The Little Wartime Library
London, 1944 - Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While the world remains at war, in East London Clara has created the country’s only underground library, built over the tracks in the disused Bethnal Green tube station. Down here a secret community thrives: with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café and a theatre offering shelter, solace and escape from the bombs that fall above.
Along with her glamorous best friend and library 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 seems it may come at the price of keeping those closest to them alive.
Written in 2022, The Little Wartime Library was based on the true story of a forgotten underground tube station library. Uncovered by Kate through years of interviews with working-class wartime women and librarians, and the discovery of an undigitised archive of photos and testimony, the story helped to reverse the decision to close Bethnal Green Library in its centenary year.
To celebrate the centenary and the discovery of one of wartime London’s great resistance stories, Kate interviewed 100 librarians to celebrate the richness and complexity of their work and the vital role of libraries in our communities.
Purchase The Little Wartime Library on Amazon here.
