Jersey 1943. Once a warm and neighbourly community now German soldiers patrol the cobbled streets imposing a harsh rule on the people of the island. Grace La Mottée the island's only librarian is ordered to destroy books which threaten the new regime. Instead she hides the stories away in secret. Along with her headstrong best friend postwoman Bea Rose she wants to fight back. So she forms the wartime book club: a lifeline offering fearful islanders the joy and escapism of reading. But as the occupation drags on the women's quiet acts of bravery become more perilous - and more important - than ever before. And when tensions turn to violence they are forced to face the true terrible cost of resistance . . .