Book Review - The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson

My Review

The Secret Society of Librarians is a historical novel set during World War II.  In London, Joyce Kindred is a librarian who finds her library has been bombed.  It is during the Blitz, and she starts a mobile library with the help of a young Jewish refugee named Adela.  In Poland, Dorotha (older sister of Adela) can no longer work as a librarian in the Polish Ghetto due to the oppression of the Nazi party.  She creates a small secret library.  Dorotha and Joyce are part of a group of friends from library school, and the story involves their network of friends.

I wanted to read this book because I have enjoyed Kate Thompson's other WWII novels (especially The Little Wartime Library).  I read a lot of historical fiction, and am interested in the 1940's time period.

This novel is told in alternating viewpoints by Joyce and Dorotha.  They face struggles both personally and as librarians, but they were very committed to the motto of their group of librarian friends:

"And thanks to Virginia Woolf, it came to her. “What about ‘Libertatem per Lectio’?” Joyce asked, her eyes shining. “It stands for ‘freedom through reading.’”  (eBook location 191).

Joyce shelters in the London underground along with Adela and an older friend they look out for.  The book depicts the frightening bombing that happened during the Blitz.  In one dramatic scene, Joyce and her beau are visiting St. Paul's Cathedral with its huge and winding library passages and they leave just to find the city being bombed.

The hardships that Dorotha faces are unimaginable, and heartbreaking to read.  She loses family, work, and lives with hunger and deprivation beyond imagination.

These women hold on to their ideals - the importance of books and reading, kindness and compassion for others, and a long lasting friendship. They are truly heroic figures.

I recommend The Secret Society of Librarians for historical fiction readers, and especially for anyone with an interest in World War II fiction.

Thanks to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book.