The Little Wartime Library

By: Kate Thompson

Narrated by: Sarah Durham

An uplifting and inspiring novel based on the true story of a librarian who created an underground shelter during World War II, perfect for fans of The Paris Library or The Last Bookshop in London.

London, 1944: Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While war ravages the city above her, Clara has risked everything she holds dear to turn the Bethnal Green tube station into the country’s only underground library. Down here, a secret community thrives with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café, and a theater—offering shelter, solace, and escape from the bombs that fall upon their city.

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

©2023 Kate Thompson (P)2023 Forever

Critic reviews

"A heartwarming story of how friendship and the written word sustain us in the toughest times."—Janet Skeslien Charles, USA Today bestselling author of The Paris Library

"Gripping, emotional and uplifting."—Gill Paul, USA Today bestselling author of The Secret Wife

"A captivating tale about the power of libraries and how they connect us . . . [a] fascinating slice of history."—Andie Newton, author of The Girls from the Beach

Love this book!

I had no knowledge about this long term underground existence. I knew they took shelter in the underground but not that they lived there. The story brings you into the experience.

Profound and moving

Now that I have finished this audiobook, I sit here a bit bewildered. What a powerful, deeply meaningful book. I love books that shake me like this and leave me wondering what is next when I finished. I can’t speak highly enough of the story and I grew to love the narrator as well.

Thank you

For this interesting piece of history, where I have traveled through on the underground, not knowing the story, and not too far from where my mother was born in 1925.

Ok hear me out…

I LOVED this book- seriously loved it- but I had a thought:

You know how you read a book and think that a movie would never do the book justice? As I was listening to this book, I could not help thinking that this story told through a movie would actually make it BETTER. Just a thought!

The Farmer’s Daughter Loved this book, the author and the narrator!!!

I loved everything about this book! this book, Including the author and the narrator!!! I will be watching out for more of their work!

Great Book Lover’s Book

I absolutely loved this book. Just enough mystery, love, history, and book-love! The narrator was perfect for the book.

A BOOKWORM'S FEAST

The characters were well formed and the storyline was full of edge of the seat twists and turns .... I felt like I was in war torn London with them. Definitely a book to read if you have an hour or two of 'me

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! SO SORRY IT ENDED!

What a wonderful story! If you read, “The Last Bookshop in London” and loved it, you will LOVE this one too! (If you haven’t read “The Last Bookshop in London,” you MUST)!

This story takes place during WWII at the height of the German bombings over London. When a large nearby library gets bombed out at the beginning of the Blitz, the librarian has the idea to salvage all the books she can and move them into the mostly finished, but empty underground train tube across the street.

Eventually, it becomes not only a library, but shops pop up where one can get tea and coffee, something to eat, and where 5,000 bunk beds have been installed, where one can sleep (and keep if they get a ticket if their house has been bombed and they have nowhere else to go).

The librarian, Clara Button and her best friend Ruby (aka “Ruby Red Lips”), best friends, begin holding story hour for all the disenfranchised children of the area and the group grows in popularity and in size. The people in the tunnel become a family; it’s a haven where people can go, stay safe and forget about the war, even if for just for a little while.

It would be a perfect place if it weren’t for the big boss of the library, whose goal in life seems to be to make life miserable for Clara and trying to get rid of her — when he’s not trying to take credit for her work and all her ideas. He has little use for women in the workforce and he’s not about to let Clara forget that because she’s a woman, she obviously can’t do her job as well as a man could.

Ruby has problems too — a stepfather who beats her mother regularly, and an Army GI going off to war, but who loves her and wants to take her to America and marry her when the war is over — IF he survives the war. But how can she leave her mother to that horrible monster she’s married to, especially when her mother finds out she’s pregnant. Then, there’s all that guilt she’s dealing with over the death of her older sister, Bella. Bella’s death is not Ruby’s fault, but she’s convinced it is.

Clara’s love life is complicated too. She doesn’t WANT a love life. Her husband Duncan, died in the War earlier (or so everyone is led to believe). As solace to her grief, she throws every bit of herself into the library and into the children who call the tunnels home, like Mary, Beattie, Tubby and a somewhat hostile boy who is very smart, but says he “hates books.” Clara can’t figure this kid out. He loves story time and never misses it, so how can a 12-year-old boy say he hates books? Clara finds out he’s ashamed he’s never learned to read. She decides to fix that problem whether he wants it or not.

Clara soon meets Billy, an ambulance man who saves her life one night. He very mysterious about his past and Clara doesn’t WANT to have feelings for him, but she’s losing the battle. He’s kind, gentle, loves all the kids and supports her 100% in her work. What’s not to love? What’s the big secret he won’t tell her? (It’s a whopper)! Duncan’s awful mother-in-law does everything she possibly can to make Clara’s life as difficult as she can.

You will LOVE all the characters in this book (some of them are a bit quirky — I love quirky)! This book is so good I am going to start it all over again as soon as I submit this review. Then, I’m going to search for more books by this author — I hope she has more books just as good as this one!

By the end of this book, the characters feel like friends. It’s hard to say goodbye to them.

The narrator is absolutely FANTASTIC. She has a lovely voice,, a pleasing accent, and it is easy to distinguish between characters.

Be sure to listen to the Author’s notes at the end of the book. They are worth the listen.

Totally invested in this story!

The depth of the characters was captivating. I was completely drawn into their lives and felt there joy and sorrow. I loved the historical integrity of the story as well.

Who Knew?

Wow! I knew that folks sheltered in the underground London train system during the war, but this gave me a thoughtful overview of what happened when a Library was in the mix.

In-depth characters. There were several pages where I wanted to bit my nails to the quick. I cheered and wept for the tunnel rats and fist pumped when stuffy villain who got his just desserts in the end.

Read the opening carefully. Mystery solved in the end.

Librarians are super-heroes and this intensely researched and fantastic story proves it!