"The Little Wartime Library," by Kate Thompson, takes place, for the most part, during the forties in London's East End. Mrs. Clara Button is a widowed librarian in her twenties who has had her share of heartache. What keeps her spirits up during these difficult times is her relationship with the patrons who visit her underground library. It is a matter of record that when the Bethnal Green Library was bombed by the Germans in 1940, its chief librarian was killed. What occurred afterwards was extraordinary. Resilient citizens built "a fully-functioning subterranean community with an astonishing array of facilities." It was seventy-eight feet below ground, in a disused tube station, and it included a café, first-aid station, nursery, theater, and public library, and sleeping quarters.

In this fictional account, Clara is a charismatic, compassionate, and creative dynamo who, along with her cheeky friend and assistant, Ruby Munroe, makes books available to people of all ages, and regularly reads aloud to enthusiastic children. This entertaining and poignant tale has a fascinating cast of characters. There are the boys and girls who turn to Clara for comfort and support; pensioners struggling to survive under difficult circumstances; exhausted women raising families with husbands who are drunk, negligent, and/or abusive; good-hearted men who take a romantic interest in Clara and Ruby; and a villainous bureaucrat who detests Clara's independent spirit.

I finished this page-turner in twenty-four hours, although it weighs in at over four-hundred pages. I enjoyed its lovely descriptive writing, propulsive and compelling plot, well-developed themes, and moving dialogue. Be sure to read Thompson's informative afterword. It provides historical background that will enhance your appreciation of this engrossing and heartwarming novel.
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I enjoyed reading about the underground community that existed during the Blitz in the Tube. I had no idea that that had happened. The main characters are well written and dimensional. What I did not care for was the plot. At times I felt like I was watching an American soap opera, it was so overly dramatic. If she had tightened up the plot and cut about 50 pages off the book I would give it a higher rating. ( )

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The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson
Historical fiction. Based on a true story of a librarian who created an underground shelter during WWII.
London 1944 is ravaged by war, bombings and limited supplies. Clara, Ruby and their neighbors, turn the Bethnal Green tube station into the country’s only underground library. Down there, a secret community thrives with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a cafe, and a theatre - all offering escape from the bombs that fall day and night. As the war continues, Clare and Ruby face numerous issues from an unbending supervisor, homeless orphans and trauma patients from the unending war.

An inspiring story of courage and sacrifice in truly difficult times. Books are a unique escape in good times and bad and it was interesting to read how these librarians used their skills to help their community.
Sad and poignant but also an uplifting story from the dark days in London 1944. ( )

The Little Wartime Library captures the highs, lows and the fighting spirit of local Londoners during the second world war. There is a lot of action packed into this book as well as a lot of history, making it an enjoyable read.

The story is loosely based on true events. After a bomb hit the Bethnal Green library, the library moved into the nearby Underground station where many people also lived during the war. The tube station wasn’t in use, and became its own community of shelter, café, theatre, child care and library. In this fictionalised version, Clara is the librarian managing the library and Ruby is her assistant and best friend. Together they work on a number of initiatives to build morale amongst the community and against a number of forces that don’t agree with their liberal way of educating and entertaining (like romance novels for female factory workers and pamphlets on contraception). Clara and Ruby’s private lives are also dramatic in different ways. Clara’s a war widow who continues to work even though her mother and mother-in-law think it’s scandalous. Ruby has a violent stepfather and uses sex to forget about her sister’s untimely death. But in the underground community, there’s a lot more going on with two young refugees and an absent mother, multiple bombings and women learning to stand up for themselves.

At first, I felt like there wasn’t enough description in the novel. However, I got used to the style which focuses on the characters and the many things that happen to them throughout 1944-45. This is a novel that focuses on the story and there is never a dull moment. Told in alternate chapters by Clara and Ruby in the third person, the women barely have time to rest between family, war issues, difficult managers, friends and potential romance. It is a very enjoyable story of two women who became integral to the community they served not just as librarians, but social workers, counsellors and friends. Thompson weaves a lot of her extensive research into the narrative naturally, so it doesn’t feel like an information dump but rather an extension of the lives the characters were living at the time. The attitudes towards women were also very different from today, being explored through characters who treated women as punching bags or as too naïve to think for themselves. Fortunately, these characters do get what’s coming to them!

I did like even though there is some of the ‘stiff British upper lip’ of ‘keeping calm and carrying on’ that the characters are allowed to feel and be vulnerable. The war has taken an emotional toll on their mental health, with characters responding in different ways to the trauma they’ve experienced. It also makes for some very moving chapters as they are confronted with more destruction and ultimately, some good things too. This was a fresh take on World War II fiction – I hadn’t heard about the underground library before, although interestingly there has just been another historical fiction novel about it released (with different characters of course). Overall, I enjoyed the story and the continuous drama that shows just how important the library was to the community.

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