Last Chance Library - Freya Sampson

Fiction

Rating: 7.5/10

A delightful and irresistible ode to libraries, the patrons that frequent them and the librarians that are the gatekeepers of these utopias for bibliophiles.

Whether adult or child, wherever you have found yourself, there was undoubtedly always a library. A place that could keep you safe from harm and the elements, a haven in which you could both be yourself and discover yourself. For decades libraries have been a place that people can go when they can’t go home, or even have a home for that matter.  To imagine that they have fallen out of fashion in anyway is disheartening.  This charming story eases that fear and reminds us of their value in our communities.

June is a lonely, somewhat reclusive young woman who has never ventured outside of her sleepy small town, preferring instead to spend her time buried in books.  Both at home and at the library where she works.  When that library is suddenly threatened with closure, she bands together with a group of eccentric and dedicated readers to save their beloved library.

I have vivid memories of my initiation into the world of libraries.  Beginning over the summer of my eighth year and continuing for so many summers after I would go in every day that they were open.  Bringing back the Nancy Drew’s I had devoured the day before and trying my best to sneak books out of the adult section.  Sometimes, it worked!  

To this day anytime I visit a library or a bookstore, I feel like I am home.

Book Pairing(s): Mr. Penumbras 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, The Bookshop Of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson, Library Of The Lost And Found by Phaedra Patrick