The Booklover’s Library

When war was declared in 1939, British life turned upside down. For Martin’s (The Last Bookshop in London) protagonist Emma Taylor, war compounds the horror of losing her father in a fire in his beloved bookshop 10 years earlier. Now a widow and single parent to young daughter Olivia, Emma is facing penury. At the time, Boots the Chemist ran a subscription service called the Booklover’s Library, catering to middle- and upper-middle-class customers. Luck puts Emma in the Booklover’s Library at just the moment when it needs a new staff member, but the marriage bar denies employment to married women and widows. Recognizing that Emma has the necessary skills to help run the Booklover’s Library, Miss Bainbridge, the library manager, employs her on the condition that she pretends that she is unmarried and that Olivia is her sister. The Booklover’s Library becomes Emma’s solace, especially when Olivia is evacuated to the countryside to protect her from Nazi bombing raids. Martin’s book captures the terrible loneliness of parents forced to evacuate their children and the misery of wartime in general.