Books About Libraries and Librarians (Celebrate Canadian Library Month!)

An impulsive promise to her brother before he goes off to WWII puts Avis Montgomery in the unlikely position of head librarian and book club organizer in small-town Maine. The women of her book club band together as the war comes dangerously close but their friendships are tested by secrets, and they must decide whether depending on each other is worth the cost.

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The boy has lived his whole life trapped within a book-choked chamber older than empires and larger than cities. The girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust, where nightmares stalk and no one goes. The world has never even noticed them. That's about to change. Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.

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"In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good. Picking up her mother's old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn't need anyone telling her how to survive. But the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren't as keen to let a woman pave her own way. If Honey wants to bring the freedom books provide to the families who need it most, she's going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women who run the hills and hollers can make all the difference in the world"-- Provided by publisher.

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After a freak lightning storm which interrupts her first one-night stand, shy librarian Alexis Stone is thrust into the spotlight when photographers catch her in the arms of the hotshot candidate running for governor of Texas who, to squelch rumors, demands she pretends to be his girlfriend until election day.

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Lonely, thirty-year-old librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother. To save the place and the books that mean so much to her, June must finally make some changes to her life. For once, she's determined not to go down without a fight. And maybe, in fighting for her cherished library, June can save herself, too.

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With the stroke of a pen, twenty-three-year-old Ivy Radcliffe becomes Lady Hayworth, owner of a sprawling estate on the Yorkshire moors. With nothing to keep her in London, she warily makes her way to her new home. The abbey is foreboding with a treasure waiting behind locked doors - a magnificent library. Rumours swirl in the village with an enigmatic manuscript at the centre of it all. And as events grow more sinister, it will be up to Ivy to uncover the library's mysteries in order to reclaim her own story - before it vanishes forever.

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When the Chatsworth library closes indefinitely, Dodie Fairisle turns her sunroom into her very own little lending library. At first just a hobby, this lit lovers' haven opens up her world in incredible ways. But when the chance to adopt an orphaned child brings Dodie's secret dream of motherhood within reach, everything else suddenly seems less important. Finding herself at a crossroads, Dodie must figure out what it means to live a full, happy life. If only there were a book that could tell her what to do.

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Set against the backdrop of World War II, this unforgettable novel, inspired by the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime, follows three women whose fates become intertwined by their belief in the power and goodness in the written word to triumphover the very darkest moments of war.

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An unexpected offer from the US military has brought Ava to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence. Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. She knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them. As the battle in Europe rages, Ava and Elaine find themselves connecting through coded messages and discovering hope in the face of war.

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Hoping to fill the void he's known since retiring, retired librarian Bob Comet begins volunteering at the senior centre. Behind Bob Comet's straight man façade is the story of an unhappy child's runaway adventure during the last days of the Second World War, of true love won and stolen away, of the purpose and pride found in the librarian's vocation, and the pleasures of a life lived to the side of the masses. Comet's experiences are imbued with melancholy but also a bright, sustained comedy.

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Librarian Chloe Sampson has been struggling: to take care of her three younger siblings, to find herself, to make ends meet. She's just about at the end of her rope when she stumbles across a rare edition of a book from the 1960s at the local flea market. Deciding it's a sign of her luck turning, she takes it home with her-only to be shocked when her cranky hermit of a neighbor swoops in and offers to buy it for an exorbitant price. Intrigued, Chloe takes a closer look at the book only to find notes scribbled in the margins between two young lovers back when the book was new...one of whom is almost definitely Jasper Holmes, the curmudgeon next door.

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When Lula Dean, trying to rid public libraries of "pornographic" books, starts her own lending library in front of her home, Lindsay, the daughter of Lula's arch nemesis, sneaks in nightly, secretly filling it with banned books wrapped in "wholesome" dust jackets, changing the lives of those who borrow them in unexpected ways.

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1918: as the Great War rages, Jessie Carson leaves the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Upon arrival, Jessie turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears. 1987: NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York's famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.

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Paris, 1939. When World War II breaks out, Odile Souchet stands to lose everything she holds dear - including her beloved library. But by war's end, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal. Montana, 1983. Odile's solitary existence in gossipy small-town Montana is unexpectedly interrupted by her neighbour Lily, a lonely teenager craving adventure. Odile helps Lily navigate the troubled waters of adolescence, never suspecting that Lily will be the one to help her reckon with her own terrible secret. Based on the true story of the American Library in Paris.

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The remarkable story of J. P. Morgan's personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white to leave a lasting legacy that enriched the nation.

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On the day Juliet Lansdown reports to work for the first time at Bethnal Green Library, it isn't the bustling hub she's been expecting. But in the face of German attacks, she's determined to make it a place where all of their neighbors feel safe and welcome. Katie Upwood is thrilled to be working at the library too, though she's only there until she heads off to university in the fall. But after the death of her beau on the front lines and unexpected family strife, she's more in need of support than ever. Sofie Baumann, a Jewish refugee without any family to lean on, finds comfort and friendship in Bethnal Green's quickly growing literary community and escapes to the library every chance she gets. But her asylum in London is tied to a domestic work visa issued by an unscrupulous employer, leaving her vulnerable and uncertain where to turn when her work environment becomes unbearable. So when a slew of bombs damage the library, Juliet can't bear to give up on her safe haven of books and relocates the stacks into an Underground station where the city's residents shelter nightly, determined to keep lending out stories that will keep spirits up. But tragedy after tragedy strikes, threatening 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?

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