With the war against Hitler raging and bombs falling on London nightly, a young woman named Clara Button brings her library deep underground into the partially constructed Bethnal Green Tube station. Working long hours and battling local creeps and civil servants who don't see the benefit of reading for pleasure, Clara and her close friend Ruby turn the library into a shelter for children, book-lovers, and assorted misfits. When Clara is forced from her position, the community rallies to protect one of its most beloved landmarks. Thompson's novel is both an engaging story and an impassioned polemic speaking directly to issues confronting readers and librarians today. (BH)