The Last Chance Library

by Freya Sampson

You can tell a lot about a person from the library books they borrow.

The two of them had spent hundreds of weekends like this, side by side in contented silence, interrupted occasionally by her mother’s throaty laugh at something within the pages. The memory of it made June’s chest ache with longing, and she opened the book and started to read.

She recognized the look in his eyes every time he walked in, that mixture of anticipation and excitement at the promises held within the shelves. And she understood implicitly what it felt like to be more at home with books than with people, to prefer the adventures and travels within their pages to those in real life.

She liked all this stuff, but she was much more interested in getting out there and living her life. And I think she’d have wanted that for you too.”

the library is about so much more than simply books. Libraries are like a net, there to catch those of us in danger of falling through the cracks. That’s what we’re really fighting to protect.”

I just wanted to curl up and sleep.”

“But I felt alive again. For the first time since she died, I felt alive.”

“Life could be full of excitement, if you allow yourself to live a little.”

“But here’s the thing—wherever I ended up, and however much trouble I was in, there was always a library. A place that was safe and warm and dry, where no one would judge me. Libraries were my only light in some very dark times.

I pray that you start to live your life again, my dear June.

There really was nothing to keep June in Chalcot anymore, but for the first time in her life, that thought didn’t completely terrify her.

libraries aren’t made by books; they’re made by librarians.