
The Little Wartime Library
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $28.79
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Sarah Durham
-
By:
-
Kate Thompson
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 ForeverListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"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...


















Love this book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Profound and moving
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.
The Farmer’s Daughter Loved this book, the author and the narrator!!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great Book Lover’s Book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A BOOKWORM'S FEAST
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.
Totally invested in this story!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.