My first book of 2024 was The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods. which was published in November 2023.

The ‘Echo of Old Books’ meets ‘The Lost Apothecary’ in this evocative and charming novel; full of mystery and secrets.

“The thing about books,” she said “is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.”

Own a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found….

For too long Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.

Blurb from the back of the book, The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods.

The Lost Bookshop is set in both in the past, 1920s-50s, and the present day. It tells the story of three characters whose lives are intertwined, some in surprising ways:

Opaline is a woman who is struggling with her relationship with her uninterested mother and her violent, oppressive brother after the death of her beloved father whose love of books she has inherited. After her father died, her brother decided to marry her off, something Opaline was absolutely not interested in. Opaline manages to escape her brother’s clutches, her journey taking her first to Paris where she works in a bookshop frequented by famous authors, and then to running her own bookshop in a quiet street, Ha’apenny Lane, in Dublin.

Martha is stuck in a violent relationship with her childhood sweetheart husband, Shane. One day she manages to escape. She makes her way to Dublin where she finds a job as a housekeeper for a rather eccentric lady Madame Bowden, a former actress, who owns a grand house on Ha’apenny Lane. Yes, the very same street Opaline found herself in all those years ago.

Henry is pursuing a career in rare books, hoping to make that one career-making discovery of something no-one else has been able to find – a rare manuscript. In making this discovery he hopes to prove himself worthy of a woman he is courting, but who he does not feel good enough for. His search takes him to a bookshop he has heard of and that he stepped into the first night he arrived in Dublin, but which has since disappeared despite him standing in front of the exact same place he stood in front of that first night. Yes, you guessed it, he finds himself on Ha’apenny Lane standing in front of Madame Bowden’s house searching for this bookshop he lost.

Throughout the book themes off finding yourself and your own voice, of finding a place where you belong are explored as well as the romantic and familial relationships of all three characters. They are all stuck at the start of their stories and need to find a way out of the situations they are in and we watch their progress throughout the book. Opaline, Martha and Henry are all drawn to Dublin, and to this particular spot on Ha’apenny Lane, and to each other.

Stories and books are important to all three of them – Opaline and Hen rub through their connection to the world of rare book collection and acquisition, and Martha through her desire to explore stories, and her inability to escape one story in particular – though initially she is very hesitant and nervous around books. But it is not just a love of books and storytelling that connects the three, nor their individual struggles with their families, their connection runs far deeper, especially for the two female characters – you will have to read the book yourself to find out more about that, though, as I will not divulge any more here.

This was my first read of 2024, and it was a really good choice of book to get the year off to a great start. It is an easy read, definitely a page turner. I liked the story moving between each of the three characters voices as their connections were explored and revealed and wanted to keep reading to find out what happened to them. That said, I don’t think the stay with me. It’s a lovely, charming book which would be perfect both for reading curled up in front of a fire, and also when you are relaxing on holiday, and I am glad I have read it. It’s a fairly long book, at 442 pages, but didn’t feel like it. I would absolutely recommend reading it, and would give it 4 out of 5 stars.