Cameron, Eleanor. The Unheard Music (Boston: Atlantic; Little, Brown, 1950) 278 p.

The central character of this complex novel is Jane Fielding. Jane works at the St. Albans library where she interacts with many townsfolk and coworkers. The library is mainly described by its smell.

He felt, rather than pictured in his imagination, the golden afternoon light filling the high-ceilinged room with its two ells extending away behind him on either hand as he stood at the desk facing her. He smelled the unforgettable, closed-in smell of the library, a queer mixture of the varnish they used on the cork covering of the floor, of dust faintly, of the books, the print, the soiled paper that had been turned a million times by a million grimy thumbs.

The library had smelled like that ever since he could remember, because it was old and musty and had grown dirty in the corners during all these years. (p. 25).

Jane's take on the library smell includes “the faint reminder of the men's public rest room under the stairway.” (p. 67).

Jane is friends with the head librarian, “Toppy,” Mrs. Topping. Because of this Maud Coombs feels Jane is able to slack off on her work. Other employees include the childrens librarian Phoebe Tripp, G.A., Timothy (who wants to marry Jane), and Claude. Jane suspects she will be offered the job of head librarian when Toppy retires but does not feel up to the challenges. The dingy smelly old building needs repairs. The library board is always cutting the budget and refusing salary raises. She mostly feels inadequate to the task of maintaining equanimity while dealing with all the emotional needs of the library staff.