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The Librarian

The Top 10 Sunday Times Bestseller
By Salley Vickers
0.0 (0 reviews)
3.37 goodreads logo

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Check link for latest rating. ( 6,498 ratings, 845 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Librarian by Salley Vickers is a heartwarming story set in the 1950s, featuring Sylvia Blackwell, a young woman who takes a job at a small-town library. She aspires to invigorate the community through the magic of literature, forming close bonds with local children and families. Her efforts to revitalize the library face unexpected challenges, offering a touching exploration of the power of books and human connection.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this story if you appreciate tales of transformation and healing, set in a charming English village. It intertwines themes of literature, connection, and personal growth, drawing you into the lives of endearing characters who find solace and strength within the pages of beloved children's books.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

This beautifully crafted novel is a tribute to the power of books — Sunday Express

In 1958, Sylvia Blackwell, a newly-trained librarian, takes up the post of Children's Librarian in a rundown library in the market town of East Mole. Her project to inspire the local children to read is threatened by undercurrents of prejudice in the seemingly pleasant town. Her position is also affected by her love affair with a married GP.

The relationship his precocious daughter forms with the son of Sylvia's neighbour, and a deprived child struggling to pass the impending eleven-plus, puts Sylvia's job and the existence of the library in danger.

How do the children fare as a result of the books Sylvia introduces them to? And how does the library alter the children's lives?

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Salley Vickers' The Librarian is praised for its nostalgic and hopeful outlook, capturing the essence of sentimental education with a readable narrative. Critics highlight its exploration of relationships with clarity and forensic insight into the human heart. The book is celebrated as a tribute to the power of books and children's literature, evoking a heartfelt connection for those who cherished reading from an early age.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241330234

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 November 2018

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 278g

Pages: 400

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books Salley Vickers

About the Author

Salley Vickers is the author of many novels, including Miss Garnet's Angel, The Cleaner of Chartres and Cousins. She has worked as a teacher of children with special needs, a university teacher of literature and a psychoanalyst. She now writes fulltime and divides her time between London and Wiltshire. She attributes such success as she has achieved in life to an early love of reading.

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  • The Gardener
    A charming new novel about two very different sisters who buy a ramshackle cottage together, from the bestselling author of The Librarian. Artist, Hassie Days, and her sister, Margot, buy a run-down Jacobean house in Hope Wenlock on the Welsh Marches. While Margot continues her London life in high finance, Hassie is left alone to work the large, long-neglected garden....
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  • Grandmothers
    A beautifully observed, tender and elegiac new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Librarian. Grandmothers is the story of three very different women and their relationship with the younger generation: Fiercely independent Nan, who leads a secret life as an award-winning poet when she is not teaching her grandson Billy how to lie. Glamorous Blanche, deprived of...
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  • The Cleaner of Chartres
    The beguiling and poignant new novel from the bestselling and prize-winning author of Miss Garnet's Angel. There is something special about the ancient cathedral of Chartres, with its mismatched spires, astonishing stained glass, and strange labyrinth. And there is something special too about Agnès Morel, the mysterious woman who is to be found cleaning it each morning. No one quite...
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  • Cousins
    A wonderful book. Salley Vickers spins a spellbinding account of a family in distress — Elizabeth Strout Will Tye, a teenage boy from a middle-class, suburban family, develops his first intense crush on a girl. But this familiar love story has a dark twist — the girl is his own cousin Cecelia. News of the infatuation spreads through generations of...
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