The Last Library by Freya Sampson @SampsonF @ZaffreBooks

Book Description:

You can tell a lot about a person from the library books they borrow

Lonely library assistant June is much more comfortable with books than people. When her mum – the beloved local librarian – passed away, June stepped into her shoes.

But shy June has always felt that she could never live up to her mum’s legacy. Instead, she’s retreated into herself, surviving on takeaways-for-one and her favourite stories.

When the library is threatened with closure, June is distraught. Yet when a ragtag band of eccentric but dedicated locals establish the Friends of Chalcot Library campaign, June is forbidden from joining their cause.

If June wants to save the place that means so much to her, she’ll have to make some bold changes to her life: opening up her heart to friendship, opportunities and maybe even more . . .

My Thoughts:

I recently read and loved The Girl on the 88 Bus by the author so I couldn’t resist treating myself to this one. It is every bit as a wonderful.

June is a loner who has fallen into a quiet life of which her whole world evolves around her job in the library as well as reading books. She has no friends or family and her only acquaintances is her neighbour Linda and the people that come into the library. Every day is pretty much the same and June is very much stuck in her routine.

Through the library we get to meet some very different, yet wonderful characters. A couple of them don’t make a good first impression but they grow on the reader the further into the story we go. It was good to see the variety of ages of people that use the library and how important it can be for other things than just reading and borrowing books.

I love how this author brings different age groups together to work as one. June is a very timid character yet she captures the readers heart right from the start. She is an unlikely hero who I loved getting to know and being so proud of the tiny steps she makes in fighting for the library. I was like a proud mother, watching her grow as well as wanting to give her a cuddle when things got tough.

The Last Library is another gentle yet powerful read by an author who has vast become a firm favourite of mine. Her books not only make for some wonderful escapism but would make great films for the screen. Everyone loves an underdog and unlikely friendships and Freya Sampson’s books have that in abundance. This story took hold of me and it was all I could think about from putting it down to picking it back up again. The authors writing captivated me right from the start and I love her story telling. There were lots of sweet as well as funny moments along the way. Another 5 star read from an author whose books I could just gush about all day as they are that good.