“The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.”
— Albert Einstein
Libraries are a crucial part of society — preserving history, promoting literacy, and providing an abundance of free resources and programs to communities. But perhaps even more than that, they provide essential nourishment for the soul.
There’s something magical about the library. To step inside is to be overcome with a calming sense of quiet and awe.
To quote the bestselling author Isabel Allende: “The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.” And if books contain such spirits — if stories capture a small spark of life, if they provide a glimpse into the heart of humanity and the vast realms of possibility — then the library is overflowing with power.
I, for one, like many others, have found myself drawn to the library from an early age. And as an adult, there’s nothing I dream of more than visiting the grand, enchanting libraries of the world. That’s why whenever I come across a book set within the magical walls of a library, I can’t help but add it to my TBR.
And so I’ve compiled a list of books that hold only this in common — that they take place within the hallowed halls of libraries. Big and small, real and imagined, each carries that same indomitable spirit that makes the library such an extraordinary place.
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
When a young Belle da Costa Greene is hired to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for J. P. Morgan’s newly built Pierpont Morgan Library, she quickly becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world. But Belle has a secret — her light complexion allows her to pass as white, but she’s actually the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. This remarkable work of biographical fiction shows the lengths one extraordinary woman will go to in order to protect her family and leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation. (Check out the BookTrib interview here.)
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
One day, graduate student Zachary Ezra Rawlins discovers a mysterious book hidden in the library. Filled with tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, Zachary is astounded to also find a story from his own childhood within the book. A series of clues ultimately leads Zachary to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth — where lovers pass notes under doors and across time, and stories are whispered by the dead. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels this magical world to discover his purpose — in both the mysterious book and in his own life.
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
On the coldest night of the year in Spencer, Iowa, at only a few weeks old, Dewey the kitten was stuffed into the return book slot of the Spencer Public Library. Found the next morning by library director Vicki Myron — a single mother who had survived the loss of her family farm, a breast cancer scare, and an alcoholic husband — Dewey quickly won her heart and the hearts of the staff. For the next nineteen years, he never stopped charming the people of Spencer with his enthusiasm, warmth, humility (for a cat), and, above all, his sixth sense about who needed him most. As his fame grew, Dewey became more than just a friend; he became a source of pride for a community slowly working its way back from the greatest crisis in its long history.
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery — magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire, and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, translated by Lilit Thwaites
Based on the true story of Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus, this story follows fourteen-year-old Dita, one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the “family camp.” Assigned to work in the “school,” she meets Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch, who asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards. And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz — finding the courage to protect her family and friends at all costs, and risking her life to keep the magic of books alive.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe, there is a library that contains an infinite number of books. One tells the story of your life as it is, others for the lives you could have lived if you had made different choices. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision, and must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life — and what makes it worth living in the first place.
The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence
The boy has lived his whole life trapped within a book-choked chamber older than empires and larger than cities. The girl has been plucked from the outskirts of civilization to be trained as a librarian, studying the mysteries of the great library at the heart of her kingdom. They were never supposed to meet. But in the library, they did. Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.
The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé
Thrown out by her father, Florence — a white-passing bookbinder in Victorian England — talks her way into the remote, forbidding Rose Hall to restore Lord Francis Belfield’s collection of rare books. Lord Belfield’s library is old and full of secrets — but none so intriguing as the whispers about his late wife. When the library is broken into one night, Florence is puzzled to find all the priceless tomes remain untouched. Until she discovers a half-burned book in the fireplace. She realizes with horror that someone has found and set fire to the secret diary of Lord Belfield’s wife — which may hold the clue to her fate…
The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith
As Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing — a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside — Claire mainly repairs and organizes books, but she also keeps an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters and escaping the library. When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track down and capture him. But what should have been a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the angelic Ramiel attacks, convinced that she holds the Devil’s Bible — a powerful weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell. So it falls to three librarians to find a book with the power to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell… and Earth.
The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan
New deputy librarian Juliet Lansdown is determined to show the men in charge that a woman can breathe life back into her dying community library. Katie Upwood, thrilled to be working at the library for the summer, finds herself harboring a life-changing secret with no one to turn to for help. Sofie Baumann, a young Jewish refugee, escapes to the library every chance she can, finding friendship in the literary community. After a slew of German bombs destroys the library, Juliet relocates the stacks to the local Underground station where the city’s residents shelter nightly. Will Juliet, Kate, and Sofie be able to overcome their own troubles to save the library? Or will the beating heart of their neighborhood be lost forever?
The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass
When a mysterious little free library (guarded by a large orange cat) appears overnight in the small town of Martinville, eleven-year-old Evan plucks two weathered books from its shelves, never suspecting that his life is about to change. Evan and his best friend Rafe quickly discover a link between one of the old books and a long-ago event that none of the grown-ups want to talk about. The two boys start asking questions whose answers will transform not only their own futures, but the town itself. Told in turn by a ghost librarian named Al, an aging cat named Mortimer, and Evan himself, the story reveals the power of a good book — and, of course, the librarian who gave it to you.
That Night in the Library by Eva Jurczyk
On the night before graduation, seven students gather in the basement of their university’s rare books library. They’re not allowed in the library after closing time, but it’s the perfect place for the ancient Greek ritual they want to perform ― one said to free you from the fear of death. And what better time to seek the wisdom of ancient gods than in the hours before they’ll scatter in different directions to start their lives? But just a few minutes into their celebration, the lights go out ― and one of them drops dead. As the body count rises, with nothing but the books to protect them, the group must figure out how to survive the night while trapped with a murderer.
