The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

 

Title:  The Last Bookshop in London

Author:  Madeline Martin

Narrated by:  Saskia Maarleveld

Publisher: Harlequin Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 13 minutes

Source: Checked out with Hoopla through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Do you like stories of found families?  Do you have a favorite book, show, or movie that features a found family?

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin is a found family story and was the June pick for the Pageturners Bookclub at the Kewaunee Public Library.  I enjoyed the book and was looking forward to book club.  Sadly, a work meeting ran late and I was unable to attend.

Grace Bennett moves to London in 1939 with her friend Viv.  They had hoped London would be fun, but as the blitz starts, they find themselves in a different type of situation.  Grace finds a job at a bookstore and helps the owner to improve the bookstore to make it successful.  As the blitz takes over the city, Grace helps her community with books and through the love of reading to keep hope alive.  Together Grace, her landlady, and her friends make their own supportive community and family.

I loved how Grace made new friends and helped people out.  I also enjoyed how she became a reader and discovered great literature through reading some of my favorite books, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Emma by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Dickens, etc. throughout the novel.  I loved when she would read aloud and comfort people in the tubes during bombing raids.

I am aways looking for #engineersinfiction.  I was happy to discover that the love interest was George, an engineer.  George shares The Count of Monte Cristo with Grace and helps to develop her love for reading.  They enjoy discussing books together.  George joins the miliary and is away fighting in WWII through most of the book.

I always really enjoy books where the main character works in a bookstore and makes changes to improve sales.  This book reminded me at the start of A Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan and Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner for the first part of the book.

I also thought this novel did a good job of describing how the blitz affected ordinary people that were living and working in London.  It was a very hard time for everyone.  Grace’s work as an air raid warden was interesting as well.  Author Madeline Martin did great research and included many details that day to day living during the Blitz that I had never heard about before.

Saskia Maarleveld was a good narrator and I enjoyed listening to this audiobook.  I especially enjoyed her British accent.  I loved the relationships in the novel, the talk of books, and the realistic look into the impacts of the blitz.  It was a good book.