The Library - Bella Osborne

Genre: General Fiction | Domestic Fiction

Release Date: Expected 2nd September 2021

Publisher: Aria & Aires

CW: Alcoholism, Muggings, Graphic Farm Scenes, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Adoption.

Maggie is used to being alone, she's even grown to like it sometimes or so she tells herself. After ten years, it's just the way things are. She's been getting by with just her farm and books in the local library for company - until a quiet teenage boy walks in and leaves with a bag full of romance novels. A boy who thinks she's funny. Not funny for an old woman, just funny.

Tom escapes to the library too, to get away from his strained home life with his Dad and bleak future he has planned for him - until he catches the attention of a seventy-two year old librarian named Maggie, who for some reason, he trusts.

They may seem like the most unlikely friends, but for some reason they seem to be the only person can really talk to these days - so when the library needs help they have to come together for more than just the books, but the community they've built there and more importantly for themselves.

First of all, I love books about books. So of course I had to pick this up. Osborne perfectly captured the magical effects that books can really have on people and the communities they can create.

This was a beautiful story about loneliness and friendship, and the desperation we can feel sometimes to have a real connection with another human. Maggie and Tom may have been unlikely friends - but their friendship was a pleasure to watch grow from casual talk about books to truly caring and loving one another no matter what. We heard from both characters points of views, both brilliantly written and giving us a full sense of what each character has been through and how they think. Tom was annoying and emotional, and every bit of a sixteen-year old as he should be, and Maggie was a fiery former Hippie who I desperately wanted to be my friend.

Now, this isn't just a cute story about a group of friends banding together to save the library - we see Tom struggle with his Fathers alcohol abuse and his refusal to let him go to college, their struggles with money and their toxic relationship. There's very uncomfortably graphic scenes on Maggies farm that if you're squeamish you might want to skip. The dark side to this novel took me by surprise a little bit, but the warmth and light that seeped out of the rest of the story more than made up for it.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Bella Osborne, Aria + Aires and Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

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