“That’s what books do, Maddie used to say; they are a conversation, and introduce us to ourselves and others.”
In The Printed Letter Bookshop, Madeline Cullen is working fiercely to get partner at her law firm when she finds out she is passed over. Knowing the chance won’t come again, she quits. Serendipitously, she then finds out her Aunt Maddie, whom she is named after, has left her everything in her will, including a bookshop. Planning to work there just until it’s a better market to sell it, Madeline finds herself learning more about her aunt, her own family and herself.
I found this book at a discount store, and it’s been sitting in my to-read pile for a while. We took a quick vacation and I picked it from the pile as one of my reads for the trip. It has books and a cat on the cover, so how could I resist? I hadn’t heard of the book or the author, but I’m glad this book found its way into my reading list.
As Madeline gets to know the two women who worked with her aunt, Claire and Janet, and they work together to make the store better, she can’t help but find herself enjoying her new work. She’s also able to keep being a lawyer as the executor of her aunt’s estate is sending clients her way that he doesn’t have time to help – mostly people having trouble with their landlords. One night, though, the shop is vandalized, and Madeline, Claire and Janet’s worlds are all flipped upside down. What is their life about if the shop isn’t the center?
The Printed Letter Bookshop is full of how family, friends and even new acquaintances all weave into our own world and create a web that sometimes supports and sometimes hides us. Madeline changes for the better throughout the book, but has to learn some hard lessons to do that. The author delves into Janet and Claire’s lives, too, to show how everyone has more going on behind the scenes than we often see.
I would highly recommend The Printed Letter Bookshop to book lovers everywhere. It is written for high school age readers and older. Yes, there’s even a cat in the book!
What is your favorite book and/or movie with a bookshop in it? Share in the comments!