The War Librarian

If you love historical fiction, then this is a must read! A great story of two women who lived in two different time periods, but had many parallels and were connected by Kathleen’s grandmother, Nina. A wonderful story of heartache, resiliency, and determination. I absolutely loved this book! A dual timeline story that follows Emmaline, a war librarian, who served in WWl and Kathleen who is accepted into the Navel Academy’s first female class of 1980 in Annapolis, Maryland. Kathleen follows the footsteps of her Dad who fought in WWII and Korean War and her grandmother who served in WWl. Her Dad did not come home from the Korean War and when she was young, her mother left to be a travel writer, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother. Both Emmaline and Kathleen have had loss of their parents, which pushed them both into military careers. Emmaline was a trailblazer not only for women, but for soldiers. She helped them escape through books by reading to them or supplying them with books during the war. Emmaline has to navigate the male dominated world, will it catch up to her and she be accused of having documents that could go against the military? Kathleen was determined to be a trailblazer for future women Plebes, so they wouldn’t have to endure the abuse and discrimination she went through. She wanted future generations of women to have equal treatment and rights at the Naval Academy. When Kathleen is accused of a military crime, will she be able to prove her innocence? Will this end her career? This book is great for book clubs as it will spark many great discussions such as importance of books to war times to women’s rights to race relations to burning of banned books to discrimination to mental health to survival, etc. What did it take for women in their time to be successful and was this even possible?