did she have any idea of the burning urgency of reading for a book-loving child, how two weeks was a complete eternity without a new book to dive into?
As a voracious reader since I was a child, the thought of having to wait weeks for a new book is so painful! Elmira was one of the first characters in the original draft of the novel (after Dodie and her sisters). I knew that a big part of the reason Dodie would "have" to open the lending library in her own home was because she couldn't bear the thought of a child, a student of hers, needing books and not being able to get them.
In an early draft, the main conflict of the book was that the lending library burns down (and it turns out that Elmira is accidentally responsible). It became clear pretty quickly that the novel needed more of an internal journey for Dodie—and her desire for motherhood became central as the book evolved.
