The Bookseller's Secret

De: Michelle Gable

Narrado por: Eleanor Caudill

For fans of All the Light We Cannot See and The Tattooist of Auschwitz!

“The Bookseller's Secret is a delight from start to finish, a literary feast any booklover will savor!” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye

ARISTOCRAT, AUTHOR, BOOKSELLER, SPY—A THRILLING NOVEL ABOUT REAL-LIFE LITERARY ICON NANCY MITFORD FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A PARIS APARTMENT

In 1942, London, Nancy Mitford is worried about more than air raids and German spies. Still recovering from a devastating loss, the once sparkling Bright Young Thing is estranged from her husband, her allowance has been cut, and she’s given up her writing career. On top of this, her five beautiful but infamous sisters continue making headlines with their controversial politics.

Eager for distraction and desperate for income, Nancy jumps at the chance to manage the Heywood Hill bookshop while the owner is away at war. Between the shop’s brisk business and the literary salons she hosts for her eccentric friends, Nancy’s life seems on the upswing. But when a mysterious French officer insists that she has a story to tell, Nancy must decide if picking up the pen again and revealing all is worth the price she might be forced to pay.

Eighty years later, Heywood Hill is abuzz with the hunt for a lost wartime manuscript written by Nancy Mitford. For one woman desperately in need of a change, the search will reveal not only a new side to Nancy, but an even more surprising link between the past and present…

Don't miss Michelle Gable’s stylish new novel, The Beautiful People, set among Palm Beach's dazzling inner circle in the sunny 1960s.

More from Michelle Gable:

• The Lipstick Bureau
• The Beautiful People

Learning about Nancy Mitford.

Very difficult to stay with the thread of the plot. The British characters were not predictably likable or relatable.

Pretty Good

Loved the narrator! Story was good. I did enjoy the two tales and the way they were woven together.

Meh

Not great and the reader pronounced something incorrectly. A thin plot line. Kind of cheesy.

Good, but not overwhelmingly great

I really disliked Kate’s character at first, I suppose she is a parallel character to Nancy Mitford, and apparently Nancy was an acquired taste. I didn’t really learn anything new about Nancy that I didn’t already know, aside from the question of her unpublished memoir. I feel that Leah’s character is only touched upon, and there are a lot of loose ends. Overall, it was ok but not worthy of 5 stars

Absolutely adored

Inspiring- love the narrative structure, going to read Nancy Mitford right now!! Thanks to this wonderful author for her imagination and humanity

fair at best

struggled to finish. wordy. ready the ending first. not worth the time thank you period

Interesting but it drags in spots

I love learning about real people who lived interesting lives, especially in the WWII era. But there were spots in this story where info dumps, albeit necessary, really slowed the plot. Still, good story and such a revelation at the extreme self-interest of Britain’s upper class during the war; most concerned about their own comfort and appearances when so many were suffering direly. I’d read it again.

I just couldn’t like Nancy Mitford

When I read about this, I thought I would really enjoy it. I enjoy reading about those years, and I’ve had quite a few about people, especially women performing sneaky little operations. There is nothing, absolutely nothing about the spy. Other than that she’s having an affair with a man from another country.

In addition, she and her friends are horrible people. Self-absorbed, selfish and they snipe at each other constantly. It was like being at the worlds worst cocktail party.

The secondary story wasn’t a whole lot better. I finished it only because I invested time and money into it. But by the end, I really didn’t care about any of the characters. And for a person who reads as much as I do, and enjoys this genre, that’s a pretty bad condemnation.

On the other hand, the narrator did a pretty good job. I’ve heard better, I had trouble sometimes figuring out which character was speaking. But considering how many minor characters there were who only appeared casually, I thought she did a pretty good job.

Disappointed

Love all things Nancy Mitford, but saddened by this book, which had an interesting premise in the blurb, but failed to deliver. It’s a very flimsy modern day teen romance with GenZ dialogue and a few forays into the Nancy Mitford history in an attempt to give it substance. If you are over the age of 25, give this a pass.