The Lost Bookshop

Magical realism at its finest. We have here the story of Martha escaping from an abusive relationship to Dublin; Henry a doctoral candidate escaping an alcoholic father and seeking his big academic breakthrough, that brings him to Dublin and into Martha’s orbit; and Opaline, an early 20th century bookseller escaping a forced marriage from her family. We also find a mysterious house occupied by Mrs. Bowden, or is the house itself Mrs. Bowden? And next door perhaps is a bookshop.

All of these strands come together in a fabulous story of tangled lives, rare books and the stories they both hold and experience. There is some beautiful writing here, as it fits a story about Books and much happens along the way that keeps the reader fully engaged. The world we read about here is 95% real, believable and sometimes a little bit frightening, the other 5% is magical and mostly comforting.

One of my favourite lines:

“My entire life focuses down to this point – like adjusting the lens of a microscope to find the one thing that matters most. Love.“

I really enjoyed this. It was interesting engaging and fulfilling and made me earn for more reading, writing and collecting books of my own. Pretty much what I already do then! Life is good and even better for having read this.