Hari Sreenivasan:

In August of 2016, after four years of bombings, death and destruction in Daraya, Syria, rebel forces and the Syrian government agreed to a cease fire.

Thousands of fighters and civilians were evacuated and relocated, leaving behind shattered homes and buildings in ruins. But underneath that rubble, in an abandoned basement, lay a hidden treasure: a secret library filled with thousands of books salvaged during the ravages of war by residents who risked their lives to save them.

I recently spoke with B.B.C reporter Mike Thomson, author of the book "Syria's Secret Library: Reading and Redemption in a Town Under Siege"–which is coming out this Tuesday.