The Library

by Bella Osborne

Do you live near a public library? Do you ever visit it?  I vividly remember the excitement of the fortnightly visit from the mobile library to the estate where I lived as a child. I eagerly climbed up the stairs and searched along the rows of books for those I hadn’t read, shouting in excitement at my latest discovery. It was my ambition then to become a librarian and work on the mobile unit, until they got rid of the drivers and the librarians had to drive the huge vehicle themselves! Sadly,  in the last few decades many of these wonderful little buildings have been closed down in an effort to save money, denying the elderly, the young and everyone in between, access to free reading material, along with a host of other facilities.

This story is about a typical village library.  Pensioner Maggie, visits each week and participates in a book club.  It provides her with a welcome relief from the hard work of life on a farm and ensures she has the company of others.  She is seemingly happy with her lot, but is she?

Sixteen-year-old Tom is finding life hard. He lives with his alcoholic father, is struggling with his grades at school and is desperately trying to avoid the school bully who is making his life even more of a misery.  On the pretext of selecting books for his Mum, Tom is welcomed gratefully by neurotic librarian Christine, and helped to  choose a number of romantic fiction books. Stuffing them into his bag, Tom returns home and begins to read. And so, begins his guilty secret. Tom loves romantic fiction, seeing them as a self-help guide to his non-existent love life!

The story follows the build up of an unusual but beautiful friendship between Maggie and Tom, proving that in friendship, age has no barrier. They recognise something in each other and a slow growing friendship ensues, starting from Tom’s rescue of Maggie after she has been mugged. It is an unlikely friendship that will change both their lives.

As Tom deals with his miserable home life, his dad’s aspirations to get him into the local dog food factory on an apprenticeship instead of encouraging his dreams of going to university and overcoming his shyness to chat up the girl of his dreams without making a fool of himself, Maggie is dealing with her own issues, blaming herself for something she has kept secret, that happened long ago in her past.

When Christine tearfully announces that the council is closing the library within weeks, Maggie and Tom join forces to unite the community into saving this valuable resource. It is not an easy task and there are many problems to overcome on the way but they both feel that the library is the heart of the community and  is therefore worth fighting for! But will the rest of the village support them? Will Tom realise his dreams? And will Maggie come to terms with her past?

This is a delightful book that lifts the spirits.  Both heart warming and thought provoking, there are sad points and funny points but ultimately, the reader is rooting for the two main characters and hoping that they will both acknowledge and overcome their fears and their past to move on in life.

It also made me realise that village libraries may be small but really can be the heart of a community and should be valued much more. It has been years since I visited my local library but after reading this book, I decided to go along and found a whole host of activities I never knew existed. Give yours a chance and you too might be surprised at how much they have changed over the years.