The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson is a touching and easy to read novel worth an hour of your time. It is a read poised to make you cry, and I personally teared up at the end. The Little Wartime Library is a historical snapshot of the real underground library built in the Bethnal Green station during WWII through the lens of two fictional characters, both whom present a hypothetical of the reality of life during war and what it has to be, and what that is, is moving forward. Life doesn't stop because of something momentous - we all discovered that during the pandemic - and The Little Wartime Library embodies that reality and focuses on what can power us through times of difficulty.

In this story, it is the power and importance of libraries, that drives the characters and this novel is worth your time because that drive is in all of us. The Little Wartime Library is a novel designed to evoke passion, heartbreak, and remind you of what drives you, particularly during unprecedented times. This is a story worth your time.

Told across the WWII timeline with a small portion set in the future, The Little Wartime Library contains a slightly choppy plot line with convenient loopholes that I think you will find welcoming, because they help shine a light through the tragedy of WWII. The plot switches between Clara and Ruby's POV and they set the story alight with their passion for the library, the war effort, and their devotion to each other. Their friendship is true and I think their relationship embodies another key aspect of what keeps you going whilst reinforcing the true fear of losing someone you love to something wicked.

The plot is about an underground library and what it means to the residents. It is an empowering and poignant plot designed to make you think about what powers you forward and the potential one underground library can hold.

The characters are black and white in this story, no moral greyness can be found. The supporting library/underground characters are not fleshed out but I feel this is not a sticking point as their purpose was to demonstrate the relationship a librarian can have with a reader and how friendships can develop through the eyes of two librarians. The protagonists, Ruby and Clara, are a delight and great characters to bounce between.

All the characters are impacted by loss and it is how they move forward whilst dealing with the bombings, relationships, being a woman, the unknown, and a future that may not exist that makes the story compelling. You will probably be glued to this book until you finish, and the characters are a strong component as to why you'll be stuck reading this from cover to cover.

Can any book, even if fictitious, about living through WWII have a truly happy ending? Maybe, but The Little Wartime Library does not fall into that category; instead, it falls into the category of a content ending. You will feel content when you finish this read. This is a story of overcoming, moving forward, and continuing when everything around you begs otherwise. This is a story that made me tear up. I cried for the power of those who struggled and still persevere. I think The Little Wartime Library is a truly wonderful story that encapsulates reality whilst retaining the hope of fiction, and it is absolutely worth an hour of your time.

When I first began The Little Wartime Library, I thought it was boring. I initially perceived this read as a cozy historical fiction mystery with little depth as the actions within the story were predictable and not engaging. As the story went along, I began to value this predictability more and more because the extremely painful losses began before the story and the story transformed from working at a library during wartime and into a story about living with loss, upheaval, and continued grief. This is a novel about how you keep moving forward even when you don't think you can because that is life, it doesn't stop even if you want it too.

I have focused heavily on that in my review because I haven't read a lot of stories that encapsulate that feeling as well as The Little Wartime Library has. Thompson mentioned how inspired she was by the pandemic whilst writing this and for me, the library was a significant place of comfort and solace during the pandemic that gave me the power to move forward, and I can feel that significance and inspiration in this story which makes it even more powerful. I started Aster's Book Hour during the pandemic to help navigate a time of difficulty with things I love. I think The Little Wartime Library encapsulates that and I am so grateful to myself for continuing to read this novel, to Thompson for writing it, and to everyone and everything that has powered forward when it doesn't seem possible.

This emotional connection to the book is all I want to say because at the end of the day, this book made me feel seen and any book that does that is worth an hour of my time and yours.