#BlogTour: The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson @katethompson380 @HodderBooks @RandomTTours #TheLittleWartimeLibrary #KateThompson #RandomThingsTours #5Stars #recommended

Book Synopsis:

London, 1944.

Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While the world remains at war, in East London Clara has created the country’s only underground library, built over the tracks in the disused Bethnal Green tube station. Down here a secret community thrives: with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café and a theatre offering shelter, solace and escape from the bombs that fall above.

Along with her glamorous best friend and library 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 seems it may come at the price of keeping those closest to them alive.

Based on true events, The Little Wartime Library is a gripping and heart-wrenching page-turner that remembers one of the greatest resistance stories of the war.

My Review:

Oh my goodness I absolutely loved this book. It was a really absorbing, gripping read that manages to be both heart warming and heart breaking.

Firstly, as regular members of my blog will know, I absolutely love books set in the Second World War especially if learn about something new. I had never heard of the underground library or the wonderful underground community that existed in Bethnal Green during the war. I was absolutely enthralled by the author’s fabulous descriptions which were so vivid that I felt like I was actually there experiencing everything alongside the characters.

There are some truly fantastic characters in this book some of whom I absolutely loved and others who I loved to hate. I really loved the two main characters Ruby and Clara, especially as they had such a passion for reading. It was really heartwarming to see them engaging so many different people in reading and encouraging them to read whatever they wanted. There was some great supporting characters too and through them the reader learns more about the war and social attitudes towards women at the time, some of which made my blood boil.

Overall, as you can probably tell, I absolutely loved this book and will be recommending it to everyone! I read this book in two days as I just couldn’t put it down as I has to find out what was happening next. I thought it was very clever how the author managed to include so many different parts of the war into the book without it seeming forced or too much and I loved learning more about the Channel Islands, silent bombs and the East End during the blitz. I was very sad when the community and the library had to close at the end of the war as everything started going back to normal. I found I really missed it and am keeping this book in my keep forever shelf so I can return to it soon.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Hodder for my copy of this book. I highly recommend this book!

About The Author:

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.