Bookshop Reads

Perhaps it’s because readers love books so much, but novels set in bookshops seem to be eternally popular. Maybe it reads like a dream come true when the main character of a story steps out of the daily grind to work in a bookshop. And yet stories set in bookshops can be as varied as the books on their shelves.

Take a look at the newly released cosy mystery The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone, by Louise and Gareth Ward. This whodunit is set Havelock North, with two amateur sleuths, Garth and Eloise, who get caught up in the case of a missing schoolgirl who disappeared decades before. The plot is complicated by an imminent celebrity book launch, Garth and Eloise's shop’s under threat and events from their past come back to haunt them. This witty first-of-a series is non-stop fun and throws a light on the world of booksellers.

As does Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum, a recent bestseller set in Seoul. The story follows Yeongju who leaves her former life and a high-pressure job to open a bookshop in a quiet suburb. Her family have disowned her, but she eventually makes a new “family” among the people she meets through her business. It’s very much a book for bookworms, with plenty of bookish quotes and conversations about what matters in life – money and success vs. happiness and fulfilment. A heart-warming, thoughtful read.

Among the historical novels about bookshops is Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner, which is set in 1950s London in a shop selling both rare and new books. There are three main characters: Grace who is struggling to support her family with a husband battling PTSD from the war; Evie, who despite a Cambridge degree, is stuck working at a shop where no one takes her seriously; and stylish Vivien who lost her fiancé during the war and is in a daily battle with Head of Fiction, Alec McDonough. This is a lively, quirky read that has some more serious thoughts about the place of women in a changing, post-war society.

Sometimes a novel places the bookshop in the middle of a wider historical event, such as war. The Bookseller of Inverness by S G MacLean brings to life the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden when British forces suppressed Scots supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie, hunting down ‘skulkers’, and spies dobbed in suspected rebels. Bookseller Iain MacGillivray, a survivor of the battle, just wants a quiet life – until returning to his shop, what should he discover but the body of a man, murdered and festooned with the symbol of the Jacobites. What follows is a ripping read, emotional and exciting, that fills you in on an interesting corner of history.

There are some equally interesting non-fiction books about bookshops. The Bookseller at the End of the World is a kind of bookshop memoir, where bookshop owner Ruth Shaw ponders events from a very full life, thoughts about books as well as the characters who visit the shop. Hers is an extraordinary story, but so is the setting for her two tiny bookshops – Manapouri, Fiordland.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff is the classic bookshop story, the true account of the author’s relationship with an antiquarian bookshop in London. Told in letters, Hanff writes from her Brownstone New York apartment demanding books that only an English bookshop of this kind can supply. The letters reveal a growing fondness between a used-book dealer and Helene, as well as describing the privations of a country still reeling from a long war and years of rationing. 84 Charing Cross Road was made into an equally classic film starring Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft.

Another classic bookshop story, and which made it to the big screen, (this time with Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson and Emily Mortimer) is The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald. Set in 1959, the story describes widow Florence Green’s decision to open a bookshop in a small coastal town, and battles a number of obstacles to fulfil her dream. Her success annoys other shopkeepers, as well as the powerful lady of the manor who wants the shop for an arts facility. Meanwhile friendship blossoms in unexpected quarters. The question lingers: does a town without a bookshop necessarily want a bookshop.

2 October 2024

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