Bev Walkling's Reviews > A Christmas Gift for the East End Library Girls

This is the third book in a series about the East End Library girls and I have read and enjoyed the first two books in the series. While this third could be read as a stand-alone, I think the reader will enjoy it more if the books are read in order. This is a book about women who lived in one of the poorer parts of East London during the Second World War and as such I think it will be of particular interest to female readers interested in this time period. The characters and lives of Mavis, Jane and Cordelia have already been well developed in the earlier books. The library where they work is almost a character on it's own, filled with quirky locals speaking with Cockney twang and doing their best to manage all the hardships of war.

The author has clearly researched the time period and location well (I believe she had relatives who lived through this to tell her tales.) The novel is filled with little tidbits on how to make do and mend, including the suggestion that a piece cut from an old hot water bottle could be used to repair the leaky sole of a shoe. In this book, the librarians and all their regulars are gearing up for an expected visit from the King and Queen. Only as a community can they make this all work.

As a reader in 2024, I have to admire how they worked together to survive and make the best out of things. They didn't take little luxuries for granted. I think there is much we can learn from them and put to use in building community in this day and age. I suspect we have not seen the last of the library girls!

Thanks to #NetGalley and #BoldwoodBooks for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book due for publication later this month. All opinions are my own.