While there were brief moments that reminded me of The Astral Library by Kate Quinn, Meg Anderson’s debut novel, The Memory of Borrowed Books is a luminous, lyrical love letter to libraries that broke my heart for the last 20% of the book, but managed to put it together again.
Claire Ashford is the librarian at the Foxhollow Library in Massachusetts. Books have been her escape and release since she was a child, but even before the announcement from the city council, Claire has been restless and can’t sleep. However, when they inform her they’re going to close the library by the end of the year, and build a community center on the spot, it makes her insomnia worse. And, she looks like she’s not sleeping. She walks the aisles of the library as if she’s a ghost. She feels lost and doesn’t know how to handle the announcement.
Claire’s assistant, Grace, has been in her life forever. She teases her, yells at her, coaxes smiles, and encourages her to talk to Julian, a brooding man who sits in a corner of the library and sketches. Grace’s mother was a librarian there, and she mentions a secret door and room to Claire, one that appears to those who need it.
When Claire stumbles across the room, she expects it will tell her how to save the library. Instead, she finds books that are filled with memories of the people of the town. She knows she shouldn’t, but takes home the book of Julian’s memories, along with a couple others. But, it’s her own book of lost memories that will restore her recollections of the night that traumatized her, a night that will link her to Julian’s past and her own.
I’ll admit I was all wrong about Claire who appeared to walk through her life with no awareness. It was only when the library helped her remember that she learned why she suffered from OCD, why she couldn’t sleep, why she was lost. The characters in The Memory of Borrowed Books have suffered losses and trauma that only live in their own memories, and memories can be deceiving.
While I’ve mentioned characters, trauma, and memories, all elements that are linked in this moving novel, I need to quote some of Anderson’s passages about stories and libraries. Most of us have memories of libraries, and she recognizes those memories.
“Stories always seem to find us when we need them most, don’t they?” In remembering Claire’s mother, she reflects “Her mother had loved stories that felt a little haunted and a little hopeful.” That’s a perfect description of this book, “a little haunted and a little hopeful”. And, when Claire reminds the town and the council of the origin story of the library, she says, “The belief that stories could bind strangers together and that community could be stitched one title at a time.”
Then, there’s that final Acknowledgement. “And finally, to libraries, thank you for being places of refuge. Thank you for the stories you hold within your walls and for the way you open your doors to everyone, asking nothing in return. You are where so many of us first fall in love with stories, where cuiosity is welcomed and where community takes root. This book is and has always been for you.”
There have been a number of books about libraries in the last couple years. as people understand libraries and books are in danger. The Memory of Borrowed Books is one of the atmospheric, lyrical ones, a beautiful debut.
Meg Anderson’s website is https://www.megandersonwrites.com/books
The Memory of Borrowed Books by Meg Anderson. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2026. 350p.
Note: Although I read an egalley, the book was released October 6, so it is available.
FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley from the publisher through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.
