when that shelter wasn’t available

[keannu]

Does "that shelter" in "when that shelter wasn’t available" mean "that kind of real shelter other than books"? Or does it mean she couldn't get books?

43)I was a daughter of parents who never finished high school. They were hard workers, but our family could not escape from our tough life. Books were a shelter and a friend to me when that shelter wasn’t available in real life. My mom sought that shelter, too. (a) She read great books from the library.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, the writer did not feel that he/she had any kind of protection from his/her tough life except in reading books. Reading gave him/her a feeling of protection which he/she was not getting from anywhere else at that time.