The Little Wartime Library Audiobook By Kate Thompson cover art

The Little Wartime Library

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Little Wartime Library

By: Kate Thompson
Narrated by: Sarah Durham
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $28.79

Buy for $28.79

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

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 20th Century Genre Fiction Historical Fiction War & Military Women's Fiction Feel-Good

Listeners also enjoyed...
The Keeper of Hidden Books Audiobook By Madeline Martin cover art
The Keeper of Hidden Books By: Madeline Martin
The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris Audiobook By Daisy Wood cover art
The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris By: Daisy Wood
The Paris Agent Audiobook By Kelly Rimmer cover art
The Paris Agent By: Kelly Rimmer
The Librarian of Burned Books Audiobook By Brianna Labuskes cover art
The Librarian of Burned Books By: Brianna Labuskes
The War Pianist Audiobook By Mandy Robotham cover art
The War Pianist By: Mandy Robotham
The Lost English Girl Audiobook By Julia Kelly cover art
The Lost English Girl By: Julia Kelly
The Golden Doves Audiobook By Martha Hall Kelly cover art
The Golden Doves By: Martha Hall Kelly
The Paris Maid Audiobook By Ella Carey cover art
The Paris Maid By: Ella Carey
The Paris Assignment Audiobook By Rhys Bowen cover art
The Paris Assignment By: Rhys Bowen
The Paris Deception Audiobook By Bryn Turnbull cover art
The Paris Deception By: Bryn Turnbull
The Bletchley Girls Audiobook By Anna Stuart cover art
The Bletchley Girls By: Anna Stuart
The Last Train from Paris Audiobook By Juliet Greenwood cover art
The Last Train from Paris By: Juliet Greenwood
The Warmth of Other Suns Audiobook By Isabel Wilkerson cover art
The Warmth of Other Suns By: Isabel Wilkerson
The Rose Code Audiobook By Kate Quinn cover art
The Rose Code By: Kate Quinn
Code Name Sapphire Audiobook By Pam Jenoff cover art
Code Name Sapphire By: Pam Jenoff
Dear Mrs. Bird Audiobook By AJ Pearce cover art
Dear Mrs. Bird By: AJ Pearce
Nicholas Black Elk Audiobook By Michael F. Steltenkamp cover art
Nicholas Black Elk By: Michael F. Steltenkamp
The Book Woman's Daughter Audiobook By Kim Michele Richardson cover art
The Book Woman's Daughter By: Kim Michele Richardson
The Lost Song of Paris Audiobook By Sarah Steele cover art
The Lost Song of Paris By: Sarah Steele
The London Girls Audiobook By Soraya M. Lane cover art
The London Girls By: Soraya M. Lane

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

People who viewed this also viewed...

The Widows of Champagne Audiobook By Renee Ryan cover art
The Widows of Champagne By: Renee Ryan
The Wartime Book Club Audiobook By Kate Thompson cover art
The Wartime Book Club By: Kate Thompson
The Socialite Audiobook By J'nell Ciesielski cover art
The Socialite By: J'nell Ciesielski
The Italian Ballerina Audiobook By Kristy Cambron cover art
The Italian Ballerina By: Kristy Cambron
Do Not Cry When I Die Audiobook By Renee Salt, Kate Thompson cover art
Do Not Cry When I Die By: Renee Salt, and others
The Paris Housekeeper Audiobook By Renee Ryan cover art
The Paris Housekeeper By: Renee Ryan
The Girl in the Painting Audiobook By Tea Cooper cover art
The Girl in the Painting By: Tea Cooper
Resistance Women Audiobook By Jennifer Chiaverini cover art
Resistance Women By: Jennifer Chiaverini
The Lost Girls of Paris Audiobook By Pam Jenoff cover art
The Lost Girls of Paris By: Pam Jenoff
The Paris Agent Audiobook By Kelly Rimmer cover art
The Paris Agent By: Kelly Rimmer
The Daughter of Auschwitz Audiobook By Tova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant cover art
The Daughter of Auschwitz By: Tova Friedman, and others
Truths I Never Told You Audiobook By Kelly Rimmer cover art
Truths I Never Told You By: Kelly Rimmer
The Last Bookshop in London Audiobook By Madeline Martin cover art
The Last Bookshop in London By: Madeline Martin
Rare Objects Audiobook By Kathleen Tessaro cover art
Rare Objects By: Kathleen Tessaro
The Paris Apartment Audiobook By Kelly Bowen cover art
The Paris Apartment By: Kelly Bowen
The Gold in These Hills Audiobook By Joanne Bischof cover art
The Gold in These Hills By: Joanne Bischof
The Letter Tree Audiobook By Rachel Fordham cover art
The Letter Tree By: Rachel Fordham
The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency Audiobook By Lydia Travers cover art
The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency By: Lydia Travers
Historical Authenticity • Engaging Characters • Compelling Storyline • Emotional Depth • Educational Value
Highly rated for:
Most relevant  
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.

Love this book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.

Profound and moving

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.

Thank you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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!

Ok hear me out…

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved everything about this book! this book, Including the author and the narrator!!! I will be watching out for more of their work!

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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I absolutely loved this book. Just enough mystery, love, history, and book-love! The narrator was perfect for the book.

Great Book Lover’s Book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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

A BOOKWORM'S FEAST

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.

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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.

Totally invested in this story!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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!

Who Knew?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews