“The Lost Bookshop” by Evie Woods

“The Lost Bookshop” by Evie Woods was another random pick that I found in the Donner Bookstore in Rotterdam. I like books about books, libraries, and everything related so it stood out to me. It was a charming store that is worth a read.

The story in the book is half realism and half fantasy where mythical tangles very closely with reality and spans through different time periods. “The Lost Bookshop” focuses on three different characters: Opaline, a young girl in the 1900s who is being forced to be married to an old family friend but instead dreams of collecting old books and participating in auctions. She escapes to Paris where she learns the art of finding rare books and later to Dublin, where she opens her own bookshop. She is later found by her cruel brother and imprisoned in the mental hospital for years before she can escape and continue her journey.

We then move to the present time, where we have Martha, who escapes her abusive husband and comes to work in Dublin. She finds a job as a housekeeper and starts living in a house where sometimes, magically, books start appearing from the wall calling her to read them.

Finally, we have Henry, a scholar, who is looking for the lost booksop that he read about in the Opaline’s letter and the third novel of Emile Bronte that Opaline happened to discover.

Mysteriously, the three characters become connected and intertwined, each of them looking for their own story and their own purpose.

I liked this book because it was well-written and enjoyable but also it left a nice warm feeling inside once I finished it. It reminded me a bit of the “Midnight Library” by Matt Haig.

***

“For so long I had hidden the parts of me that seemed broken beyond repair. But she had seen past my feeble attempts at being someone people would like, hiding the breaches within me that always caused me to fall short. I had learned nothing from my father, only how to feel inadequate all the time. I realized how that this was the hollow inheritance passed down through the men in my family. And we spent our lives doing whatever it took to look like a strong man. Like scaffolding around me, it was only ever meant to be temporary. Something was supposed to get fixed inside. Only it never did. And somehow, Martha saw that brokenness and made it okay to be there. She didn’t expect perfection, just honestly. Kindness.”

***

“I think it is easy to get confused about what love is when you’re young. Even the title kind of suggests that we normalize bad behavior in relationships, or assume that being normal is the most important thing, so we hide all of the ugly stuff that happens to us. I mean, who is even normal, anyway?“

***

“His blonde hair had grown long at the front and without the gel he once used, it slipped into his eyes, and he shook his head to dislodge it. Sitting in my shop, he looked perfectly at home. He had brought two old wooden chairs and a table from who knew where. Josef just had a knack for finding what was needed. Nothing ostentatious, but simple and sufficient.
He made me laugh without meaning to. In fact, that was how he seemed to exist in the world. Just making it better, without meaning to.”

***

“We felt like one person and I knew that no matter what happened, I had met my true soulmate, and maybe that was enough. Just knowing he was out there, breathing, living, would have to be enough.”

***

Give it a read, you are going to love it.