Library in exchange for my honest review.

I was so thrilled to be able to read this book early. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan was one of my favorite books of 2022 and one of my all-time favorite historical fictions and so this newest release of hers was high on my list! Thankfully, I loved it every bit as much as The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle and add The Underground Library to my list of favorite historical fictions right along with it!

I absolutely loved these characters and this setting. Juliet, Katie, and Sofie were all incredible ladies, and I was so invested in each of their stories. I found myself rooting so hard for them and on the edge of my seat throughout each chapter. I was honestly sad when the book ended!

There are so many WW2 historical fiction novels on the market, but this one stood apart for me. I’m always so impressed with authors who are still finding untold or lesser-known historical events and writing beautiful stories around them. I love how this story also shines a light on the power of stories and the gift of libraries and how they have the ability to bring us together in both good times and bad.

Love it! Highly recommend!

I found The Underground Library to be a great introduction to novels by the talented author Jennifer Ryan. I highly recommend it and am giving it five stars.

The Underground Library

The Underground Library sheds light on a facet of WWII London that I had only heard a bit about in passing—how the underground train tunnels were used, at least in part, as air raids shelters during the Blitz. Jennifer Ryan has previously highlighted other aspects of WWII or pre WWII Britain in the past, often very effectively. While I found this book interesting and enlightening, I thought that too many of the characters were either stereotypical or one dimensional. I felt the same about some of the events, as well, with some things that happened being just a bit too predictable.In other words, this book just didn’t enthrall me in the same way as others. It is not a bad book, by any means, it just didn’t live up to my expectations.

I recommend it for those who enjoy historical fiction and women’s fiction. Three and a half stars.

I was given an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated nor required to write an honest review.

Ever get a sense of déjà vu when reading? I read another novel, The Little Wartime Library last year that was also about the underground Bethnal Green Library in London’s East End during World War II. Both of the librarians in these stories were so similar I doubled checked the title before I continued reading. The main characters’ drive to keep readers in books during war is where the similarities end. While The Little Wartime Library tracks Clara her assistant Ruby, The Underground Library has a larger cast of characters with backstories to contribute to the underground library’s success.

Juliet Lansdown’s future isn’t at all as she expected. When her fiancé goes “missing” she has a hard time moving on. Her parents desperately want her to get married and settle down, but brilliant Juliet has other plans and takes a job recently vacated by another man sent to war. As the deputy librarian at the Bethnal Green branch, she faces both opposition from her superiors and also a community that feels unwelcome in the hallowed halls. Juliet is determined to get books into the hands of readers even if it means moving the library underground where everyone shelters each night from the Luftwaffe.

With the help of Katie, a local student waiting to start college in the fall, and Sophie a recent Jewish refugee working as a maid, the women help change the future of the Bethnal Green library. The cast of characters in this book is both wide and deep. Each, no matter how small their part, plays an integral part to the story. The womens’ strength in the face of blatant misogyny is formidable and their constant support of each other reminds us that we should always try to find ways of championing other women.

What could have easily gone off the rails with so many storylines, works flawlessly. Jennifer Ryan is a master storyteller. The POVS alternate with each chapter, making this one very hard to put down. The Underground Library is another fantastic addition to the WWII historical fiction genre.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and the author Jennifer Ryan for the advanced copy of the book. The Underground Library is out on March 12th. All opinions are my own.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Sofie is in London and misses her family. When tragedy strikes it will takes everything Sofia has to stay afloat. This book was well written.

Juliet Lansdown moves to London to be the deputy librarian at Bethnal Green, and has to prove to the men in charge that she can do the job. Katie Upwood is off to university in the fall, but finds herself harboring a life-changing secret with no one to turn to for help after her fiancé dies on the front lines. Sofie Baumann, a young Jewish refugee, fled Germany on a domestic service visa only to find herself working for a man who treats her abominably, and escapes to the library every chance she can with hopes of finding her sister, who is still trying to flee occupied Europe. Together, the three women find friendship and connection to other women in their neighborhoods, and amidst the Blitz, they relocate their library underground where the city’s residents shelter nightly, determined to lend out stories that will keep spirits up.

Thank you to @netgalley, @randomhouse, and @jennifer_ryan_author for the ARC! I really enjoyed this book! Sofie, Katie, and Juliet were wonderful characters, and I loved their relationships with each other and with the other women in their community. I especially loved Sofie and her journey, it was especially moving and taught me a lot about what Jews fleeing Germany went through. The book was based on a true story and I loved learning more about the history of the library system during the Blitz, as well as how women were able to step into jobs previously reserved for men. The author’s note at the end had a lot of good information and backend about the inspiration behind the story. The book had a very feel-good ending with all of the story lines being nicely wrapped up.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this title. This is one that is going to stick with me. I have a love/hate relationship with WWII historical fiction. Some of my favorites in this genre take place at this time. It’s also a time period that is so difficult to read about and I find it really emotionally draining. That being said, this is one novel I highly recommend. It’s something I never read about before. The writing is beautiful and the characters are engaging. A gripping, exciting heartfelt story

Juliet, Katie, and Sofia - three women with very different backgrounds band together to save their beloved library in the bowels of London’s subway system. This story is beautifully written and captivating. Highly recommend.