Prologue
He raises his head from the sink and looks in the mirror. Sunken eyes, stubble. The bruise a livid purple-red on his cheek...
The Blurb
In a tiny bookshop in Dubrovnik’s historic Old Town, a book club begins…
Newly arrived on the sun-drenched shores of Croatia, Claire Thomson’s life is about to change forever when she starts working at a local bookshop. With her cousin Vedran, employee Luna and Karmela, a professor, they form an unlikely book club.
But when their first book club pick – an engrossing cosy crime – inspires them to embark upon an investigation that is close to the group’s heart, they quickly learn the value of keeping their new-found friends close as lives and stories begin to entwine…My Review
Each chapter is the name of the book which the book club is reading each month. At the back of the book the author provides a list along with the author of each of these books in case the reader would like to read them for themselves.
Helpful glossary at the beginning of the book which translates some of the words used throughout the novel.
My Review
As a member of two book clubs myself, I am often drawn to books which have a book club as their setting.
The titular book club is set in Croatia, within the walls of The Welcoming Bookshop. This book uses this setting to introduce the readers to a lovely array of characters.
The book is told from the perspectives of main characters Claire and Luna. Claire has left England to join her grandparents in Dubrovnik for a year. She has had long Covid and as a result has lost her confidence and fears groups of people. Her grandmother is convinced that working in the book shop will help her regain it.
Luna works with Claire in the bookshop. She comes from a rural Croatian village where she finds the community small-minded. She is hiding a secret of her own but finds a friend and confidante in Claire.
Setting up the book club allows the author to introduce an array of other characters, who each have an important part to play in the story. Vedran is Claire's cousin. He is a lawyer who has been through a tough time – and then there is Karmella, an academic who retreats to a place of safety behind her books.
These characters all come together within the book shop and find an emotional support circle. The book has much to say about friendship, self-acceptance and facing our fears.
The author depicted the charm and history of Dubrovnik beautifully without shying away from the hardships that the residents faced during and following the war. In fact, having read this made me want to hop on a plane so that I could stroll around its streets and have coffee outside a café, whilst reading a book.
This was a gem of a book to read. It had me absorbed by every page. It was a life-affirming book which made for wonderful reading. In fact, I already have the next book in the series, The Santorini Writing Retreat, waiting to be read.
I highly recommend this book. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
Book Details
ISBN: 978-0008648114
Publisher: One More Chapter
Formats: e-book, audio and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)
No. of Pages: 384 (paperback)
Series: Book 1 in the Bookish Escapes series
Purchase Links
About the Author
Over the last couple of years Eva has become adept at writing with two hats on; under her own name Jane Cable it’s romance with a twist, and as Eva Glyn she creates escapist relationship-driven fiction. MHer inspiration comes from the nuggets of history she discovers both at home and abroad, and the beautiful places she finds them.
Eva Glyn’s books are mainly set in Croatia, a country she fell in love with in 2019. Her friendship with tour guide Darko Barisic has proved invaluable to gain an insight into Croatian daily life that few foreign authors can dream of. Her first book set in the country, The Olive Grove, was inspired by Darko’s experiences of the war in the 1990s. Both An Island of Secrets and The Collaborator's Daughter are dual timeline looking back to a little known period of World War 2 history.
Eva is published by One More Chapter, a division of Harper Collins and has been contracted to write two books about unlikely friendships... and books under the title of Bookish Escapes. The first, The Dubrovnik Book Club, was published in March 2024 with The Santorini Writing Retreat following a year later and The Croatian Island Library in early 2026.
Although she is Welsh she lives in Cornwall with her husband of more than thirty years. Unless, of course, they're off on their travels!
You can also find Eva at:
(media courtesy of the author's website)
(all opinions are my own)
(Bookshop.org affiliated)
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