I finally got a book that was on my waitlist for a long time, The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin. The book was an easy pick for me. The book is about bookshops…or so I guessed from the title and it looks WWII-ish from the book cover. Of course I wanted to give it a try.
I guessed right. The book is about a bookshop and it does take place during WWII.
Grace is the main character and she was an adult orphan looking to make her way in the world when the war hit. She finds herself in London working at a bookshop. The story isn’t a “change your way of thinking” book. In fact, throughout the story, I thought to myself, “Okay, what’s next?”, “What’s the big thing that is going to happen?”.
The news is, nothing really “happens”. For a while, that bothered me. Then I settled into the idea that every book doesn’t have to have a terrible tragedy. I have to say though…I wished more had “happened”.
Here is what Amazon had to say:
“August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe. Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and drawn curtains that she finds on her arrival are not what she expected. And she certainly never imagined she’d wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop nestled in the heart of London.
Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies, Grace discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed—a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.”
Amazon readers give the book 4.5 stars. I’m surprised the book got such a high rating. I’d give it a 4.1. I don’t regret reading it but in the end, I couldn’t help but wonder if I missed something.
You can find the book HERE if you are interested.
Have any of you read this…if you have, let me know what you think.
I loved this book. I think the relationship that develops between the book store owner and Grace was what I loved. The reader gets to know him better as the book progresses. The characters were so well developed.
I read it last summer. I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed the book ” The Lost Bookshop in London”. No it did not have a major tragedy,
other than the tragedy of the war, but that was OK for me. Some WWII books are so
sad I have a difficult time reading. I know that is what happened but I like to read for
enjoyment as well as to learn something. Some books are too difficult to be enhoyable.
I read it about a month ago. I think I mentioned it in the comments. I liked it. I wouldn’t read it again, but it made me want to learn more about what was happening in London during that period. I made the mistake of randomly picking one of her other books. Ummmmm, it’s erotica. Yeah, that was a fail. Sometimes if the story is good, one can just skip the “additional stuff”. Nope, not with this book. I thought her bookshop book was nicely done. I even double checked to make sure they were the same person. Ah well, lesson learned, haha!
I read this a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it. It was nice to read a book about good people , people being kind to one another. There aren’t great moments of tension but there’s a goodness here I liked.
I read it too. I thought it was just OK. Kind of skimmed over parts because it was soooo slow in places. One of those books I’ll have forgotten I read.
Thanks for the review. It sounds like one I will not need to put on my “To Read” list.
Have you ever seen 84 Charing Gross Road. I have the video so I don’t know if is on any of the streaming channels. But it is a story of a Bookshop set in London after WWII. Stars Ann Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. It is worth finding. It is a great.
One of my all time favorites! Over the years I have read it several times!