کتاب‌فروشی گمشده

by Evie Woods, ملیکا شایسته (Translator)

اُپالین کارلایل، دختری جوان و 21ساله است که تصمیم گرفته برای فرار از دست برادر بزرگترش درخصوص ازدواج تحقیرآمیزی که به‌هیچ عنوان نمی‌خواهد، به فرانسه فرار کند. عشق زیاد و اشتیاقش به مطالعه، که با پدر مرحومش مشترک بود، او را در پاریس به کتاب‌فروشی معروف «شکسپیر و کمپانی» می‌رساند. جایی که اُپالین در ابتدا به عنوان یک فروشنده مشغول به کار می‌شود.

اما افزایش علاقه‌اش به کتاب‌های باستانی و دست‌نوشته‌های خطی، آغازکننده‌ی سفری جادویی برای اُپالین می‌شود. سفری که پس از سپری کردن اتفاقات مختلف در زندگی‌اش، در نهایت او را وادار می‌کند تا یک کتاب‌فروشی در دوبلین برای خودش باز کند، و به دنبال دست‌نوشته‌ای عجیب و دست‌نیافتنی بگردد.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Magical Realism, Audiobook, Romance

399 pages, Paperback

First published June 22, 2023

About the author

Evie Woods is the author of The Lost Bookshop, the #1 Wall Street Journal and Amazon Kindle and Sunday Times bestseller, which has now sold over half a million copies. She is also the author of The Story Collector, The Heirloom and The Mysterious Bakery On Rue De Paris under her real name, Evie Gaughan.

Living on the West Coast of Ireland, Evie escapes the inclement weather by writing her stories in a converted attic, where she dreams of underfloor heating. Her books tread the intriguing line between the everyday and the otherworldly, revealing the magic that exists in our ordinary lives.

Reviews

[Rosh (on a short break) · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: A story spanning multiple genres, timelines and themes. Has plenty of interesting elements but also a few loopholes. Will work better if you read it with your heart than with your head.

Story Synopsis:

Present-day Dublin. Martha has escaped an abusive marriage and is trying to stand on her own feet by working as a housekeeper to the eccentric ex-actress, Madame Bowden.
Henry is a Ph.D. student who is obsessed with an old manuscript, and is ready to do anything to locate it.
Connecting the two, unknown to them, is a missing bookshop, which should have been next door to Madame Bowden’s house, but isn’t! But as Henry and Martha learn more about the bookshop, the bookshop also seems to want to be found by them.
The story comes to us in the first person perspectives of Martha, Henry, and Opaline – whose timeline beginning in 1921 England offers us some background to the events in the contemporary timeline.

Bookish Yays:
💖 My favourite part was the magical realism, which is strongest in the contemporary timeline. The fantastical elements are connected not just to the lost library but also to Martha, who seems to have a special ability (the reason for which is not specified.) This is not to say that the magical realism was flawless. There were quite a few logical loopholes, and I had to keep reminding myself that fantasy-based genres are allowed to have some flexibility in sealing off all ends. Regardless, it was exciting to read, though readers looking for explanations might end up disappointed.

💖 What both the timelines handled excellently was their bookish elements. I loved the random sprinkling of tidbits related to authors, books and book collectors. There were even a few lovely quotes connected to reading, and even a special role by the iconic Sylvia Beach. Every bibliophile will definitely love these trivia.

💖 I liked all the contemporary main characters. Martha, Henry, and Madame Bowden have their own issues and whims, but they are still easy to like. Their character detailing helps us understand their behaviour well, and their interactions are realistic and heartwarming. Oh, to have a friend like Madame Bowden!

💖 The story is written in three first person perspectives, and each voice is written distinctly – a tough task. Opaline is the typical Brit upper class, looking down her nose at people below her station though she doesn't even realise it, and realising that she isn’t as free as she had assumed. Henry is humorous, using his jokes to hide his vulnerable emotional side. Martha is under-confident yet defiant at the same time. She isn't the typical victim but has her own secrets. The povs of each reflect their personalities properly.


Bookish Nays:
💔 I was most disappointed to see romance playing such a dominant role in Opaline’s arc. As she was a rebel who lived life on her own terms, her arc would have worked so much better had it focussed only on her bibliophilic passions than on her romantic passions.

💔 I love historical fiction, and I also love magical realism. But I felt like I was reading two distinct stories that didn’t come together convincingly, though each story had its own charm.

💔 There are far too many social themes and issues incorporated within both the timelines. Some were good, some went overboard and felt forced in. The contemporary timeline performed far better in this regard.

💔 The historical timeline begins in 1921 but doesn’t give many clues about the chronological progress. For instance, when it suddenly spoke about the war in the second half, it took me a while to realise that the characters were now in the WWII era.

💔 The ending is very rushed, finishing off the extensive build-up within a single chapter. Though there’s an epilogue as well, I found the ending disappointing in terms of its hasty resolution.


🎧 The Audiobook Experience:
The audiobook, clocking at 12 hours, is narrated by Avena Mansergh-Wallace, Olivia Mace, and Nick Biadon. I am pretty sure that at least a part of my enjoyment of this title was credit to the mostly outstanding narration. Nick Biadon was exceptional as Henry, voicing his self-deprecating humour and his uncertainties with an undeniable charm. The other two narrators, voicing Opaline and Martha, also suited their characters perfectly, with Martha’s narrator doing an especially great job of making her sound vulnerable. Opaline’s narrator was very good, though not as good as the other two. Her male-character voices were not convincing, but she handled the rest well.


All in all, I did like a lot about this novel, with the book-related elements and the magical realism being my favourite parts. If only the historical timeline had satisfied me more. I realise that my Nays outnumber the Yays, but the fact also is that the Yays were a lot more powerful than the Nays.

Recommended, because if nothing else, you will surely love the bookish trivia and the magical lost library.

3.5 stars, rounding up for the audiobook.


My thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “The Lost Bookshop”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.





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[Melissa (Vacation Mode) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an absolutely lovely read! This is a true homage to books and book lovers everywhere.

" 'The thing about books,' she said, 'is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.'"

This is a dual timeline story. Narrated in the past by Opaline, who escapes her older brother's plans to marry her off by fleeing to Paris where she goes to work in a bookstore. In the present, we alternate between Martha, an Irish woman who is escaping an abusive marriage, who takes a job as a housekeeper; and Henry, a scholar who is looking for a lost manuscript and happens upon a bookshop next door to Martha and then it disappears. He enlists Martha to help him find out about its history and where it could have gone.

I really enjoy magical realism, but unfortunately I don't think this book goes quite far enough into that realm. Yes, there are magical elements, but I wanted more from them. I also thought the ending was too quick and I didn't get all of my questions answered satisfactorily. Regardless, I was thoroughly invested in the tale and I was captivated by both storylines, which rarely happens for me.

I felt despair for both Opaline and Martha, as they were caught in horrible situations over which they had no control. I listened to this book partially as an audiobook and the narrators did an amazing job giving voice to the characters and keeping me engaged and intrigued.

If you love books and bookshops and want to get swept away by a saga of magic, love, and self-discovery, then definitely choose this book.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

I am so disappointed. The premise is fantastic - magical realism, a lost bookshop in Ireland, a lost work from a Brontë sister. The plot, if done correctly, could have been great. Instead I kept waiting for the writing to improve or the plot to get better and chapter after chapter I furrowed my brow, getting more frustrated.

The writing was simplistic, at times just straight up bad, with half sketched characters and scenes created that were so jarringly out of place to move the plot along that it felt like I was reading the outline of a story. The author kept having good “one liners” that make for good quotes to pull from the book but it actually got to be annoying.

The book dealing was a good aspect, and the knowledge of old books was a glimmer of good writing but everything else really fell flat to me.

[Brenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Genuinely unbearable. The pacing is absurd, the characters have the emotional depth and personalities of middle schoolers, and topics like alcoholism, domestic abuse, and wartime violence are thrown about and handled with all of the care and precision of a monkey with an etch-a-sketch.

[Judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been reading a lot of pretty bad books recently, but this one might take the cake.

First off, the writing style: This read like the first attempt at writing something by a 15 year old (who really likes the Brontës and has read a bunch of classics). Laughably bad. Dozens of short, childish sentences broken up by one single "quotable" soundbite (that often made no sense in context, see my complaints about characterization) every once in a while. Somehow, everything a character did sounded passive, like it's something just so happening to them without any agency – and if we were told a character was doing something actively, it without fail sounded ridiculous. It was impossible to tell how much time was passing for every character (and I think if one tried to make a timeline, one would find that it just does not compute). Speaking of computing – apart from a couple of passing mentions of Google and looking something up online, Martha & Henry's sections really don't read like they're set in modern day. I never understood when we were given information in the text and when there was dialogue – half the things expressed in dialogue were irrelevant, uninteresting, and cringey, while we skipped a lot of things that could've actually developed the characters or brought the plot forward.

Secondly, characterization: No character made any sense. Their thoughts didn't, their actions didn't, the things that happened to them didn't either. How old was Martha? Was she 20 or 50? How long was she married? She flipflopped between a naïveté (or is it sheer stupidity) I wouldn't even expect from the heroine in a middle grade to #girlboss statements about how women's achievements have been ignored throughout history (how would she know? She has been isolated for some time (years? We don't know!) and is lacking a lot of extremely basic knowledge about the world...). Henry was similarly unworldly (or stupid), even though he is a PhD student who was engaged to a pretty competent woman. Their actions, especially anything pertaining to their romance, made me giggle sometimes because of how badly written they were and how nonsensical they were. Moving on to Opaline: How long was she pregnant for before she ever noticed? Months? Years? How long was she in Ireland for? How did she have time to establish her shop and herself as a bookseller after getting to Dublin and before going to England and meeting Armand again? Never mind the racism and anti-semitism expressed in her POV that I'm pretty sure weren't even deliberate, but just a consequence of bad writing. Her POV was slightly less frustrating than Martha's and Henry's because she at least seemed to have a brain and some agency, not that I believed her being capable of the things she supposedly did at any point since all the interesting parts were skipped over and we were just told about them.

Everything that happened in this book was a serious of conveniences or inconveniences with little to no build-up and few (logical) consequences. The entire time I was reading this, I kept wondering whether it had just been written and published to prove how gullible readers are – whether that means using AI and editing that generated story (which would explain the absolute mess that the "plot" was) or just taking the piss and deliberately writing something bad. It's very blatantly a book for booklovers, from heavily referencing mostly classic but also modern writers and novels, including 1920s authors as characters, via a variety of trauma backstories that easily generate sympathy in the reader, in addition to the horrible things that happen to Opaline, to the "the magic of books" themes we're all supposed to love.

I can't believe this was published in the first place, and even less that it has such a high rating.

[Amy Kooijman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Holy cripes, I've read a lot of bad books that were more outright offensive, but this one might be most aggressively low quality book I've read in...well awhile at least. Was it the completely undeveloped characters? The dangling plot threads? The fact that the plot threads weren't actual plots as much as a series of unrelated events? I couldn't say for sure. But you shouldn't read this book ever so I'm going to just spoil some things...

1. One character has: an abusive family that wants to marry her off, flees to Paris, stumbles into a fantastic job, flees to Dublin, promptly makes out with the guy she's renting from for absolutely no reason, has sexy times with some guy that no one cares about, feels her baby kicking at less than 12 weeks, is randomly living in a magical bookshop and becomes "the most famous book antiquarian of her time" (we're shown none of that development), gets randomly kidnapped and sent to a lunatic asylum, has her baby sold, 17 years later is still chilling there, randomly breaks out of the asylum in a way that she could have easily done 17 years later, finds out her brother was her dad, ruins his reputation (we forgot that he had some past in WWI because it wasn't mentioned the whole book), falls in love with her one true love in one chapter, OH AND DISCOVERS A LOST MANUSCRIPT OF EMILY BRONTE's SECRET 2nd NOVEL - WHICH THE AUTHOR HAS THE AUDACITY TO TRY TO WRITE HERSELF IN THE STYLE OF BRONTE. It was, in case you were wondering, awful. But everyone acted like it was a revelation in literature. Oh and then she just sort of disappears. Into time or something. Who knows

There were two other characters. They had similar strings of events. They were the most boring people on the planet. The girl had never read a book before but she enrolled in college to study literary criticism. The first book she studied was Persuasion. She blew the professor away with the thought that Persuasion is about love lost and refound. Truly a genious.

I don't have the energy to write about the rest. Just assume it was worse.

Don't read this book. Also, if anyone gives this book a good review, don't ever trust their reviews again - they're clearly going through a mental breakdown, or maybe they don't know how to read. We should be concerned for them.

[Nadino · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book attempts to straddle the line between realism and fantasy, but unfortunately, falls short on both fronts. The story introduces surreal elements like Reading people, magical tattoos, invisible characters, and shape-shifting houses, among others, which could have added a whimsical charm to the narrative, had they been well-explained or integrated into the plot. However, Woods leaves readers in the dark with no substantial explanations or connections to the overall story, making these elements feel misplaced and disjointed.

The lack of clarity extends to the character arcs and backstories as well. The protagonist's inexplicable fear of books and her mute mother's sudden ability to speak are just a couple of the many unresolved threads that left me with more questions than answers. The narrative seemed to jump from one bizarre scenario to another without much cohesion, with the asylum break-in scene being particularly ludicrous.

Moreover, the romance subplot felt painfully predictable and uninspired, adding nothing to the narrative but a cliched attempt at emotional engagement. The lack of depth in character interactions and the forced love story only diluted the overall reading experience.

In conclusion, “The Lost Bookshop” felt like a hasty mishmash of unexplained fantastical elements with a thin veil of realism, resulting in a confusing and unsatisfying read. The book had the potential to explore an enchanting blend of reality and magic, but the lack of explanations and the poorly executed plot twists made it a frustrating journey through a wishy-washy world that neither captivates nor convinces.

[Terrie Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods is a Blend of Historical and Romance Fiction with a Sprinkle of Magical Realism on top!

In 1921:
Opaline flees England before her treacherous and much older brother forces her into an arranged marriage. She finds employment in a Paris bookshop called "Shakespeare and Company". The love of books she shared with her deceased father is a passion that will sustain Opaline through her tumultuous future...

In present day:
Martha, a young Irish wife, manages to escape her abusive husband and secure employment in Dublin as a live-in housekeeper. Her employer, Madame Bowden is a bit unusual but it's a job and a safe place to live. Martha has never felt a connection to books but they seem to keep appearing in her basement apartment...

Henry, a Ph.D. student, is searching for a lost manuscript. His search brings him to Dublin to locate a bookshop that he sees at first, but when he turns around, it's no longer there. The location of the mysterious bookshop is right next door to where Martha is currently working and living at #12 Ha’Penny Lane...

The Lost Bookshop is a well-written story with three fully-developed main characters and diverse secondary characters. Madame Bowden is by far my favorite character, she adds so much magic to this story. The multiple timelines, meaningful topics, touches of romance, and lots and lots of nods to books makes this a solid read.

I was fortunate to have both a DRC and an ALC of The Lost Bookshop. The digital copy was great for bedtime reading but this was mostly daytime listening for me and my busy day. The narration was excellent and the voicing skills of all three narrators were equally satisfying. The audiobook is my preferred format for this read.

I enjoy how the author ties this story together at the end with a surprises or two. My one quibble was that I wanted more Magical Realism. What was there was terrific, it just wasn't nearly enough. I'll take more, pretty please.

The Lost Bookshop was a fun read that I'm thrilled I squeezed in at the last minute and I recommend it to readers who enjoy a blend of Historical and Romance Fiction with a little Magical Realism sprinkled on top.

4⭐

Thank you to Evie Woods and One More Chapter for a DRC and ALC of this book through NetGalley. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.

[Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot: 4⭐️
Audio Narration: 5⭐️

“In a place called lost, strange things are found.”

1921, London:
Twenty-one-year-old Opaline Carlisle chooses to leave for France to escape being forced into an arranged marriage by her dominating older brother. Her love for reading, a passion she shared with her late father, and her subsequent association with Sylvia Beach of "Shakespeare and Company" fame, where she takes up a job, fuels her interest in antiquarian books and manuscripts - a journey, that after a sequence of events, eventually has her opening a bookshop in Dublin all the while searching for an elusive manuscript.

Present Day:
Martha Winter, a young woman running from an abusive marriage, finds her way to Dublin in the employ of the eccentric Madame Bowden as her live-in housekeeper. Martha is not much of a reader, and in fact, has an eversion of sorts to books. When books start appearing in the walls of the small basement of Madam Bowden’s residence where Martha now lives, will this inspire her to overcome her fears and look at life from a fresh perspective?
Henry Field, a Ph.D. scholar in search of a rare manuscript that is referenced in an old letter he found in the course of his research, is searching for an old bookshop in Dublin but when he reaches the premises the bookshop is not there, or is it?

With superb characterizations (even the unlikable ones) and an almost perfect balance of history, romance, mystery, fantasy and magical realism, Evie Woods seamlessly weaves past and present threads into an enchanting tale about self-discovery, family, courage and the magical, transformative power of books. The narrative is presented in the first person narrative perspectives of Opaline, Henry and Martha in alternating chapters. I loved the literary references (from the classics to contemporary fiction), insight into the antiquarian book trade and auctions and the literary figures who feature in the cast of characters. Interspersed among the magic and mystery, the author touches upon several serious themes including abuse, exploitation and fraud and how historically “troublesome women with inconvenient ideas” were treated. I did feel, however, that the ending was a tad rushed and there were a few aspects of the story that could have been explored further but overall, The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods is a beautiful story that will strike a chord in your heart.

I paired my reading with the audio narration which truly enhanced my experience with this book. Avena Mansergh-Wallace, Olivia Mace, and Nick Biadon do a brilliant job of voicing the characters, setting the atmosphere and bringing the story to life, making for a memorable immersion reading experience.

Finally, that cover is beautiful!

" The thing about books, she said, is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of."

Many thanks to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for the eARC and AlC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot resist reading a fabulous book about books that includes heart-wrenching yet empowering women’s fiction. It blends romance with magical realism, taking us on a journey from Paris to London and Ireland with dual timelines and three perspectives—Ophelia, Martha, and Henry. These characters, who have long been supporting figures in other people's lives, finally earn the spotlight in their own stories.

The main theme of the book is: "In a place called lost, strange things are found." If you can solve the meaning of this riddle, you may truly capture the full essence of the entire manuscript.

Let me introduce you to the characters and their timelines:

In 1922: Opaline runs away from her childhood home after her older brother, nicknamed "Reaper" for making the toughest calls to take the lives of his own soldiers, returns from the war and pushes her into a marriage with a man she doesn’t know. Only her father understands her and introduces her to the magical world of books. This becomes her salvation and the beginning of a career as a book dealer after she finds herself in Paris, working at the special bookstore "Shakespeare and Company" as an apprentice. She even finds love at first sight. But when her brother tracks her down, she is forced to disappear again, this time to a mysterious building in Dublin where she establishes her own bookstore. Here, books that relate to her emotions appear just when she needs them.

In the present time: Martha, a domestic abuse victim, runs away from her old life and alcoholic husband to start anew in Dublin, hoping not to be found. She starts working at #12 Ha’Penny as a housekeeper for Madame Bowden, an eccentric ex-actress who considers herself a competitor of Grace Kelly with several marriages and deceased husbands. Martha's path crosses with Henry, a quirky British PhD student who left London after proposing to Isabel, an extrovert who enjoyed influencing Henry's peculiarities. Henry insists there's a hidden bookstore at #11 Ha’Penny, which he claims to have seen but refuses to share this information with Martha, who still has trust issues.

Three ordinary people encounter extraordinary events that change the trajectory of their lives, connected by a touch of magic. This might be the best definition of this story. The traumas faced by both Opaline and Martha are heartbreaking and hard to absorb, but their determination and inner strength are inspiring, giving readers hope that everything is possible as long as you continue to dream and do everything in your power to make them come true.

Overall: This is a well-constructed, bittersweet, magical journey that promises hope beyond the sadness and hardships of life. This is the first time I have read Evie Woods, and it certainly won’t be the last. I look forward to getting lost in the literary universe she has created in her other books.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360 for providing me with this remarkable book's digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

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[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

By and large, this is going to be a very rant-filled review. While the concept of the book was fun, there were so many instances of things either not making sense or characters making unrealistic choices that it just took me out of the book--and to the point where I was seriously debating whether to give this one star or two. [Later note: As I realized how lengthy my complaints were for this book, I downgraded my initial two-star rating to one.]

Summary:

This is a book told from three character POVs. You have Opaline in the 1920s who has run away from her brother who's trying to force her into an arranged marriage. Instead she takes an interest in rare books. Then in the present day, we follow Martha and Henry. Martha has escaped an abusive marriage and is just looking to lie low as she figures out where her life should lead. Henry is trying to discover more about Opaline and a lost manuscript and runs into Martha on his quest.

Spoilers below.

I got so irritated with the plot holes and inconsistencies throughout this book that I started writing a list of my gripes. I'll try to group these into categories though we'll certainly have some danglers. My first major annoyance centered around Martha's extreme naivety. I get that she was in an abusive marriage and was probably a bit more sheltered because of it. But she's still a human being who has functioned in the world, including, as we learn, having gone to university before (just not graduating). My first moment of skepticism with this book was when she went into a library, saw a book she was interested in, and then just tried to steal it without checking it out with a library card. She was acting as though needing to check out books was a totally foreign concept. Children know about library cards. I don't understand how this is so baffling to her. She also details a shopping excursion and acts enchanted by the process of buying things. There was a description that talked about how she brought everything to the front to pay for like in the movies. What??? Even if she didn't shop often for new clothes, she does own clothes. Even if she was somehow naked her entire life, she's bought items of any sort before. Stores all pretty much function the same. In that same shopping trip, she acts all proud as though she's made a huge upgrade to her life now that she has new clothes. She bought one outfit. One. Singular. Her wardrobe has not been revamped. She will look nicer one time in each laundry cycle. The breadth of her literary knowledge is weird too. She's weirdly attached to a modern book, Normal People, but then claims to have never heard of Sylvia Plath. The whole storyline of her going to university felt super weird too. She has zero game plan about what she wants to study or why she even wants to go. It seems like it's just something to make her feel like she's moving her life forward. There's no issues with her getting in either, despite this apparently being a very prestigious university and her having no credentials, work experience, references, etc. A degree also has no bearing on her later career of owning a bookshop, so it's not even like there's a real payoff.

Let's move on to a specific subsect of annoyance with Martha: her cell phone use. (Really, we can lump in Henry too to broaden this to the use of technology.) Martha seems to forget she has a cell phone when it's better for the plot for her to be unaware or inconvenienced. Especially in the beginning, Martha seems a bit put off by the fact that her mother hasn't visited her and that it must be because no one knows where she is. Does your phone not work? Can you not call her or text her? Later, her mother just shows up to visit Martha, and again, the idea of communicating the visit ahead of time is never mentioned. There are also a number of miscommunications with Martha and Henry, most prominently when Henry suddenly goes out of town. He supposedly leaves a note for Martha (because, you know, going out of your way to travel to someone's residence and leave a paper note instead of just texting or calling makes the most sense). We never learn what happened to that note anyway. He never tries to follow up with a text or call either. Later, Martha eventually just pops by the place where he's staying to see him, again without even texting first. She learns he's gone home, and instead of texting or calling to clear it up and see what's going on, she just blocks his number. (This spirals into a separate point of contention where she eventually decides he's going to hurt her so she wants nothing to do with him even though she still claims to be in love. It's silly and unbelievable and feels contrived for dramatic purposes.) The last main phone issue--why doesn't Martha call the police on her husband for domestic assault charges? She had the bruises. She could have easily gotten a restraining order against him and gotten the marriage resolved. I get maybe she just wanted to hide in the beginning, but when he tries to fetch her from Madame Bowden's later, that should've been a very easy "call the police" moment. To shift into my other technology quibble, Henry is maybe the worst researcher I've ever seen. There's one point where Martha googling "Opaline Carlisle Paris bookshop" yields an entirely new path of information for Henry. Did Henry never try doing a basic Google search on Opaline before? I'd have to imagine this would come up even if he wasn't looking for Paris specifically because the world isn't littered with Opaline Carlisles.

Let's transition to issues with the Martha/Henry relationship. First, the breakup scene with his fiancee was ridiculous. This is someone he apparently loved enough to decide that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Generally people don't arrive at that point flippantly. Yet they take maybe a page or two--the equivalent of about a minute of dialogue--to decide to end it? And why? Because Henry had a couple other conversations with another girl (where there really wasn't even much romantic chemistry. They went from somewhat friendly to soulmates in a snap.). Not only was the breakup itself quick, but his fiancee apparently already had packed up all his stuff into a bag that was just waiting by the front door? (Also, they were engaged, yet everything of his kept at her place could fit into a single bag?) Which, let's speak a bit about Henry and Martha's romance because wow was it awful. First, they both technically cheated. Martha was married, and Henry was engaged. Neither one officially ended their relationships before they hooked up, yet I didn't feel like the author or narrator really frowned upon that. I feel like this is something we're supposed to find romantic because these are the two main characters. Martha gets a bit of a pass since she was at least separated, but Henry just sucks. And it wasn't even just one kiss and then nothing. They seemingly went out multiple times and were making out all over the place before Henry decides to go home and end it with his fiancee. Not cool. And the buildup to this relationship really felt unearned. This is part of a two-fold problem with this book. 1) The reactions in dialogue scenes are totally over-the-top. We really didn't have too many scenes with Martha and Henry before they decided they were in love, but the ones we did just didn't pack a punch--though it felt like there was an effort. One scene in particular stands out. Henry is talking to Martha about why he loves books, and Martha's reactions to very mundane statements about books making you feel like you've stepped into another world--nothing earth-shattering, nothing particularly impressive--causes her to tremble, emote all this passion, potentially shed a couple tears, if I'm remembering properly. No one reacts like that. What he said wasn't moving. That she should feel so touched was bizarre and really brought me out of the moment. 2) So many conversations and scenes lack the feeling of depth and of time passing. Characters will talk for a page and then say they have to go without any indication that they'd spent time discussing other topics that we're moving past. It just often feels like we're missing those transition paragraphs or something.

Off topic, but the worst instance of this was actually when Martha's mother comes to visit. Here's a pretty succinct summary of how that scene went: Martha's mother pops in out of the blue. Martha: Oh come in. Have some tea. Mom: Yes, thank you. Martha: I'm so glad you were able to get away. Mom: Yes, I'm starting to learn to take some chances. Also, there's something I wanted to tell you. Your grandma was actually adopted. Martha: Wow, I had no idea! Mom: Yes. Well, I better be going.

My version is not much shorter than the one in the book. The mom takes some big step to come all the way over to visit, stays for about two minutes, drops this random bit of trivia about Martha's grandmother that no one asked for or had ever once wondered about, and then leaves. It was so sloppy. I can't even believe this wound up making the printed book. No one asked for this information. Why would it be so urgent for the mom to tell Martha this that it was worth risking the wrath of her abusive husband? But this speaks to the larger issue of these dialogue scenes getting so rushed where clearly the author has a single point she wants to make and just wants to get in and move on.

One other stray point about Martha/Henry regarding the birthday party. I've already talked about how their separation felt super contrived. The dance scene seemed super weird and awkward. There had to be, what, five or six people at this party? It seemed like a small gathering. Who puts on a song and then just watches one couple dancing in a small gathering like that? No one. Let's move on.

We haven't touched on Opaline yet. Maybe in this book of magical realism, the rules of pregancy could be shifted to be more or less advanced based on Opaline's needs because nothing about this seemed correct. Opaline figures out she's pregnant because she can feel her baby kicking. First, that's pretty wild. I'm pretty sure the earliest you might feel some type of fluttering would be about four months along, but it's probably more typically around five months. You're definitely showing by that point (not to mention, the months of missed periods and other pregnancy symptoms). Yet, when her lover stops by, she's apparently not pregnant enough for him to even notice. (She also seems to know the entire time that it's a girl despite having zero way of knowing.) When Opaline is in the asylum, she writes to Jane, her best friend. Who the hell is Jane? Had we ever even met her before all this? Perhaps I just have no recollection, but it's wild to have a super loyal best friend come out of the woodwork halfway through a book without a peep. I don't think we ever had a single scene with the two of them in person. Another gripe, Opaline has been imprisoned in an asylum for something like sixteen years. When she escapes, she runs into a soldier, and at one point, she seems to speak knowingly about Hitler. My impression was that she was totally isolated during that period, no TV, no newspapers, no books, no going into the outside world. How would she know about Hitler's regime when he didn't come into power until a decade after she entered the asylum?

And then two stray gripes. Martha constantly adds onto a tattoo on her back. I feel like the process of getting a tattoo was overlooked. My brother had gotten a tattoo on his back when I was in high school. He had to have it bandaged for a couple of days while it healed, and then I had to help rub Vasaline over it for something like a week to also help the healing. But because it was on his back, it was a two-person job. None of these things seem to be a concern for Martha who has a magical instant-healing tattoo. Also, there was a scene in which Martha and Henry are running away after having stolen Opaline's asylum file. They seemingly just had to run a couple blocks away, but Henry apparently needs ten minutes to catch his breath. Is he dying? Does he need medical attention? Maybe this is another instance of the author not portraying the proper depth of a situation, and they were actually much farther away, but if you're still gasping after ten minutes, I think maybe you should see a doctor.

OK. Those are all the notes I wrote down. I mostly powered through this as quickly as I could so I could move on to something else as I have a haul from the library. And like I mentioned, I don't hate this book as a concept. It's just the sheer number of errors and wrong turns that completely distracted me from being able to enjoy some of the smaller moments of magic.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atmospheric, beautifully written, sad 😔 that’s how I would describe The Lost Bookshop it kept me turning those pages, loved Opaline her character was so heartbreaking with the courage to find her way out of a mental institution her brother Lyndon sent her there as she disgraced her family by falling pregnant the year 1921 I hated Lyndon he virtually took all Opalines feistiness out of her set in Dublin how did Opaline get into this state she was in a pre arranged marriage to a man she didn’t love .❤️


She ended up in France 🇫🇷 where she inherited her love of reading by her father& with her association with Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare & Company fame she takes a job, her interest in Artiquaurian books & Manuscripts.

Present day Martha is sick of her life she moves from the west coast of Ireland 🇮🇪 to work for Mrs Bowden a well to do woman they get on well but secrets are hidden is Ms Bowden who is she & what is she hiding.


I just loved every minute of this book Lynden was just an awful man it was his way or the highway the characters were a joy to read the POV were told by Opaline, Martha & Henry this was a historical fiction mixed with old fashioned romance 🥰 highly recommended.

[Dan Lawton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept waiting and waiting ... and waiting for something interesting to happen. Magical realism is out of my typical genre, but the book sounded SO GOOD. It just wasn't for me. Three POVs, two too similar and difficult to tell apart at times despite differing time periods. It's mostly a love story with sub-elements of a missing manuscript and hidden bookstore, which only reveals itself in the final 20 pages. Massive letdown. What am I missing?

[✨Julie✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe spoilers?

I get that the bookshop was magical, but there were too many things left unexplained and the parts the author did explain felt a little too far fetched to me. Especially the part about the tattoo. I really still don’t get that at all. And the author just casually drops that the MC can read minds?? Maybe the author just rushed her revelations a bit at the end and I missed something? It all somehow felt both too convenient and nonsensical. Maybe if the magical history or purpose of the book shop was more established? She pretty much only told the reader that it was reconstructed there and that people used to think it was haunted. How does it exist? What is its purpose? And who was the lady she worked for? Was that supposed to be like a ghostly Opaline? If so, why was she so cranky? I’m so lost. Oh well, on to the next book.

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

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[Teodora · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 ⭐

If you have absolutely no expectations or if you're too hyped up or anything in-between, don't worry, this book will probably turn out way more interesting than anything you might've pictured in your head.

I am a big fan of books about books and libraries and bookshops and secret shelves and stories and words and everything of the sort (being a nerdy bookworm makes you like that, yes, beware!). And this story built on the love for books, stories and writers binds the past and the present. And it's so much more complex than just the plot.

Each of the characters comes with a story. It looks like each of these characters and their backstories are arteries attached to the big beating heart - the plot. The plot pumps the arteries with fresh blood and they bring back raw material for the heart to keep pumping.

I was surprised by the lengths this story goes to. It's full of force, but also of emotion. Of love and loss. Of tragedy. Of little smiles that appear at the corner of one character's mouth when they think no one sees them. And most importantly, it is full of magic. And this magic is done in such a way that the life is intertwining with it.

[Priskah · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 ✨✨✨

(Audiobook).

What a lovely story! What can I say?
Books about books and people who love them are catnip to me. Good times guaranteed.
Also the narration was excellent, brought the story a notch higher.

[Ceecee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+

In a place called lost
Strange things are found.

This enchanting novel all starts in London in 1921, with Opaline Carlisle‘s father instilling a love of books and the magic they contain. After his death, her mother and brother insist she is now of marriageable age but she has other ideas and via her desire to escape and be free her career as a book dealer is born. Fast forward to the present day, Martha arrives in Dublin also desiring an escape from her life on the West Coast of Ireland, she takes a job as a housekeeper to Mrs Bowden. Martha’s first encounter with Englishman Henry is not auspicious when he calls at the house. He is in Dublin seeking a manuscript, a lost bookshop and as much information about Opaline as he can gather. How do all the stories into connect? The story is told via all three which works well, flowing seamlessly.

This is a perfect book for book lovers as it features a wide variety such as the classics, especially the Brontës to Sally Rooney in the present day. It’s also a very good blend of genres which are woven together to create a captivating tale. There’s quite a large dose of fantasy and magic and those sections are really wonderful, they’re vivid and you just go with the flow enjoying the experience. Both female characters have dark backstories which leads to tragedy and revenge but counterbalancing this is love and romance. Much of the plot involves a mystery and some detective work and this is fascinating, as well as having authenticity.

There is a good mix of characters from the very likeable to despicable villains. After an unpromising start, the amazing Mrs Bowden shows her mettle and become essential to what unfolds. You particularly root for Opaline and Martha and keep your fingers crossed for Henry.

My only negative is the end feels a bit abrupt, but I do like it and it’s quite possible that just I want to carry on reading more about these terrific characters!!

Overall, a delightful, heartwarming, easy to read and engaging novel. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley, and especially to HarperCollins, One More Chapter, for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It pains me to write this review. When a book features a bookshop, I'm skipping in expecting to love it.

Over 90,000 people have rated this book on Goodreads, and it has an average rating of 4.11, and I just don't get it. Clearly, I'm missing something.

The characters felt the same. The same voice, no depth, nothing distinctive about them. The two time periods felt the same, which is ridiculous considering the generational gap. The plot is far too convenient and ties up nicely with big, pretty bows everywhere.

This book, to me, was the same as eating dry toast. I don't hate it enough to stop, nor am I enjoying it.

I don't get the hype.

I would rather give a book a one star than a 3. At least it made me feel something. Yet here I am, unemotional, detached, dishing out a 3 star on this much loved book.

[Jayme C (Brunetteslikebookstoo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

1922:
Opaline, flees her childhood home to escape an arranged marriage to a man she has never met. She will first find refuge in Paris, where her love of rare books will earn her an apprenticeship in a bookstore called “Shakespeare and Company”, the perfect training ground for a young woman who is convinced that Bronte’ wrote a second book, which is waiting to be discovered.

But, her happiness will be short lived and she will have to flee again to Dublin where she will be given an opportunity to run her own book store in a building with an extraordinary past…..for awhile.

Present Day:
Martha is running from an abusive husband, and she will respond to an advert for a housekeeper, at #12, Ha’Penny Lane, placed by an eccentric former actress, who insists on being addressed as Madame Bowden. (I just adored her!)

Unexplainable things happen here but unexpectedly, it becomes the perfect refuge for Martha.

Henry is on a quest to find a book that was mentioned in a letter he found-a book that he needs to find for his PH.D research. IF he can find it hidden in a bookshop at 11 Ha’Penny Lane, he could make a name for himself and it could make his career.

He enters the shop but when he turns around, the shop has disappeared.

Buildings still stand at 10 Ha’Penny Lane and 12 Ha’Penny Lane but 11 Ha’Penny lane no longer exists. He seeks answers from Martha, the striking young woman at #12, and finds more than he bargained for.

Of course, Opaline’s story will be eventually be linked to the characters in the present day.

I am not a big fan of MAGICAL REALISM, but this time these elements of the book were actually my FAVORITE part!

The book is also labeled as HISTORICAL FICTION and it definitely reads as such-even the present day chapters read like they are taking place in the past-not the present-they lacked a contemporary feel.

Much was predictable with the exception of the magical realism elements, which is why this enchanting story earns 3.5 ⭐️ rounded down from me.

A buddy read with DeAnn-be sure to check out her amazing review!

AVAILABLE June 22, 2023

Thank You to One More Chapter for the invitation to read this one. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

[emma]

books about bookstores >>>>

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Considering what a dud my last read was, this one could only be given a full five stars. I normally dislike parallel timelines telling two stories back and forth. This time, it felt less linear and more circular. I was yelling angered, saddened, shocked, elated, hopeful, satisfied, curious, cheerful, and so many other feelings all throughout the book. There are so open questions, but the book felt so good to finish that none of those questions actually need answers for me.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

GODDDDDD this book is dumb

Nothing about it is compelling, not the characters, not the descriptions of places, not the fucking magical bookshop, not the “accident” / murder, not the villainous murder, not the romances, not the asylum, NOTHING

I’m embarrassed for this book, ok

[Magdalena Miękińska (getbooky) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

[Lynz G · Rating 1 out of 5]

⭐️

I wanted to DNF this as soon as the author mentioned that Ulysses was the debut novel of James Joyce, and then made up some guff about Sylvia Beach publishing this "debut novel" by an "unknown Irish author". However, I kept reading as it was for a book club and I would have felt bad for attending the meeting without having read it, but I eventually yeeted it away for good when I got about 40% in.

As a self-confessed Joycean I can't forgive this poorly researched piece of bullshit. Joyce was a well-established author by the time he wrote Ulysses and his debut novel was A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. If I hadn't already known this then a quick 5 second Google search would have enlightened me, so for another Irish author to make this mistake is unforgivable. And when I got to the part that actually featured Joyce himself I just cringed the whole time. The characterisation was absolutely not Joyce (read his thousands of letters to get a good sense of the real Joyce) but instead it reads like some silly caricature. If you're going to feature real-life people in your books then you have a duty to at least try and make them true to life and accurate.

The characterisation of the rest of the characters was all over the place as well. Madame Bowden reads like she is from Victorian times, yet she is supposedly from the present-day. I couldn't decide if Martha was in her 20s or her 40s. She wanted to apply to university (so she obviously had the Irish Leaving Cert/A-Levels, and she mentions at one point that she went to technical college) yet she didn't know that you needed a library card to take books out from a library, suggesting that she has never set foot in a library in her life, and for some weird reason she has a panic attack whenever she picks up a book as though she is allergic to reading, e.g. "I hadn't told my employer of my issues with books or why I practically broke out in hives at the thought of reading them", erm what? And she also talks about how drug dealers are a common occurrence in her world. Really? In rural Sligo?

This brings me on to another issue. The book is marketed as a cosy feel-good read but it's actually quite grim, featuring pages and pages of domestic violence in quite graphic detail that may be really triggering for some people, as well as attempted kidnapping/forced marriage by her murderous psychopathic sibling (who *spoiler alert* actually turns out to be her father and not her brother, like wtaf?). There's also an unwanted pregnancy and more kidnapping - which leads to one of the characters being sent into a lunatic asylum while her baby gets taken away from her and sold (yes, sold!). Most of the male romantic interests are married/engaged and cheat on their SO's with the female characters but somehow we're supposed to think this is romantic. These issues are treated in a very glib and offhanded manner, but possibly because of this trauma-dump all of the female characters are always on the verge of tears and frequently start crying at the slightest thing, in the arms of any man who happens to be there at the time (even complete strangers), all the way throughout the book.

The magic realism elements were just odd and felt like they were added in retrospectively. It's as though the book was initially written as a sad traumatic story, but the editors took one look at it and said "nope, this is a bit too "Angela's Ashes" for the modern chick-lit market" so they then haphazardly sprinkled some magic realism throughout the book, and not caring that it doesn't actually make any sense. For example, one character randomly gets voices in her head from a "story" that she just has to get tattooed on her back, but no further explanation is offered about this so we're just left guessing at what it's actually supposed to mean.

Finally, I think that "books about books" just really aren't my thing. Unless they're done well then they just come across as superficial and vacuous, and seem to exist as an opportunity for the author to name-drop/show off all of the books that they've read so people who read it can go "ooooooh Wuthering Heights! Oooooh Jane Eyre!" and feel all warm and fuzzy about books without reading any actual books. I've also since discovered that the author adds in the supposed "lost" Emily Brontë manuscript at the end of the book, and she has the absolute temerity to try and write this herself in the style of Brontë, when she is not even fit to wipe the shoes of such an author. So do yourself a favour and don't even bother with this book.

[Littlebookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

1921 and Opaline Carlisle dreams of making an independent life for herself, a dream that will take her to Paris and later Dublin, pursuing her passion for books and literature. However, the life she dreams of is not one easily realised for a young woman in these times. In the present day, Martha arrives in Dublin seeking refuge from an abusive marriage, and Henry is on the hunt for a lost manuscript; as their paths entwine, they slowly uncover the secrets of Opaline's life all those years before.

My first read from Evie Woods, this started off very promising. I enjoy dual time frame novels exploring old family mysteries, and also books that showcase a love of literature in themselves, and this book certainly had both of these elements. Unfortunately as the book went on, the initial promise wore off for me personally, and ultimately I was left rather disappointed.

The book is told from three different points of view, following Opaline's story in the past and both Martha and Henry's stories in the present day. Each perspective is easy enough to follow, and there are common themes in the stories of each of the characters, some of which are quite weighty. In addition to Martha's story of suffering domestic abuse, Opaline's story also turns very dark at times, with the character even being committed to an asylum by her coercive brother at one point in the story, and certainly the author highlighted just how frighteningly powerless women were in these times. However, there are also more hopeful themes explored, with each of the characters going on their own journey of self-discovery and learning to believe in themselves. The power of literature and the influence it can have on our lives is also a recurring theme throughout the book.

I do think at times the author was almost trying too hard to throw too much into this book. For me personally whilst the magical realism element added some extra fun and intrigue to begin with, it didn't really end up working, as it just came off seeming odd and confusing as opposed to truly whimsical or enchanting in the way it could have been. The first half of the story was definitely a stronger read than the latter half, which is where the execution of all the different ideas just didn't really work for me, and I found my interest waning.

Whilst I thought Martha and Henry's romance was sweet in places, it perhaps felt a bit too 'bubblegum' and a bit forced at times. As for Opaline's romantic interests, I thought the author's portrayal was bordering on ridiculous. She seemed to fall in love almost instantaneously with every man she met, Armand, Matthew, Josef. None of these relationships read as believable, and as such I was never invested in any of them.

There were parts of the story that just felt over the top and there for drama's sake, and even the parts that should have hit harder, for me at least didn't resonate in the way they should have done.

Overall, whilst the premise held a lot of promise, I don't think the author's execution lived up to this, and it ended up feeling like a hotchpotch of ideas thrown together that didn't quite mesh. 2.5 stars

[Ellery Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this expecting a light, heartwarming read and got so much more. This is not only a story about books and the people who love, collect, study, and treasure them, but it's a story about women carving out their own second chances and escaping abuse.

What I loved:
☘️The Dublin setting
☘️The dual POVs
☘️Both MCs (Maggie and Opaline)
☘️Henry, the bookish romantic

What didn't work for me was the ambiguity of the magic. In order for me to suspend my disbelief and accept magical elements in a story, they have to make sense. A few things happen to Maggie that kind of break the rules (can one receive a cash payment from a ghost? Is the ghost paying the power bill too?) I know that seems silly, but it pulled me out of the narrative. It's also a minor quibble, and I would absolutely recommend this book to those who love historical fiction, female empowerment, and books and books.

[Beth, BooksNest · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the type of book that reminds me why I love reading so very much.

The blurb doesn't do the full scope of this book justice. It's a book about books mystery across time with twists and turns and emotions and tension. It was just brilliant, romantic where it needed to be, emotional where it needed to be and always utterly gripping. The writing was beautiful and entrancing, I loved the characters, they felt so real and I felt incredibly invested in their stories.

I loved this and I can't fully process my thoughts on it yet. Brilliant. Superb. 10/10 would recommend.

[Maddie Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING BREAKDOWN
Characters: 3⭐️
Setting: 5⭐️
Plot: 3⭐️
Themes: 3⭐️
Emotional Impact: 2⭐️
Personal Enjoyment: 4⭐️
Total Rounded Average: 3.5⭐️

This magical realism urban fantasy scratched the literary fiction itch I was having. It also gives a bit of historical fiction, as one of the point of view characters is in the past. The setting of this book is wonderful. It's cozy but mysterious, magical, and thrilling.

In the present, Martha and Henry are in Dublin, both working out complicated love lives and trying to find vocational purpose. They are both on a journey of self-love and actualization, but their story is wrapped up in a hunt for a missing bookshop and its proprietor. In the past, Opaline is on a journey of freedom and purpose, escaping the clutches of misogyny and learning to trust her instincts and magic.

The only thing that didn't work well in the story was the inconsistency in pacing. At times, the narrative felt rushed, and at others it went on too long. It was surreal how dramatic certain themes were handled, while others were almost too subtle. But overall, I loved the tone and themes in the story, and I was rooting for all the characters. The audiobook really brought it all to life for me.

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy literary fiction, magical realism, historical fiction, and a bit of romance.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

“He always said that books were more than words on paper; they were portals to other places, other lives.”

So, where is this supposed lost bookshop, and how does it involve Opaline, Martha and Henry, our 3 narrators? This is the basic question that will intrigue readers as they weave through the chapters in attempting to understand what these 3 will or might have in common.

But don’t think this is just a simple cozy where everything is about the books. Not that books don’t play a role, but for some reason, that aspect of it lurks behind the scenes as readers learn more about our 3 characters. Especially with Opaline in a different timeline to Martha and Henry.

And, as readers, we can’t help but wonder, will there be a connection between the characters of Opaline and Martha? That will take some time to know, if readers are willing to invest it.

As readers walk through the generations to find our way to settling the mystery of the bookstore, we are also greeted by some difficult pasts and harsh hardships for our characters.

I found myself cringing at times, as some of the male characters in Opaline and Martha’s lives were hard to stomach. (Think triggers of male dominance and domestic abuse.)

When there was discussion about the books, the story felt cozy and hopeful, with a touch of magical realism.

“In a place called lost strange things are found.”

What I wanted most for the characters was for them to find their strength despite the difficulties they experienced. When this happened, there was a sense of hope, wonder and fulfillment. It may take a while to experience, but it is possible here.

3.5 stars

[Emma.catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a real TREASURE for all book lovers 💝✨

However, it goes much deeper than it initially seems…to receive the treasure we must enter a dark, twisting cave 🙊 There is much to be found if you are willing to seek 👀

"On ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur.”’ 💖 (One can only see clearly with the heart) ✨

From the very first sentence there is so much warmth to this book. It is spellbinding in nature and captured my attention throughout 🥰

Set in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…but only those who delve into a journey of self-discovery can find it. Spanning over 2 timelines, through 3 POV, these unsuspecting strangers will discover their own extraordinary treasures that lie within; all they have to do is unlock the secrets of the shelves and dive deep into their beloved books… 📚 💖 ✨

“He always said that books were more than words on paper; they were portals to other places, other lives." 📖 💖 ✨

The characters made this book so special and charming. I love how they each found a sense of belonging over the course of the story. What is really noticeable about these characters is their originality; they don’t necessarily fit into conventional ideals society imposes on them. This is particularly evident in Opaline’s character, as she is a trailblazer, burning a light for women in the early 1900s. She carries the historical part of the story.

In present day, Dublin, we meet Martha and Henry. Martha has just escaped from an abusive marriage and is trying to find a new life for herself. Toying with the idea of studying at Trinity, she goes to Dublin to work and live as a housekeeper to the eccentric Madame Bowden. (Shout out to M. Bowden 🙌🏽)

Meanwhile, Henry too finds himself in Dublin but for very different reasons. He is a Ph.D. student obsessed with finding an old manuscript, and will go to the ends of the earth to locate it.

At the beginning of the book we meet these two desperate lost souls, who somehow find each other; seeing each other, as they have never been seen before.

"My whole life up to this point had been running away from something, losing myself in books and hoping to God that no one would notice the great big hole inside of me where something vital should have been." 😌💖✨

They are connected by a missing bookshop which should have been located beside Madame Bowden's house. As the story goes on, the plot thickens. There are lots of bookish treasures to be found, that will draw them ever closer to both each other, and the hidden bookshop.

"All of my life I’ve been searching for hidden treasure, fortunes outside of myself. But Martha, she found them in me." 👑 📚 ✨

I had the best time reading this book and loved the inclusion of the famous authors throughout. It truly was a well-rounded book of magical realism ✨ I honestly didn’t expect it to be a 5 🌟 read before I began reading; I thought it would be a cozy bookshop tale that would perhaps reach a 4 🌟 rating, but Evie Woods absolutely blew me away with the depth and complexity of this plot. Furthermore, it is abundantly clear how much research went into creating such a book. This is more than just a ‘heart-warmer’, and I couldn’t recommend it enough.

“Are you ready to cross the threshold and claim your birthright?" 👣📚💖✨

5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟