The Bookseller's Secret

By: Michelle Gable

Narrated by: Eleanor Caudill

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

ARISTOCRAT, AUTHOR, BOOKSELLER AND SPY—A THRILLING NOVEL ABOUT THE ICONIC NANCY MITFORD DURING WWII

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…

©2021 Michelle Gable (P)2021 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Critic reviews

“The Bookseller's Secret is a delight from start to finish. Michelle Gable skillfully twines the narratives of two effervescent heroines, a modern-day author with writer's block and her literary icon Nancy Mitford who is struggling to pen a best seller in the middle of the London Blitz. The result is a literary feast any booklover will savor!” (Kate Quinn, New York Times best-selling author of The Alice Network and The Rose Code) 

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

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.

Pretty Good

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

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

Meh

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