I have been reading romantic fiction for quite some time, and it was time for some genre breather. Do you know what that is? It’s when you’ve read one genre so much that you crave a change. I was searching for some mystery thrillers, and that’s when I stumbled upon “The Lost Bookshop.” Being an avid reader, the title grasped my attention. As I began reading, I was transported into the mysterious world of suspense and imagination.
I could not wait to unravel the mystery of whether the bookshop was actually there or was a mere imagination of one of the characters. Are you curious to know? Head over to the review to unveil the secret of this lost bookshop.
The book is appropriate for teenagers and young adults and not readers under the age of 13 as it has some abusive and explicit scenes, too.
Main Characters:
- Mrs. Bowden: An old lady living in Dublin
- Martha: A housekeeper at Mrs. Bowden’s house
- Henry: An educationist searching for lost manuscripts
- Opaline: The lady who had missing manuscripts and great-grandmother of Martha
- Shane: Martha’s husband
Plot/Summary:
“The Lost Book Shop” is a story of three different characters and how they discover a bookshop. It is the 1920s era when Opaline belongs to a rich family but tries to escape from her family as she is forced by her brother to marry someone she is not interested in. She leaves England and goes to Paris, where she starts working in a bookshop as Opaline has a lot of love for books.
Circumstances are not favorable for her in France so she leaves and goes to Ireland this time. She chose to settle down in Dublin and owned a bookstore here. But her life gets an expected turn when his brother knows that Opaline is living in Dublin.
“Lost is not a hopeless place to be. It is a place of patience, of waiting. Lost does not mean gone for ever. Lost is a bridge between worlds, where the pain of our past can be transformed into power. You have always held the key to this special place, but now you are ready to unlock the door.”
Evie Woods, The Lost Bookshop
The narrative is now shifted to the present-day era, and a new character named Martha is introduced. She has been suffering in an abusive marriage for a long. Martha finally gathers a lot of courage lea, leaves her husband, and comes to Dublin. In order to make both ends meet, Martha is in search of employment. Finally, she gets a job as a housekeeper in the house of a rich old lady, Mrs. Bowden, who apparently looks strange, but Martha opts to do this job.
The job included accommodation as well, so Martha stayed in Mrs. Bowden’s house in the basement. Martha was looking for peace and hiding herself from her past, so she found this place safe and comfortable. Martha has never been a fan of books and almost disliked them.
Henry is from London but comes to Dublin and is in search of some missing manuscripts which he was told will be found in a bookshop in Dublin. This letter was written to Henry by Opaline in the 1920s. When Henry comes to Dublin, he meets Martha and realizes she has been through bad times in the past and happens to be a fragile lady. Henry gets attracted towards Martha and both of them become friends.
Henry goes to the bookshop, which is located on the street right next to Mrs. Bowden’s house, but now he finds out that the bookshop is away. He has been convinced that he had actually entered that bookshop, but it has vanished completely as if not was not there in the first place. What do you think of the bookshop? Did he really find it and go inside it, or was it in his imagination only?
Henry, Opaline, and Martha are unaware of how invisible threads will get them connected later on. Martha has never been a fan of books and almost disliked them. But one day, something strange happens in the basement she’s living in. What do you think happened? I know you couldn’t imagine tree roots growing in the basement, and a book named “A Place Called Lost” appeared on its branches. Henry leaves Dublin and goes back to London to break his engagement, and while leaving, he leaves a note for Martha, which she never finds. Martha thought Henry had disappeared.
Martha’s husband, Shane, gets to know where she is living and drags her back home. While dragging, he fell off the stairs and lost his life. Henry returns to Dublin and confesses his feelings for Martha, but she turns down the offer, saying that she is too afraid to get into a relationship after all the abuse she has faced in the past.
| Publisher | One More Chapter/HarperCollins |
| Publishing Date | First published June 22, 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 435 Pages |
| Title | The Lost Bookshop |
| Literary awards | British Book Award Nominee for Pageturner (2024) |
| Settings | Dublin (Ireland) |
| ISBN-10 | 0008609217 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0008609214 |
They agreed to stay only friends and decided to search for the missing manuscript of Emily Brontë together. Remember the book that appeared in Martha’s basement? Henry and Martha read that book together, and it has the message of how to find the lost bookshop. As Martha had made peace with her past, the bookshop appeared where it was before.
What’s the craic?
“The thing about books,’ she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.”
- The story was fast-paced without unnecessary drags.
- The mystery of discovering the bookshop was maintained until the end.
- The book had powerful female characters who knew how to take a stand and refused to tolerate oppression.
- The shifting narratives between the 1920s and the present time made it a bit confusing to understand.
- The family relationship between Opaline and Martha was quite interesting; it would have been more gripping if there was some hidden family relationship between Opaline and Henry, too, hence making all three of them connected.
Review:
The book can best be described as a mystery thriller, which kept me hooked till the end to know about that mysterious bookshop that was either not there on the street from the beginning or disappeared for some reason. I found the women characters of this book, Martha and Opaline, very strong and knew how to refuse to take any oppression and injustice. Martha’s character was an inspiration who started working to earn on her own so that she can live in peace.
Although Henry did not have a negative character or traits other than leaving his wife for Martha, his character seemed a filler character. He had a supporting role and did not have much to add to the story. It was as if he was just another character in the story. Since he was a lead character, she should have that aura and personality that would give him the essence of being the main male character in the story.
Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed reading “The Lost Bookshop” to find out the mystery behind its disappearance and then reappearance. I liked how Martha and Opaline were secretly connected. That was Opalin;e being Martha’great-grandmother great-grandmother of the lost bookshop. Being connected with Martha and making peace with her current situation was interesting.
Books like The Lost Bookshop:
Here is my suggestion: if you love this book, you can also read the list of the books mentioned below:
- The Book of Beginnings by Sally Page
- The Mysterious Bakery On Rue De Paris by Evie Gaughan
- The Story Collector by Evie Gaughan
- The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson
Conclusion:
Evie did a wonderful job in creating an escapist world where one has to bring their imaginative power to use actually to enjoy the book. The readers were kept both mysterious and curious to know about the hidden bookshop. Martha left her abusive husband and came to Dublin. She began working as a housekeeper in an old lady’s house and lived there too. Henry is an educationist who lives in London but comes to Dublin to find a missing manuscript, which he came to know from Opaline’s letter is in Dublin.
Henry saw that a bookshop was located next to the old lady’s house, but suddenly, it disappeared. He becomes friends with Martha, and then he and Martha work together to find out about that lost bookshop.
One day, Martha saw tree roots appearing in her basement, and a book was attached to its branches named “A Place Called Lost”. She and Henry read that book and find out how to find the lost bookshop. Martha makes peace with her past and realizes her worth; the bookshop suddenly comes back to where it was before.
It was a wonderful experience reading about the imaginative and magical world beautifully crafted by the author. I will rate it 4.3 stars and before it all ends, I would like to ask your rating too.