Jennifer Answers Questions about The Underground Library

1.      Where did you first get the idea for The Underground Library?

My book ideas always come from history itself, reading through letters and diaries from the era and reference books that cover the ins and outs of life in the era.

Through research for previous novels, I had come across the story of the librarians who had fought to save the library after it was bombed by moving some the books to the local underground station and opening a makeshift library there.

It was a brave and imaginative idea, especially considering how early it was in the war and that the underground stations hadn’t been used as overnight shelters for many weeks. It was an immediate success, literally bringing reading matter to people when they most needed it.

The characters in the book are all important, from bright and determined Juliet to Sofie, a young refugee trying to stay alive. They are each meticulously researched, based on real life individuals and encapsulating the dangers and problems women faced during the war.

2.      I believe it is based on a true story – there really was an underground library? Tell us more…

The real underground library was in Bethnal Green, in East London, just like the one in the book. It was bombed on September 7^th, 1940, just a few weeks into the London Blitz, and was moved into the underground after the librarians stepped in to plead with the local government.

Their arguments were clear: people spending their nights sleeping on a hard floor alongside each other were bound to need distraction and comfort. Books provided an escape, a comfort, or much needed advice on sewing, gardening and cooking with the new rations in place. History books and maps gave news of the war more context, and people took up new interests to stave off the fear for their loved ones and homes above ground.

Their determination paid off. Within weeks, the library was set up, the number of members increasing dramatically. By the end of the war, people from all over London were taking the underground trains to get there, using the Bethnal Green underground library as their main source of reading materials.

3.      How challenging or different has this book been compared to your others?

The Underground Library is created from an original historical fact, which at once makes it both riveting and painstaking. There was a greater amount of research, along with an absolute necessity to get everything right, from the sequences of bombs, how the victims must have felt and reacted, to the mechanisms of the underground shelters, how they grew with hospitals, schools, theatres and other services.

The story of Sofie, a Jewish refugee, began in her home in Berlin, and her story is based on a real-life Sofie who made it over to the UK when she was just nineteen years old. Her perilous journey across Europe was based on true stories from others, including the hair-raising moment that a nun saved her from the Nazis in a train at the border.

The story of the internment camp on the Isle of Man was another new and lesser-known element. German and Italian nationals were sent there for a short duration in 1940 as it was feared that the Nazis would use them during an invasion to break Allied resistance, as they had done in the Netherlands. Most of the interns were non-threatening and had independence to lead normal lives, living together in the now-empty hotels, setting up schools and clinics, even starting a glove factory and a skill- and information-sharing “university”.  Within a year, the camp had mostly been disbanded, although a number of interns decided to stay on the island, having settled into the easier way of life away from the war.

 4. And what is next for Jennifer Ryan – are you working on your next novel?

Spring 2026 brings my new novel, The Queen's Coronation. It's such a joy to write about Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 – when she was just 26 years old! This tale is extra special as it is told by her servants in Buckingham Palace, including plenty of scenes with the Queen herself. Journeying to Windsor Castle, Balmoral in Scottish Highlands and touring the Royal Yacht, the novel follows the paths of the Queen and three women close to her. 

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