About this item
An uplifting and inspiring novel based on the true story of a librarian who created an underground shelter during World War II, perfect for readers of The Paris Library or The Last Bookshop in London. London, 1944: Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While war ravages the city above her, Clara has risked everything she holds dear to turn the Bethnal Green tube station into the country's only underground library. Down here, a secret community thrives with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café, and a theater - offering shelter, solace, and escape from the bombs that fall upon their city. Along with her glamorous best friend and assistant Ruby Munroe, Clara ensures the library is the beating heart of life underground. But as the war drags on, the women's determination to remain strong in the face of adversity is tested to the limits when it may come at the price of keeping those closest to them alive.
About the Author
Kate Thompson (b. 1956) is an award-winning British-Irish author of adult and children's fiction. She is best known for her young adult fantasy novels, which include the Switchers Trilogy: Switchers, Midnight's Choice, and Wild Blood. She has won the Whitbread/Costa Children's Book Award and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, and has been awarded the Children's Books Ireland (CBI) Book of the Year Award four times. Thompson lives on the west coast of Ireland.
