A grieving writer. An abandoned bookshop. A secret love story hidden in letters.
From New York Times bestselling author Kim van Alkemade comes an unforgettable novel about found family, healing, and the power of the past to reshape the present.
Thirty-four-year-old writer Audrey Beacon is grieving alone during lockdown when a post about a bookshop for sale in upstate New York pops into her social media feed like a lifeline. Enthralled by the historic house and the massive barn bursting with books, Audrey impulsively makes an offer. Soon, she’s cashing out her savings, loading her possessions into her dead husband’s van, and fleeing Manhattan for the village of Schuywich, determined to outrun the ghosts of her past.
In 1956, it’s love at first sight when Schuywich librarian Hazel McIntyre meets dashing magazine writer Evelyn Cabot at a summer camp in Maine that discreetly promises a “different vacation for professional women.” By summer’s end, Evelyn has left Greenwich Village to move into an old farmhouse she’s bought in Hazel’s hometown. In her new column, “A Woman’s Place,” Evelyn writes about her adventures renovating a house, tending to sheep, and opening a bookshop in her barn with help from the woman readers know only as her “roommate.” Privately, Hazel chronicles their six-decade love story in a series of letters that abruptly end when they’re forced to abandon the bookshop in 2015.
Reopening the bookshop in the summer of 2020 attracts a quirky community of villagers who continuously interrupt Audrey’s An unemployed Broadway set designer. An ambitious teenage entrepreneur. A story-telling Adirondack grandmother. Then there’s Sam Rensselaer, the distractingly handsome representative of the agriculture extension. Past and present begin to converge when Audrey finds “A Woman’s Place,” in a stack of old magazines, but it’s the discovery of Hazel’s letters that brings hidden love and long-buried family secrets to light. Will Audrey find the courage to heal the wounds of the past—including her own?
🌷
When I came across the book, it was the title and the blurb that caught my attention. I was also familiar with the publisher, William Morrow; I’ve read a lot of works from that publishing company. However, it was my first book by Kim van Alkemade , so I wasn’t sure what I would think of the story. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was going to like this book, but it wasn’t until a few chapters in that I realized that I was going to fall in love with this story. I fell in love with the story and the characters. When the story picked up the pace, I knew that I was in trouble, and once I reached the end, I had to think about it all. What a beautiful story.
It didn’t take me long to get lost in Aubrey, Hazel, and Evelyn’s stories. I liked the way that Kim wrote about the women individually but also interconnected their stories. Aubrey, Evelyn and Hazel were all such strong women; even if they didn’t realize it at the time. This isn’t a love story, but a story about love, family, strength, and starting over. At some point I got so invested in the story that I didn’t even realize how much time had passed. Of course, I liked that it was told from dual timeline. Even though I enjoyed all the perspective, I loved reading Hazel’s letters to Evelyn the most. It didn’t take long to see how much Hazel loved Evelyn. The letters were filled with so much love and emotion that I found myself feeling them when I was reading them.
I liked the way everyone made Aubrey feel welcome and tried to help her in any way they could. I can’t even begin to imagine making such a drastic change in my life. From the beginning of the book, Aubrey grew in so many ways, and although she was still healing, she changed as well. I think getting that bookstore is just what she needed. I’m so glad that I got a chance to read this book. I would highly recommend checking this book out.
0 comments:
Post a Comment