When the Blitz imperils the heart of a London neighborhood, three young women must use their fighting spirit to save the community’s beloved library in this heartwarming novel from the author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir

When new deputy librarian, Juliet Lansdown, finds that Bethnal Green Library isn’t the bustling hub she’s expecting, she becomes determined to breathe life back into it. But can she show the men in charge that a woman is up to the task of running it, especially when a confrontation with her past threatens to derail her?

Katie Upwood is thrilled to be working at the library, although she’s only there until she heads off to university in the fall. But after the death of her beau on the front line and amid tumultuous family strife, she finds herself harboring a life-changing secret with no one to turn to for help.

Sofie Baumann, a young Jewish refugee, came to London on a domestic service visa only to find herself working as a maid for a man who treats her abominably. She escapes to the library every chance she can, finding friendship in the literary community and aid in finding her sister, who is still trying to flee occupied Europe.

When a slew of bombs destroy the library, Juliet relocates the stacks to the local Underground station where the city’s residents shelter nightly, determined to lend out stories that will keep spirits up. But tragedy after tragedy threatens to unmoor the women and sever the ties of their community. Will Juliet, Kate, and Sofie be able to overcome their own troubles to save the library? Or will the beating heart of their neighborhood be lost forever?

The Underground Library is the newest book by talented historical fiction author Jennifer Ryan, showing the strengths and struggles of women on the homefront during World War II.

Three main characters are our points of focus, each with a memorable story of her own. Through these characters and their friends and connections, a sense of a strong, resilient community is beautifully presented.

The lead characters, Juliet, Katie, and Sofie, each end up at the Bethnal Green library in London by different paths. Juliet leaves her small town, where she lives with uncaring parents, after her fiancé disappears during battle and is believed to be a deserter. Juliet needs both a fresh start and a chance to make something of herself, and is delighted to land a role as deputy librarian — a role available to a woman only because qualified men are scarce during wartime.

Katie, a Bethnal Green local, works at the library temporarily as she prepares to leave for university, eager to pursue her education and escape the pressures of her social-climbing father and a mother who only cares about reputation and what the neighbors think. When Katie receives word that her boyfriend is missing and presume dead, her world falls apart in more ways than one.

Sofie is a Jewish resident of Berlin whose family urges her to leave while she still can, and secures her a British visa conditional on domestic employment — something Sofie has never done before, having been raised in a well-off family with domestic help of their own. She’s reluctant to leave her family, but is finally convinced of the necessity of doing so. After a hair-raising and dangerous trip, she arrives in London. There, she finds safety from the Nazi terrors of Germany, but at a price: Her employer is cruel, demanding, and abusive, and she lives in constant fear for the family she left behind. When she happens to stop by the library while on an errand for her employer, a new world opens to her, as she’s welcomed and encouraged to keep coming back.

As the women meet and come together, new opportunities for community emerge. The head librarian is stuffy and bound by tradition, wanting to keep the library a quiet, dignified space for the privileged, but Juliet is determined to infuse new life into it, planning book discussions and activities during the hours when her boss is away.

When air raids begin, the people of Bethnal Green eventually begin using the underground station as a shelter, and it becomes a place of refuge, where night after night, people sleep, share stories, seek medical care, and find a place of relative safety while bombs are dropped overhead. When the library itself is hit in an air raid, the head librarian wants to shut it down, but Juliet has another idea: With the help of her trusted group of friends and the women who form the inner circle of her reading groups, she relocates as many books and resources as possible down into the shelter, and the underground library is born.

The Underground Library is a wonderful portrayal of women’s strength and the glory of friendship, as well as the absolutely awesome power of books to bring people together, provide an escape from the harsh realities of daily life, and offer inspiration and hope. It’s also a realistic depiction of life during wartime, showing the struggles of people on the homefront to feed and clothe their families, find medical care, and find safety from nightly dangers — all while worrying about loved ones serving on the front and mourning terrible losses.

Juliet, Katie, and Sofie each have their own struggles and heartbreaks, and each is given ample space to grow as characters and face their challenges. Each of their storylines is well developed and affecting. In some books with multiple main characters, there’s often one who outshines the others, but here, all three are interesting and provoke sympathy and emotional connection.

In addition to the main characters, it’s fascinating to see how their friends and associates find their own paths forward and take on new and different roles through their involvement with the Underground Library. By the end of the book — which includes plenty of tears but is ultimately uplifting — we see how friends can become family, how families can rebuild, and how people who’ve suffered loss can find reasons to keep going.

The Underground Library has a gentle tone, even when frightening events are happening around the characters. The focus is on the people — this is less a story about war and more a story about how people impacted by war find hope and strength in unexpected ways. I came to care deeply about the characters and their lives, and felt thoroughly immersed in the book as a whole. In fact, my only complaint is that there are some secondary characters I wish we’d gotten to see more of — I felt like there were even more stories to be told about the people who made up the Bethnal Green community.

The Underground Library is Jennifer Ryan’s 5th novel, and I’ve enjoyed each and every one. She has a talent for showing the ordinary people affected by historical events, and especially, the importance of community during times of great struggles.