How to Find Love in a Bookshop

June 15, 2017
A young woman takes over her father's bookshop and discovers its importance to its small-town clientele.Emilia Nightingale is called back to her childhood home in the English Cotswolds when her father, Julius, is on his deathbed. Emilia makes a final promise to her father that she will look after the bookshop that has been his life's work and, following his death, sets about trying to fill his role at Nightingale Books. Through an outpouring of affection from the town's residents, Emilia realizes that Julius was a beloved fixture of the community, and she has big shoes to fill. She also sees how integral the bookshop has been in facilitating relationships throughout the town. As she refamiliarizes herself with the village of Peasebrook and its people, six different love stories begin to unfold, all of which are somehow connected to the bookstore. Unfortunately, Emilia quickly learns that her father was more of a bookworm than a businessman. The store has amassed tremendous debt over the years, and Julius' habit of selling books at deep discounts has not helped. Complicating matters further, a local real estate developer is pressuring Emilia to sell him the shop. A quick sale would solve Emilia's financial woes, but she cannot bear the thought of closing the shop. In her U.S. debut, Henry (High Tide, 2015, etc.) creates one obstacle after another for Nightingale Books and its patrons. At the same time, she explores deeper questions of personal choice and the different forms in which love manifests. This charming story moves forward at a steady pace as several different couples struggle to make connections and work past strife. A light romantic comedy well-suited for bibliophiles and Anglophiles alike.

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August 1, 2017

Though the cover art suggests a lighter read, there are more serious depths within Henry's latest (after High Tide) as characters navigate relationships, heartaches, and grief. Emilia Nightingale is called back to her hometown of Peasebrook in Cotswold, England, where her father, Julius, is dying. After his death, she is determined to keep his beloved shop, Nightingale Books, open and thriving. That may be difficult, since Julius didn't keep track of the finances and left the business pretty steeply in debt. Waiting in the wings is a developer ready to snap up the property if Emilia would give him an opening. As she struggles with her grief and to make sense of what her father left her, Emilia finds help from the townspeople. Julius was a beloved figure in the community, and many of the locals' lives are entwined with the fate and fortunes of the bookstore. VERDICT Henry describes her novel as an ode to bookshops, and it is that. It's also an exploration of those who interact with the store, each a fully realized character. Readers who laughed and cried over Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove will love this one.--Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI

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