Podcast: From The Library With Love by Kate Thompson

Kate Thompson’s novel The Little Wartime Library is set in Bethnal Green public library, a beautiful and beloved building which turned one hundred years old in 2022. To celebrate this centenary, Thompson set herself the challenge of interviewing 100 library workers. The resulting conversations inspired her to make a podcast ‘for anyone whose life has been changed by reading’. I am delighted to be invited to review this podcast. I read and enjoyed Thompson’s earlier novel The Stepney Doorstep Society, and in 2019 I attended her launch event for Secrets of the Home Front Girls. There, I saw for myself how much East Londoners who remember WW2, and their descendants, appreciate Thompson’s books. It was ‘standing room only’ in Canning Town Public Library.

I listened to two episodes of The Little Wartime Library in full, as well as dipping in and out of others. The most recent one, and the one I enjoyed most, is ‘Meet the Guinea Pig Club’. In it Thompson is joined by Dr. Emily Mayhew, a medical historian who has written a book about fighter pilots disfigured by burns, to talk about a ground-breaking plastic surgery unit in East Grinstead, Sussex. It was fascinating to learn how beer, lovemaking in cupboards and the kindness of the wider community played their part in the healing process. The balance Thompson and Mayhew create between interview and conversation is excellent. I especially liked the way they emphasised the important role of nurses in treating these young men. The point was well made that surgeons save patients’ lives, but nurses keep them alive.

The other episode I listened to in full was ‘Discover the hidden history of an underground village in East London.’ For this episode Thompson’s co-presenter is Siddy Holloway, who presents ‘Secrets of the Underground’ on television. There is a contributing audience of old people with stories of sheltering from air raids in Tube stations, and an interview with a survivor of the Bethnal Green tragedy. Speaking as a person who has lived and worked in east London for forty years, I felt this was a fitting tribute to the wartime generation and a brilliant representation of a disappearing community.

 I have followed From the Library with Love on Spotify. I recommend you do the same wherever you get your podcasts.