Pete’s Pick
January 2022
The Last Bookshop in London
Madeleine Martin
Hanover Square Press, April 6, 2021
Introduction
This book is a novel taking place in London during World War II. It showcases a young woman who, along with her lifelong friend, decides just before WWII begins to move from the rural countryside to the environs of a big city. They are interested in the excitement and opportunities that await them in such a setting. Little did they know how the war was going to change their lives. Nor are we prepared for a vivid reminder of just how important books are in our lives and the role they can play in our well-being as well as our imagination.
Author
Madeline Martin is a New York Times, USA Today, and international best-selling author of WWII historical fiction and historical romance novels that span from medieval castles to Regency ballrooms. She has written several books in a variety of series.
Story
This story follows Grace Bennett as she leaves her hometown of Drayton in the countryside with her lifelong friend Vivienne, known as Viv, as they move to London to experience new adventures. They are both in their 20s and ready for a change from their rural upbringing. Mrs. Weatherford, Grace’s mother’s lifelong best friend, agrees to give them a room in her townhouse for a couple of months as they get settled in and find employment. Viv has a letter of recommendation that gets her a job at Harrod’s Department Store. Unfortunately, Grace has no such letter as she has spent her young years working in her uncle’s shop and he refused to give her a letter. Mrs. Weatherford makes arrangements with Mr. Evans, the owner of Primrose Hill Bookshop to hire Grace as his assistant for six months after which he will then give Grace a letter of recommendation. As the story begins, we discover that Grace has never spent any time reading books, and the thought of trying to make sense of a bookshop is quite overwhelming. To make matters worse, Primrose Hill Bookshop is not organized. Mr. Evans has let it decline over the years and there is no organization. During her first day, she discovers the bookshop is horribly dusty from a lack of cleaning. As she encounters her first customer who asks for a specific book, Grace is at a loss because she cannot make sense of the organization of the bookshop. A young gentleman shows up and watches as Grace struggles. Finally, he suggests the location of the book being sought and the book is found. The customer is happy and Grace is left to tend to the gentleman. He introduces himself to Grace as George Anderson. When Grace confesses her lack of knowledge not only of the bookshop but of books in general, George gently suggests that if she wanted to start reading, she should try The Count of Monte Cristo. Grace is determined to try to make sense of everything, so she tours several bookstores along Paternoster Street where all the bookstores and publishers were located. She returns and spends several days cleaning the shop and starting to organize everything the way she saw it in other shops.
As the story progresses, we follow Grace as she begins to read The Count of Monte Cristo and falls in love with reading. We follow her and her friend Viv as they get used to London. We follow their lives in Mrs. Weatherford’s townhouse and then we follow them as all of a sudden World War II begins and the Germans begin their bombing blitzkrieg of London. The story takes us into the lives of everyday people who struggle to carry on as nearly every night bombing raids destroy much of London and bring such terror and misery to people who have lost their homes, possessions, and loved ones. But through it all, we discover how Grace’s love of reading leads to her reading out loud to neighbors as they huddle in the underground train stations to be protected from the bombings. The reaction she gets from this leads to out loud readings at Primrose Hill Bookshop every afternoon and it begins to draw a crowd. Through it all, we fall in love again with how reading takes us into another world of adventure, of fantasy, of romance, and of learning. It is truly hard not to once again realize the great gift we all have in the pages of books we haven’t read, as well as in books we read long ago. However, we are also confronted with the horror that the people of London lived through for several years during World War II and the horror of war in general as an act of mankind.
Evaluation
This story evoked such memories of my childhood as I grew up in libraries and bookstores. I read voraciously. I couldn’t get enough. The thought of being able to work in a bookstore filled me with envy for Grace, and yet I found myself cheering her on as she organized the bookshop and began her own experience of reading. It was fascinating to follow the characters is the story as they experienced the horror of living during war, the fear, the sadness as they lost loved ones, and the determination of the human spirit to survive. I was entranced by Madeline Martin’s ability to make the characters really come alive and become people I wanted to know. It brought the general knowledge I had of the horror of the bombings of London during WWII into new focus for me as it affected people I cared about. Absolutely an entrancing read, I highly recommend it.