January Book Review by Shelly Mutum.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and a very happy new year! I was lucky enough to get some much-needed reading time in.

For today’s review, I thought about reading one of Agatha Christie’s holiday mysteries or even re-reading Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol”, but I quickly dismissed those once a particular book came in. I’m a sucker for books set in or about a bookstore or a library or really anything to do with books, so when “The Lost Bookshop” by Evie Woods came in, I knew this was another one I was going to add to my list and share with all of you.

“The Lost Bookshop” is creative and imaginative. It’s a little bit of everything: mystery, crime, fantasy, romance, and historical fiction. It’s also told in dual timelines – 1920s Ireland and present-day Ireland, with 3 different viewpoints from some very intriguing characters, Opaline, Martha, and Henry. Opaline is a book lover and rare book dealer, determined to make her way in the world and find an answer to whether Emily Bronte wrote a second novel after “Wuthering Heights”. Martha is sweet and insightful; she has the gift of reading people and their emotions. Henry is a Ph.D. student searching for a lost manuscript and a magical bookshop.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book…

“Lost is not a hopeless place to be. It is a place of patience, of waiting. Lost does not mean gone forever. 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.”

The quote is a beautiful reminder that being lost is not the end of the road. It is a place of waiting and patience.

“The Lost Bookshop” was definitely one of my favorite reads of 2023. I’m very excited to see what next year has in store.

I hope your 2024 is filled with beauty, happiness, love, and good books. I’m Shelly Mutum, owner of the Next Chapter bookstore and this has been Between Two Covers on KVNO Arts Today.