The Underground Library

 

Juliet Lansdown is the new deputy librarian in the Bethnal Green part of London just as the Blitz started in World War II.  The head librarian is a curmudgeonly type man who really wants to close down the library so he can move on to a larger library in a safer area.  When a bomb hits the library, Juliet brings the remaining library books to the underground station nearby and brings the sheltering people there into a community.  

Sophie is a Jewish refugee from Germany working for an abusive man.  She takes refuge in the library whenever she can.  Because of Sophie's abilities with languages gets her a job working for the War Department and out from under the odious man she works for.  All she wants now is to have her sister with her.  Juliet does all she can to help Sophie. 

Katie loves working at the library, but there is a hitch--her fiancé has been declared MIA, and she's pregnant.  Her mother wants to send her away and to give the baby up for adoption, but Katie is rather against that, even though her mother believes it will diminish the family's standing in society.  

There are a pair of older sisters, the Riddells, who take these girls under their wings and treats them as though they are their very own family.  They become mainstays in the underground library and work hard to bring the community together.  

There is some romance in this book, but it is not overt and is a minor part and only serves to move the rest of the plot along.  It's actually a great addition the way Jennifer Ryan worked it in. The Underground Library is a great read that is hard to put down.  Four Strong Stars!  

Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own.