Am feeling a little book drunk after finishing this one. I picked it up three days ago when it decided that now was the right time for me to read it. It was quite simply a pure joy to read. I literally fell into this book and now I feel bereft that it is over.

This book is the reason I love reading. For a short while I was transported to another time, another life. The beauty of simple lives. The pain of first love, of small towns and of growing up in post war Britain. The power of wagging tongues is shown alive and well without the aid of social media, in a time when the war is still a raw memory for many. It is a coming of age story, a story of friendships tested and of unfounded prejudices. The Librarian is quiet and unassuming and yet it gets under your skin. This is truly a diamond of a novel. It shines from the very first page and I feel lost now that it is finished.

Synopsis

In 1958, Sylvia Blackwell, fresh from one of the new post-war Library Schools, takes up a job as children’s librarian in a run-down library in the market town of East Mole.

Her mission is to fire the enthusiasm of the children of East Mole for reading. But her love affair with the local married GP, and get befriending of his precious daughter, her neighbour’s son and her landlady’s neglected grandchild, ignite the prejudices of the town, threatening her job and the very existence of the library with dramatic consequences for them all.

The Librarian is a moving testament to the joy of reading and the power of books to change and inspire us all.