Synopsis:

THIS BOOKSHOP KEEPS MANY SECRETS . . .

Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never show you.

Into her refuge – the York book emporium where she works – come a poet, a lover, a friend, and three mysterious deliveries, each of which stirs unsettling memories.

Everything is about to change for Loveday. Someone knows about her past and she can’t hide any longer. She must decide who around her she can trust. Can she find the courage to right a heartbreaking wrong? And will she ever find the words to tell her own story?

It’s time to turn the pages of her past . . .

My thoughts: 

I would like to say a big thank you to Kelly Lacey and Joanne Baird of A LOVE OF BOOKS Facebook Group, they chose this as their September Book Club Pick, discussion night is on Thursday 28th September at 8 pm.  What a wonderful decision they made.

This book is set in York, in a book emporium.  Loveday Cardew is an employee with a secret.  She works with the flamboyant and larger than life Archie, who a couple of secrets of his own.  Loveday is a book person rather than a people person, but people are a means to an end regarding having a job.  She is a quiet, shy, reserved person who has been on a long journey in her life experiences.  It has been heartbreaking and has left her very vulnerable, with a slightly different outlook on life.  Over the course of the story we discover why this young lady tries to shun society, but finds a courage she never believed existed.  It will involve standing up to her memories and accepting them.

So the setting is a readers dream, the description of the shop is one a second-hand book shop lover will recognise very well.  Loveday is a wonderful character, it would be easy to think of her as a weak wishy-washy person, but actually the author has given her a very good uncompromising and strong character, it’s one that Loveday wouldn’t see in herself.  The shop is her refuge, her sanctuary against the outside population.  Books have been her armour and never let her down, well until she first met Archie, but that chink in her armour allowed something special in, a friendship.  A lost book also allows her to meet a rather confident poet.

I really want to say so much about this book, but do not want to spoil it for readers.  I hope that readers who come across this book will enjoy it to the same extent as I did.  The synopsis for it does not really give anything away, but what is contained within the cover is a very addictive story.  So addictive that I almost burnt the evening meal and  drank several forgotten about cold cups of coffee, this was my commitment to reading this book.

I would highly recommend this book to people who like a heartbreaking and heartwarming contemporary fiction read.  It is a book that would be great for discussion for reading groups, and included at the end of the book are a few questions to get you started.

 

Book Details:

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Zaffre (20 April 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1785762591
• ISBN-13: 978-1785762598
• Amazon Link

Author Bio:

I’m a writer, and I’m thriving after breast cancer. (I used to say I was a survivor, but that was a bit lacking in joie de vivre.)
Although I’d never have chosen it, my dance with cancer has changed my life in many positive ways. Now I am happier, healthier, and more careful with my precious life and the precious people and things in it.

My writing career began with my dance with cancer, and now I’m  a novelist.

Aside from writing, I work as a speaker and trainer, and I work with charities to help raise awareness and money in the hope that cancer will soon be about as scary as a wart.

Links:

Author Website

Author Twitter

Author Facebook

 

Many thanks for reading my post.