Kate Thompson (11) (1974–)

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.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (altro)

Happy Publication Day! (U.S.)

“A library is the only place you can go—from cradle to grave—that is free, safe, democratic and no one will try to flog you anything. You don’t have to part with a penny to travel the world. It’s the heartbeat of a community, offering precious resources to people in need. It’s a place just to be, to dream and to escape—with books. And what’s more precious than that? So, here’s to all library workers. We need you.”
-From The Author’s Note, The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson

During WWII, the unfinished Bethnal Green Station not only provided shelter to five thousand people who slept in the bunkers constructed in the tunnels – a safe haven amid the devastation caused by the Blitz but also housed a theatre that hosted opera and ballet, a coffee shop, doctor’s quarters and a wartime nursery and a library.

Set in 1944, The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson follows twenty-five-year-old Clara Button, a young widow working as a librarian in the underground library in the Bethnal Green Tube Station and her close friend and assistant Ruby Munroe. Widowed after losing her husband in Dunkirk, Clara is the heart and soul of the library and friend to its patrons- the children, factory workers and those sheltering underground to whom reading provided an escape from the reality outside. Clara’s job isn’t easy, having to deal with misogyny, censorship and petty politics, and her personal losses but she is determined to help everyone who needs her assistance including evacuees fleeing their homes, women facing abusive relationships, those working multiple jobs just to provide for their loved ones and those needing the sanctuary of the library to cope with everything that is happening on the outside. Both Clara and Ruby have much to deal with on the personal front - for Clara it is the loss of her husband, the secrets she harbors and her conflicted feeling for an ambulance worker she meets when he saves her from being attacked outside her home and Ruby is dealing with the tragic death of her elder sister and domestic violence at home with her abusive stepfather’s violence directed toward her mother. As the narrative progresses, we see how both Clara and Ruby not only stand up for their friends and family but are also compelled to make choices that would significantly impact their own stories.

Narrated from the perspectives of Clara and Ruby in alternating chapters, The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson is a beautifully written story that combines fact and fiction while touching upon themes of war, loss, hope and survival, and the significance of libraries and librarians in our communities, especially during difficult times (the author also incorporates a discussion on present times and the need for libraries in the context of the pandemic). The author writes with compassion capturing the life and times of wartime Britain – the loss, death and destruction caused by the war, and the hope and resilience of those trying to make the most of what they have. The author incorporates real events such as the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster of 1943 and the Hughes Mansions Tragedy of 1945 into the narrative. I loved learning about the subterranean community and found the Author’s Notes at the end of the book extremely informative. The historical context and the stories of libraries destroyed during the Blitz (with stock images) make this story come to life. I love how the author based some of the characters in this story on actual people who lived down in the bunkers of Bethnal Green Station during those difficult times. I also loved learning about the books that were popular during the war years. The author does a brilliant job of not only painting a realistic picture of life in wartime Britain but also gives us an insight into societal changes during those times that also impacted reading habits and preferences, especially among women.

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.
Many thanks to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this exceptional novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

“We have lost so very much, but we have not lost heart nor hope. Books help to keep us human in an inhumane world. Don’t you agree?”… (altro)

Als 1944 London immer wieder bombardiert wird, suchen die Menschen Schutz in den U-Bahn-Stationen, so auch in der U-Bahn-Station Bethnal Green. Unterirdisch entsteht dort eine Parallelwelt mit Kindergarten, Theater und einer kleinen Bibliothek. Diese wird von Clara Button und Ruby Munroe betreut. Die Bücher verschafft den Menschen in dieser schwierigen Zeit Ablenkung. Doch der Krieg dauert an und die Lage spitzt sich immer mehr zu.
Diese Geschichte beruht auf wahren Begebenheiten. Der Erzählstil ist packend und einfühlsam. Ich konnte mich in die Situation der Menschen hineinversetzen und mit ihnen fühlen. Clara und Ruby tun alles, um es den Menschen ein bisschen leichter zu machen, dabei haben sie such ihre eigenen Probleme. Sie sind beide wirklich sympathisch. Aber auch die anderen Charaktere sind gut und authentisch dargestellt. Manche drohen unter der Last der Umstände zu zerbrechen, andere begegnen den Widrigkeiten mit großer Stärke. Aber für keinen ist es leicht.
Mir hat dieser Roman gut gefallen.… (altro)