Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: bookshop

  • The Bookshop of Buried Pasts

    The Bookshop of Buried Pasts

    It is always a delight to read a book set in a Bookshop. The familiar feelings of satisfaction happen when you are told of the smell of the leather bindings, and the books themselves. Then there is the luxury of sitting in a comfy sunlit chair to mull over recent releases of books, time being no object. The people who work in the shop always seem to be special, clever, knowledgeable and kind. So, it is with this story. An intriguing tale with many twists and turns begins to unfold in The Bookshop of Buried Dreams.

    The chapters are written by different characters, with the heading telling you who is narrating the chapter, the year, and where they are located. This helps the reader grasp the storyline, as it moves from the present to the past, between Australia and England.

    One of the first characters we meet is Phyllida. She is the owner of the bookshop and about to take her life. Her granddaughter, Lotte, has worked in the bookshop for many years. She adores her grandmother but acknowledges that Grandma has many areas of her life which are not for discussion.

    Being set in a small village in the NSW highlands, we meet many of the characters in the village who each share an in-depth knowledge of each other. The focus of the story, however, is discovering Phyllida’s early years in England. Lotte has many things to decide, as she manages the shop and her temperamental mother. However, the discovery of letters written by her grandmother begins the journey, gradually filling in gaps from the woman’s early years.

    There are a great many twists and turns in the story which keep the reader turning pages wanting to discover how this journey ends. The Bookshop of Buried Dreams is an unusual story, very credible and mysterious.

  • The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris

    The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris

    Powerful, captivating and immensely enjoyable The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris captures the devastation of the war years in Paris, the destruction caused by the German occupation, the tireless and dangerous work of the underground to not just smuggle military personnel out of the war zone, but many thousands of Jewish women and children.

    Jacques is a dreamer, a lover of books, a man with a dream of one day owning his own bookshop. When the chance presents itself to not only take on the lease of a dusty, unloved shop he seizes the opportunity. It also comes with a flat up the stairs, accessible from the Shop.

    He is in love with Matilde, a curator at the Musee de l’Homme, stunningly beautiful and in his mind out of his reach. She is a woman of strong options and beliefs which does not bode well in a Paris entering the dark days of the German occupation of Paris.

    Kevin and Juliette are on their last night in Paris, going to dine out at a highly recommended restaurant before flying back to America the next day. Juliette is feeling frustrated as she has always had a deep yearning to find the bookstore in a picture much loved by her Grandmother.

     She accidently discovers Kevin is having an affair with their neighbour and decides that she would like to remain in Paris for a while longer to try and discover, not just where she believes her Grandmother lived during the war years, but who she is and what she wants to do with her life.

    So sets the scene as the story of Jacques, Matilde, Juliette and the deadly and destructive days of Paris under occupation, combine and the immense power of love, courage and hope that was and is ever present.

    The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris is story about everyday people who are forced to make choices and decisions which can and did, have deadly consequences and the bravery shown by so many in the face of terrible adversity.

    Swinging between today’s world and world of long ago, Daisy Wood has very carefully kept the historic detail as accurate as possible and has also created characters who immediately feel they are people you may have known all your life.

    The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris is an excellently constructed story that is very difficult to put down once begun.