Title: Bloomsbury Girls: A Novel
Author: Natalie Jenner
Genre: Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (May 17, 2022)
Length: (368) pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook
ISBN: 978-1250276698
Tour Dates: May 2-29, 2022
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Natalie Jenner, the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, returns with a compelling and heartwarming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world in Bloomsbury Girls. Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare bookstore that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans: Vivien Lowry: Single since her aristocratic fiancé was killed in action during World War II, the brilliant and stylish Vivien has a long list of grievances--most of them well justified and the biggest of which is Alec McDonough, the Head of Fiction. Grace Perkins: Married with two sons, she's been working to support the family following her husband's breakdown in the aftermath of the war. Torn between duty to her family and dreams of her own. Evie Stone: In the first class of female students from Cambridge permitted to earn a degree, Evie was denied an academic position in favor of her less accomplished male rival. Now she's working at Bloomsbury Books while she plans to remake her own future. As they interact with various literary figures of the time--Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (widow of George Orwell), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim, and others--these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow.
BOOK TRAILER
REVIEW
This story is a post World War II picture of a bookshop and the state of the world as it involves women. The Bloomsbury Girls are outstanding women that have strength and are in a world still dominated by men, even within their domains This is not an unfair rendering, but a reflection of the time. The idea that these women have is to push the works and find old works of women within the shop. The men who do the ordering and organizing of events prefer the male authors, but when a health crisis sends the manager on leave, the women take the opportunity to show how much improvement can happen in the shop. There were several points of view in this including some of the men and some of the women. The men aren't classified as villains and have their own things that they are working through. I like that realistic tone. While it is called, Bloomsbury Girls, it didn't leave anyone out. There is strength in numbers and these ladies find this together and with allies outside the shop in the world of publishing. The characters are real and raw in their emotions. They are strong and weak. They are flawed. In short, they read as very human. They exist together in this little bookshop which is forced to examine change as the world changes around them.. These are delightful characters in a richly described environment. I could smell the smells and see the sights, The writing invited me in.
PURCHASE LINKS
PRINT & DIGITAL BOOK
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | BOOKSHOP | GOODREADS | BOOKBUB
AUDIOBOOK
AUTHOR BIO
Natalie Jenner is the author of the instant international bestseller The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls. A Goodreads Choice Award runner-up for historical fiction and finalist for best debut novel, The Jane Austen Society was a USA Today and #1 national bestseller and has been sold for translation in twenty countries. Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie has been a corporate lawyer, career coach and, most recently, an independent bookstore owner in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs. Visit her website to learn more.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Emily. I also enjoyed being in a London bookshop with the 3 main characters and look forward to Jenner's next novel.