When I first arrived at the redbrick Georgian house on Ha'penny Lane that cold, dark evening with rain dripping from my jacket, I hadn't planned on staying. The woman on the phone sounded less than friendly, but I had nowhere else to go and very little money...
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On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…
For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.
But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.
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This book is charming, delightful and any similar adjective that you can think of. It had me gripped from the very first page and I loved it. Let me tell you why...
It was chosen by somebody at my Book Club for this month's read. In all honesty, I had never heard of it before and thus had no expectations. What I found though was a book that I could not put down. It called to me constantly when I was away from it and I picked it up at every opportunity.
All three characters, Opaline, Martha and Henry were well portrayed and came alive on the page. The chapters are told from the perspective of each of them, and from their respective time periods. I liked the way that Martha and Henry are set in present time and the blossoming romance between them was all the better by being able to read what they were thinking about the other.
The chapters of Opaline begin in 1921 and the setting moves between England and Paris. She was an astonishinly brave character; at times she suffers heartbreak through loss and her living condiditions but she was a pioneering woman who showed fortitude and self-expression during a time when a woman was not expected to make her own choices as she was considered property of a man. In this case, her older brother Lyndon.
The titular bookshop is almost a character in and of itself and has a huge role to play in the story. It links all three of the characters which the author does marvellously. Coupled with an ending which made me sigh with satisfaction, this is an excellent book to read.
This book will be adored by book lovers everywhere, particularly if you like a bit of mystery and magical realism thrown in. I have read some fabulous fiction this year and this is up there with the others. I highly recommend it.
ISBN: 978 0008609214
Publisher: One More Chapter
Formats: e-book, audio and paperback
No. of Pages: 442 (paperback)
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About the Author:
Evie Woods is the author of The Lost Bookshop, the #1 Wall Street Journal and Amazon Kindle 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.
(author media courtesy of Harper Collins)
(all opinions are my own)
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