The twins added a humour I found appealed to me entirely, but it was Sam who held my attention most. By the end of the novel I was desperate to know what had happened to her. At the start I wasn’t especially enamoured of Sylvia, even though she is the pivotal character, as I found her actions frustrating and frequently foolhardy, but I thought the way she, often unwittingly, was the catalyst for action was inspired.

Salley Vickers burrows beneath the thin veneer of civilisation and society to illustrate how little we know of our neighbours, our families and even ourselves. However, scratch below the surface of The Librarian and there’s so much more to discover. The memories activated by reading The Library and the titles mentioned enhanced my pleasure in the book enormously. Peppered with literary references The Librarian is an homage to the power and value of children’s books and reading, and I so enjoyed being reminded of stories I’ve loved over the years. There’s also a poetic quality to descriptions that I found vivid and clear. There’s a wry wit in the writing style that looks right into the heart of who we are. Initially I wasn’t certain if I was going to enjoy The Librarian because at first it seemed quite lightweight and superficial. The Librarian is a moving testament to the joy of reading and the power of books to change and inspire us all. But her love affair with the local married GP, and her 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. Her mission is to fire the enthusiasm of the children of East Mole for reading. 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. Published by Penguin, The Librarian is available for purchase through the links here. I’m lucky to belong to a brilliant U3A reading group that meets on the second Monday of the month and this month our book for discussion is The Librarian by Salley Vickers. Netgalley Advocate Netgalley General Data Protection Regulations A Publication Day Extract from The Night She Met the Duke by Sarah Mallory.An Extract from The Nice Guy and the Devil by Tom Trott.