The Booklover's Library by Madeline Martin ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Two of my favorite subjects come together in Madeline Martin's 2024 book, The Booklover's Library: WWII and books!

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

September 2024; Hanover Square Press; 978-1335015136
audio, ebook, print (416 pages); historical fiction

A couple of years ago, I read Martin's The Library Spy and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Booklover's Library is set on the home front in a factory town in England. 

I've read a few home front books lately, but I still learned something new about the war and the lives of people living during that time. Since they aren't in London, there isn't quite level of danger from bombing. Nottingham is a major factory town and therefore a target. This book was much more of a slice-of-life type novel.

Emma is a window with a young child. While windows could work, they were not allowed to if they had children. Yet, she has no one to support her, and the life insurance and government supplement are just enough to eek by. By chance, she seizes on the opportunity to become a librarian at the subscription-based lending library attached to Boots drug store. This is a job she is uniquely qualified for as she and her father lived above her father's bookshop until a horrific fire destroyed the bookstore and killed her father (yes, Emma has known a lot of tragedy).

Before reading this book, I had never heard of The Booklover's Library. It was a chain of libraries across England run by the Boots drug store. You paid a subscription fee, and then you could check out and return books to any of its locations. You could also request books from other locations to be sent to your location. Librarians served as concierges of sorts, providing personal recommendations to the subscribers.

Having read other library stories set during WWII, I knew that libraries served as a place of respite as well as a source of entertainment and could bring the community together. Since this isn't a public library like the one in Bethnal Green, there aren't programs drawing in the public, and due to the fee, only a certain type of person is a subscriber. Yet, Emma makes friends who are as close to family as she's ever known.

Emma is forced to send her daughter to the country for her safety. We get to understand the turmoil that parents (particularly mothers) had about evacuating their children. 

The boarding house Emma resides in is also a source of comfort and family during the war years. Giving the reader yet another way neighbors came together during this difficult time.

Again, Martin creates wonderful characters that you could be friends with. The day after I finished the book, I kept thinking about Emma and Olivia and what would happen next in their lives, only to remember that I finished the book and I would not be part of their lives any longer.

If you love books about books and WWII fiction, then you should pick up this book. 

Buy The Booklover's Library at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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