I was very kindly given an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley and HQ.

'Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books' is a novel of tiny revolutions. Filled with despair and hope in equal measures, it celebrates the remarkable power of change books can bring people while acting as a rallying cry against increasingly puritanical book bans happening in the United States. Set in a small town in Georgia, most of the chapters visit a different resident of the small town the novel is set in and explores how them discovering a banned book (hidden inside the dust jacket of an 'approved' book) changes something in their lives for the better. A family becomes more tolerant of their gay son, a trapped women realises her worth - an elderly lawyer makes a penis cake. It's a rollercoaster of comedy and tragedy.

I'm not a character-driven kind of book person, but there was something about the writing of this book that just made me want to keep turning the pages. The plot isn't 'in your face' and therefore, the pace feels a bit slower than you'd expect - but it's just so interesting to read. What I really appreciated about the way it ended was with this enormous message of hope: hope that all the fear people instil in others, the way they try to hide history, to pretend as though things were better in the past - that people are fighting against that. It wasn't a 'happily ever after' ending, but it was a truly hopeful one and that made it so worth reading.

I wavered on picking this one up - don't be like me. It's a great novel and an even greater reminder of the transformational power of books.

'Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books' is available from June 20th.