Thursday, September 12, 2024

The Booklover's Library by Madeline Martin

 


The Booklover's Library
By Madeline Martin
On Sale: September 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781335000392
Hanover Square Press Paperback Original 




My thoughts

Nicely written book about a women and her daughter right before and during WW2. This story shows what happens between a mother and daughter. Between friends and fellow employees. Between tenants living in the same apartment building. How they end up sticking together during some of the hardest times. This book shows a lot of things but is very easy to follow.

Emma was raising her daughter Olivia as a single mother since the death of her husband. Back in this time women were not allowed to work if they were married or if widowed with a child. Despite that Emma needed a job to make ends meet. She still had bills to pay and without an income what would they do. How would they survive?

With war looming ever more closely to where they lived it was advised to send children to the country to live. To keep them safe. Emma didn't want to be separated from her daughter but did want Olivia to be safe. So she sent Olivia to keep her safe. That was a tough thing to have to do. Living back then and doing this was very scary I'm sure. I wonder sometimes how they thought it would be safer. Could the homes in the country not be bombed also? Or was there some agreement between countries?? I doubt that but do often wonder when reading.

This story takes you through how Emma managed to get a job at a Lending Library and keep her daughter safe and make lifelong friends. Getting to know her deceased husband's parents again and possibly allowing Olivia a chance to know them. This story is mainly set in a library. A library where you paid to check out books. Emma had been part of the book world her whole life. Before losing her father they had owned a bookstore. She loved reading and wanted Olivia to have the love of reading.

This is a very nice book. Well researched and do not skip reading the Author's Notes. A lot of great info there.

About the Book:

A heartwarming story about a mother and daughter in wartime England and the power of books that bring them together, by the bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London.

In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter Olivia have always managed just fine on their own, but with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her with a job.

When the threat of war in England becomes a reality, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In the wake of being separated from her daughter, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbors and coworkers, and a renewed sense of purpose through the recommendations she provides to the library’s quirky regulars. But the job doesn’t come without its difficulties. Books are mysteriously misshelved and disappearing and the work at the lending library forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.

As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.


 
About the Author: 
Madeline Martin is a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of historical fiction and historical romance with books that have been translated into over twenty-five different languages.


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