My Review of The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan

My rating: ⭐⭐

(2.45 stars rounded down to 2)

Note: the following review also appears on Goodreads and Amazon.

I have liked books by Jennifer Ryan in the past. She predominantly writes contemporary women’s historical fiction, and the ones I’ve read are set in Britain during WW2. Two novels of hers that I enjoyed a lot were The Kitchen Front and The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle. Both were four-star reads for me. Ryan is particularly good with getting disparate women from very different backgrounds, ages, and back stories, and having them band together and find ways to survive The Blitz and other horrors of WW2. They form a sisterhood of sorts, as many of these women have been estranged from family or if not, have tenuous relationships with their kin. She’s good with found families and with women-supporting-women. The romances that happen in the books are not primary, nor even secondary or tertiary sub-plots. Win-win-win!

So I thought I would also enjoy The Underground Library. What’s not to love? It has all of the above. Plus characters who genuinely have a love of books. And the formation of a secret library down in the Underground, during WW2, based on real historical events? I mean, for an avowed bookworm like me, this ticked off all the boxes and hit all the right notes.

But my discontent started early. Our main protagonist, Juliet Lansdown, is the deputy librarian of the Bethnal Green Library. She had just moved to London from Upper Beeding in West Sussex. The only child and daughter of affluent, gentried parents, Juliet was expected to follow a highly restrictive, tradional path for a woman of her time and standing (i.e., to wed a wealthy, respectable man from their own social circle, have children, and raise the children while maintaining their family’s standing).

But Juliet goes to some lengths to explain why that life wasn’t for her, and she proceeds to get a (gasp!) job in the Upper Beeding library, then gets engaged to a man below her station, who also happens to be a narcissistic writer and a deserter during the Battle of Dunkirk. Juliet recounts how, despite her family’s wealth, she grew up alone with no one but the servants, her governess, and her books as company, since her parents were too busy attending to their duties in society. In her loneliness, she mentions how books were her best friends, and how she she spent countless hours in Narnia and other literary places.

But here’s the thing: none of C. S. Lewis’ Narnia books were published when Juliet was a child, nor at the time the novel occurs, which is in the early 1940s. The Narnia books were published long after the war. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was initially published in 1950, and the final book in the series, The Last Battle, in 1956.

How do I know? Because I’m a huge Narnia fan. And like many other huge Narnia fans, I’ve read the books over and over since I was seven or eight, in both publishing and chronological order (and I do prefer reading them in chronological order). I’ve watched the series and the movies. And always go back to the books. I even wrote a 50-page paper on C. S. Lewis and Narnia for my junior year English Lit class in high school. So yeah, this kind of error immediately threw me out of the world Ryan was trying to build.

That’s a pretty huge ding for me, and while I respect that Jennifer Ryan does a lot of research for her novels, I’m not sure how something this big could’ve gotten away from her. And not only that, but it was also missed by her editing team.

Was it a major problem? Did it impact the plot, the narrative, the characters? No, and no.

But what it did was color my perception of Ryan’s story and it made me question many things I normally wouldn’t have questioned. It made me think uber-critically instead of just allowing myself to enjoy the story. I would have loved to be transported to that world, focused only on the problems the three main protagonists were going through. But this one tiny mistake propelled me elsewhere, and made me question authorial intent, her research process, her motives, the historicity of the novel when viewed through a contemporaneous lens, and finally, authenticity to the time and especially to cultural and social mores of the period.

I’m the kind of reader who can enjoy a book without using a critical lens for most genre fiction. In many cases, I can default to being an emotional reader, just letting myself float away and be entertained. But I’m also the kind of reader who, when necessary, will look closely at more thoughtful (or thought-provoking) works, especially if it falls under LitFic, historical fiction, or “serious” genre fiction.

Or, as was the case for this book, when mistakes happen that throws me out of that emotional reader space, and plunges me headlong into literary theory and viewing a work using multiple lenses mode.

Other things that drew my attention: whether Katie, at the age of eighteen, could have become a teacher without a university degree and what the societal and cultural norms were surrounding pre-marital sex. The answer to the former is yes; until the 1970s, most teachers in Britain weren’t required to have a university degree to teach. The answer to the latter is a lot longer and more complicated.

Katie Upwood, the second main protagonist of the story, was a recent secondary school graduate, who was on her way to university. She was described as being an exceptionally bright student, whose family was trying to rise above their middle class roots. Her father, especially, was cognizant of their place in society particularly because he was deemed to have married down (i.e., he married a woman who was significantly lower down the social ladder and was not his equal). Much of his time and concerns were ensuring that he placed his wife in societal situations that would better her position and ensure their family’s standing. Katie’s acceptance into university promises both a better future for her and her family.

Katie is one of the librarians whom Juliet meets and befriends when she first moves to London. But Katie’s upward trajectory is ruined when she realizes that her sweetheart, who had gone off to war, was presumed dead during a battle. Worse, she realizes that she is pregnant, although she doesn’t know how she could have become pregnant.

And here comes my suspension of disbelief. But first: yes, it is entirely believable that Katie would not have known about sex or how babies were made. Children raised in the 1920s and 30s would not have been taught about sex, either in school or at home, especially girls from middle-and-upper class families. Schools would’ve taught both boys and girls about reproduction via the birds and the bees: eggs needed to be fertilized, and flowers needed to be pollinated. From there, children needed to make the jump from birds and flowers to humans. Which was far from direct, and nowhere near intuitive at all. Instead, girls were taught to protect their virtue, have self-control, true modesty, and an eye on God. And if a girl were lucky enough to make it through to their wedding night untouched, it was incredibly common for her to enter into her wedding night with virtually zero knowledge of sex or what was expected of her. Mothers were not very helpful, as they often gave vague and sometimes metaphorical descriptions of what to expect.

But here’s what I thought was surprising. Whereas middle- and upper-class girls would have been  blind to the mysteries surrounding sex and reproduction, lower-middle- and working-class girls wouldn’t have. Especially in a working class urban London neighborhood like Bethnal Green. These girls would have learned about sex out of necessity. Cramped living conditions, large families sharing small flats or rooms, and the general lack of privacy would have introduced girls to sex and its repercussions at an early age.

Since Katie’s mother came from that background, it is hard to believe that she wouldn’t have shared at least some information with Katie. While it’s true that Katie would have been raised as a middle-class girl, it’s hard to imagine a mother not wanting to share or protect her daughter. Especially if the daughter was going to go away to university in a matter of months and/or since she knew Katie had a sweetheart.

And here is point 2 for me, as far as Katie is concerned: for someone as bright and curious as she was, and as well-read as she was made out to be, it strikes me as odd that she wouldn’t have been exposed to at least some material that touched on physiology, married relations, sex or similar topics. This was London, after all, and London during the war. And even knowing what the societal and cultural norms were surrounding sex, it is odd that Katie was written as very innocent.

During WW2, there were many girls who got pregnant shortly after their beaus went off to war. Katie was not oblivious to this. She knew that there were ladies in her parents’ circles who looked down on these girls. She knew the horrible fates awaiting these girls. She knew that many of the girls would have been shunned by their families, or would have had to go live in homes for unwed mothers. Many would not have been able to keep their children. She knew the stigma attached to these girls and their babies, and by extension, even to their families.

She was not blind to any of this. And that’s why I find it hard to believe she wouldn’t have talked to anyone about the situations these girls found themselves in, or looked up books to see what she could find out. Even if she didn’t want to talk to her mother about this, she had many friends at the library, some of whom were older, more worldly women.

When she finds herself in a similar situation--and she correctly assumes she’s pregnant only because she hasn’t had her period in a while and she finds her clothing doesn’t fit as well anymore--only then does she look things up in books. And these were books she found in her library. So Ryan can’t even use the excuse that the Bethnal Green library didn’t carry these books, or that they were banned, two reasons why many books about these topics weren’t available from many libraries at the time.

Finally, I wanted to compare and contrast the experiences of Katie and Juliet. Both were single women, with Juliet being just several years older than Katie (in her early 20s). Both were from good families, though Juliet was of a much higher pedigree than Katie was. Both of Juliet’s parents were equally matched and came from money, whereas Katie’s parents weren’t equal.

When Katie comes of age, she is innocent. She engages in sexual relations with her boyfriend a number of times before he goes off to war. She didn’t understand what she was doing until she got pregnant. And when she finally confesses her situation to her parents, she isn’t surprised by their reactions: namely, her father’s disgust and disappointment, and her mother’s anger and fear. Their concern isn’t for Katie; it is about how her pregnancy will impact their social standing. When they come up with a plan to hide Katie’s pregnancy, she goes along with pretending it is Katie’s mom who is pregnant. In this way, they’re hiding Katie’s shame. Katie doesn’t rock the boat; Katie is not a rebel. Katie is a good daughter.

It’s only when Katie starts reading up on birthing and what to expect does she begin to have concerns about her mother’s plan. She meets with a nurse in The Underground during one of the air raids, and she eventually confides to Juliet and her other friends about her situation. When she’s in labor during The Blitz, she eventually gains enough courage to break away from her mother and seek medical help from the nurses and doctors in The Underground. Though this ensures she’s placed in an unwed mother’s home after she gives birth, she’s thankful that she had actual medical personnel around to help her deliver. But afterwards, when she decides to keep her baby, she deals with the fall-out of that decision: namely she is ostracized from her family, and has to live with the stigma of being an unwed mother.

Juliet, on the other hand, had been engaged to Victor and had sexual relations with him, also before he went off to war. But Juliet, even though she was from an upper class family, didn’t worry about getting pregnant, and she never did. This is presumably because she was more informed and better read than Katie, and knew what to do to prevent pregnancies. When Juliet’s fiancé goes missing and is deemed a war-time deserter for a number of years, Juliet’s concern wasn’t about her lack of virtue. It was about the societal shame his desertion causes. When he returns to London near the end of the book, and tells her he has found a cottage for them in Upper Beeding, and that they can now marry, she isn’t concerned about moving in with him before they get married. Her concern is losing the freedom she’s gained and the friends she’s made since moving to London (which are very real losses, so I’m not minimizing her concerns).

So for me, you have two young women whose approach to sex differs. One has to suffer the consequences of her actions while the other doesn’t. While both understand their actions would be looked down upon by society, one has to experience this first-hand, while the other gets away with it scot-free.

I understand Ryan was making an authorial choice here. She wouldn’t have a story if she didn’t make Katie go through what many young women of that time went through, and in that regard, it was authentic to the times. She also wouldn’t have a story if Juliet suffered the same way Katie did; Juliet’s story arc and trajectory had to be different, and so it was. But it also showed the inequality between these two ladies. One can say that Katie was already at a disadvantage, having been of lower social status than Juliet, even though she was allowed to do things Juliet wasn’t: namely, find a job and go on to university. Juliet was caged as much as Katie was, only her cage was probably a bit larger and nicer.

Finally, one thing I noticed was how quickly and neatly all three main stories were tied up. Juliet gets her happily-ever-after, and so does Katie. (Our third heroine, Sofie, does as well.) While Ryan tried to inject danger into their lives (e.g., Katie being sent to an an unwed Mother’s home and then having to fend for herself and her baby, Sofie being sent to an internment camp after she’s arrested for stealing, Juliet trying to run away from Victor after she realizes he lied about not deserting during the war), none of the heroines were truly in any danger. This is, after all, a feel-good cozy novel that also happens to be historical fiction.

I really wish I liked this book better (because now, I’m left wondering what did I miss in the other two books that I rated as 4-stars previously?). I wish I didn’t stop and say “Wait, what does she mean she spent time in Narnia?”

I wish for a lot of things, but I know enough to know that writers aren’t perfect and that mistakes happen. Will I read more Jennifer Ryan? I think so. But I will be more circumspect in the future.