Bassett, Sara Ware. Within the Harbor (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1948) 252 p.

In the Cape Cod village of Belleport the library is run by the young and energetic Libbie Lane.

She was not beautiful. She was not, he decided, even pretty. He had never seen so unusual a face. Not that its features were peculiar. Their arresting charm lay in no freakishness of structure. Just what it was that gave them their whimsical fascination … he could not decide.... and with her smile she suddenly became the bewitching person he had presupposed her.

It was a smile frank and friendly, but lighted by an elfin hint of mischief, and with it there appeared an unexpected dimple which so distracted him that it drove every other thought from his mind.

Her voice was soft and was broken now and then by an odd, rippling little catch musical as a brook’s song, and she had eyes as blue as her own garden flowers.

Altogether she was far better than pretty; she was beautiful, distinctive, a creature so individual that one might search the world over and never find her replica.

He understood now why she drew people to her, why the village sang her praises, why she had a train of worshipers …. (p. 75).

When Libbie breaks her leg a retired professor takes over the library temporarily. He finds a very valuable old book in the collection.

Although the dialog is often stilted I found this to be a pleasant gentle story.