Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland- Book Review

 

Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland- Book Review

Author: Stephanie Butland

Publisher: Headline Review

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18BwzDg-FzZnkb-D8DM7n-nUQML9jZ1hlAn-rVe8fDP0/edit?tab=t.0

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XMNflTXQLyZ3pXKAEX9fdfMz17g73hbU_qvPmUvHMrs/edit?tab=t.0

Publish Date: March 30, 2023

Rating: 4/5

Summary(blurb): Dear Lost for Words: 

We are trying to stay at home... I am enclosing a cheque and I hope that you will use it to send us some books. Please choose books that we might think are wonderful. 

- Rosemary 

Loveday Carew's beloved Lost for Words bookshop, along with the rest of York, has fallen quiet. At the very time when people most need books to widen their horizons, escape from their fears, or enhance their lives, the doors are closed. Then the first letter comes. 

Rosemary and George have been married for fifty years. Now their time is running out. They have decided to set out on their last journey together, without ever leaving the bench at the bottom of their garden in Whitby. All they need is someone who shares their love of books. 

Suddenly it's clear to Loveday that she and her team can do something useful in a crisis. They can recommend books to help with the situations their customers find themselves in: fear, boredom, loneliness, the desire for laughter and escape. 

And so it begins.

**This book review may contain spoilers**

This book was one I bought on my UK trip last year; it's been sitting on my shelf for over a year now, and I've finally picked it up to read. 

Found in a Bookshop is a Covid lockdown novel, centering around the Lost For Words bookshop. When Covid lockdown threatens the bookshop due to zero foot traffic, owner Loveday Carew is despondent of the situation-- until she gets a letter and cheque from an elderly couple asking to send them books the bookstore would recommend for them. The couple, Rosemary and George, know they don't have much longer to live due to a kidney disease, which is why they asked for books appropriate to their situation; however, this sparks Loveday's imagination, and she and her employee Kelly start a 'book pharmacy', offering to 'prescribe' books for others who need it for specific situations. It is a success, with requests pouring in, and there are as many unique stories as there are people who need them. 

Although a bit tedious at first, I loved this novel-- it's a book about everyday challenges and ingenious ideas, and interesting interactions. I especially liked the idea of the book pharmacy, how books can be used as a tool to bring people together in deeply disconnected times. Additionally, it was interesting how the bookshop itself brought together Kelly and Madison in unexpected ways through Craig, and how many relationships were created/restored including the Professor's with his neighbor. 

My favorite part of the book was every time Rosemary and George came up-- they're a great old couple, sadly they always wanted a baby but only had miscarriages. They met as young teachers and had different adventures at different schools; interestingly, George was a math teacher-- a "well-liked maths teacher in a well-thought-of school", meaning teaching life is relatively easy for him. However, Rosemary is Headmistress of a different school, meaning she has to constantly wage a battle against funding and parents, leaving her stressed. George's story reminded me of Ryland Grace in Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, who was originally a middle school science teacher. He had built up a reputation for the cool science teacher, and I wonder if George was like that as well. 

Rosemary and George are only the first of many to request tailored book recommendations-- there's a young mother from a women's shelter, a Kurdish professor and his family getting acquainted with their  polite but unintentionally insensitive neighbor, a depressed teenager, a recent couple forced into a long-distance relationship, and more. Most common of all were people who missed the small talk of life, the inconsequential interactions that made work bearable, especially since work was being done over Zoom calls but not much else was happening and people were alone. 

However, there was one aspect of the book that I didn't enjoy as much-- the fact that the conflict was due to Covid. Although it made sense for the author to use the disease as a plot device, especially since she was probably in lockdown herself while writing this, I personally like to have a distinction between what's actually happened and what hasn't. Incorporating covid into a book like this would work great if it was a nonfiction memoir-style book, but since this is fiction it was slightly unsettling for me. Though to its credit, the lockdown played a large part in adding to the authenticity of the book, making it about everyday conflicts and everyday interactions caused not by an evil noseless Dark Lord or an imbalance in the Force but simply the struggles of day-to-day life. 

Overall, Found in a Bookshop was a great novel, with everyday interactions that's told in an engaging way that it's almost a memoir (but fictional of course). Although I wasn't such a fan of real-life events (Covid) that played a large part in the novel's conflict, ultimately I think it added more to the book's authenticity. It could have just as easily been a true story about an actual bookshop-- I would have enjoyed it even more then (although there would have been a few problems with real-world logisitics and laws!). I just found out that it's a sequel, and the first book is called Lost for Words, so I might check that out next. 

Rating: I would give this a 4/5. I would recommend this book for anyone over 6th grade due to the vocab.