The Lost for Words Bookshop
Stephanie Butland
2017, 352 pages
Fiction
Loveday Cardew is not afraid to say what she thinks to people, and she often does just that. She likes books more than people and has the first lines of some of her favorite books as tattoos. She doesn’t let anyone too close, usually. Loveday’s childhood was a happy one at first, but her dad lost his job, and things began to change for the worse. Now Loveday is a young woman with her own apartment, and works in a bookstore in York for the lovable and eccentric Archie. She meets Nathan, a part-time magician and poet and they start going out. But suddenly some of her childhood books, her family’s copies, begin to show up at the bookstore. Loveday is afraid that someone is stalking her. Why send her these copies? Is it a prank, or a warning of some kind? Loveday has a secret about her childhood that she doesn’t want revealed. But sometimes you need help, and you have to trust someone.
Poetry is a big part of this book; there’s a poetry night where some of the characters recite their own poetry; something that Loveday dreads but is also drawn to. And there are beautiful lines – “It was a chocolate-for-breakfast feeling.” There are funny ones, too – “His doctor is always talking to him about cholesterol and losing weight, but Archie says good relationships are more important than being able to see your feet.”
This is a treat for book lovers! It’s full of interesting characters and Loveday is a heroine who is feisty, vulnerable and full of surprises.
Robbin Bailey Concord Public Library
Visit CPL at concordpubliclibrary.net.
