This little novella about a kind widow who decides to open a book shop in a small English town is spare but the writing is excellent. So much is revealed about human nature when she becomes an unexpected success and stirs up jealousy and rivalry among some of the town residents. I hadn't heard of this author, but I would read her other works.

3.5 stars.

I am baffled as to how many good reviews this book has. I found it terribly boring and made a huge effort not to abondon it. Interesting premise that unfortunately ended up being an utter disappointment.

This is the kind of book I often struggle with. There's a lot going on under the surface and not a lot of action, and I'm not even sure why I picked it up, but something about it appealed and I'm glad, because it's really excellent. The characters are nicely drawn, the lines of power delineated subtly but effectively, and the humour sparkles off the page in the most unexpected of places.

An elegantly written book which beautifully and melancolically describes life in a small, insular village. The subject matter - a middle-aged woman attempting to run a book shop in rural East Anglia - initially seems ridiculously slight and inconsequential, but Fitzgerald's writing is compelling: everywhere you look there is a great phrase, a wonderful image, a laugh-out-loud moment, or a brilliantly evoked scene. I'll confess to being completely baffled by the people who have given this one or two stars on the basis that the ending is (fittingly) downbeat; clearly they were reading a completely different book to me. I'd also add that I preferred this to The Blue Flower; for me, the author is more in her element here.

Idk what i expected but this wasn't it lmao. Sehr gut geschrieben aber war zum Teil echt verwirrt.

Wow

I'd unknowingly watched the film of this story (or rather forgotten that I had when I bought this), so as I began reading it felt weirdly familiar. Once I'd finished and figured it out, I realised that, as ever, quite big chunks and elements were missing in that adaptation. But to speak about the book specifically, this is another that I'm really glad I read. It's my kind of story, with character-driven development in a small world. The wrangling that occurs between people and local factions is well-written and very relatable to many people, I'm sure. The feeling that you're living in a different time is evident, and the prose is beautiful. Without wanting to spoil it, there's a device in use which I don't clearly understand the reason for, which is perhaps why I don't remember it being in the film, though I haven't seen it for 6 years, so I may just have forgotten! It just felt out of place, but didn't detract from my enjoyment of the tale.