‘This beautifully crafted novel is a tribute to the power of books’ Sunday Express

In 1958, Sylvia Blackwell, a newly-trained librarian, takes up the post of Children’s Librarian in a run down library in the market town of East Mole. But her project to inspire the local children to read is threatened by undercurrents of prejudice in the seemingly pleasant town. Her position is also affected by her love affair with a married GP. The relationship his precocious daughter forms with the son of Sylvia’s neighbour, and a deprived child struggling to pass the impending eleven plus, puts Sylvia’s job and the existence of the library in danger.

How do the children fare as a result of the books Sylvia introduces them to? And how does the library alter the children’s lives?