The Lost Bookshop

Last updated

The Lost Bookshop
Front cover of The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods.jpg
Front cover of the book
AuthorEvie Woods (orig. Evie Gaughan)
LanguageEnglish
Genre Magic realism
Publisher One More Chapter (HarperCollins)
Publication date
22 June 2023
Pages442
ISBN 978-0008609214 (paperback),
ASIN   B0BMF2M8Z6 (kindle eBook),
ASIN   B0BZJLQM1V (audiobook)
Followed by The Story Collector  
Website www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/evie-woods

The Lost Bookshop is a novel with elements of bibliophilia, magical realism, fantasy, historical fiction, and romance [1] by the Irish author, Evie Woods. [2] The book also tackles serious real-world issues such as alcoholism, domestic violence and societal misogyny. [2]

Contents

The book was published in 2023 by One More Chapter, an imprint of HarperCollins. [3] Woods' writing had previously been self-published [4] under her real name, Evie Gaughan. [2]

The novel was shortlisted for page-turner of the year in the 2024 British Book Awards. [3] [5] [6] It made first place in the Wall Street Journal weekly book list; [2] made the Sunday Times top 10, [2] [7] and became a bestseller at Amazon UK and US. [2] On 23 May 2024, the publisher One More Chapter reported that the book had sold over one million copies. [4] [8]

Summary

The Lost Bookshop, which uses first-person narratives, alternates between the characters in two main threads set in Dublin, London and Paris: one that begins in the 1920s, the other in contemporary times (circa 2020 but making no mention of COVID-19), and which gradually converge in the reader's mind to an eventual dénouement.

In 1921, Opaline Carlisle is in London and is being pushed into an arranged marriage by her domineering mother and brother, Lyndon, a veteran officer wounded in the First World War. An independently minded young woman who cherishes freedom and adventure, she flees to France, rather than agree to marry, and finds work at a bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, where she learns about the art of dealing in rare books and meets famous literary characters, including the novelists James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway.

Meanwhile, in contemporary Ireland, Martha flees to Dublin to escape her own troubled past, and finds work as a live-in housekeeper with an elderly lady, Madame Bowden.

Henry, a scholar, desperately in search of a possible unpublished second novel by Emily Brontë and for a lost bookshop, which play key roles in an academic study for which he's received funding, also arrives in Dublin around this time. Next door to the site where he believes the lost bookshop should be (but mysteriously is not), by accidental fate or destiny he meets Martha.

After being found and committed to Connacht District Lunatic Asylum at her brother's behest, Opaline finally escapes and flees yet again to Dublin and sets up a bookshop there, still hiding from her brother under the assumed name, Miss Gray. Having apparently disappeared from historical records, this makes it difficult for Henry and Martha to track her down as they try to piece together her story.

Although the characters themselves are oblivious to the links that connect them, slowly but surely the threads come together, with the aid of Opaline and the lost bookshop itself, which we discover has a benign will of its own and extraordinary magical powers; and eventually the enigma of the lost bookshop is resolved.

Reception

The novel was shortlisted for page-turner of the year in the 2024 British Book Awards. [3] [5] [6] It made first place in the Wall Street Journal weekly book list; [2] [9] made the Sunday Times top 10 on 31 December 2023, [2] [7] [9] and became a bestseller at Amazon UK and US. [2] Between June 2023 and January 2024, the book had sold over 500,000 copies. [2] [9] On 23 May 2024, the publisher One More Chapter reported in a post on the X social networking service that the book had sold over one million copies. [4] [8] The book was first released in digital format as an eBook and an audiobook and became a hit even before a paperback edition came out. [3] It has been translated into twenty languages. [2] [4]

Corriere della TV notes (in Italian) that The Lost Bookshop contains many literary references that will appeal to literary investigators, book collectors, and bibliophiles. [1] The reviewer finds the historical thread "distressing", writing that "the early 1920s were a time when women were mere chattels of the male members of their family. Their gender ensured that they had no social standing or power." [1]

Reviewing The Lost Bookshop, Mairéad Hearne says that the work has been described as "The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary" and that the work is an "evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets." [10] Having read other works by Evie Gaughan, Hearne is "totally captivated by the magic and warmth that emanates from her stories." [10]

In conclusion, Hearne writes: "The Lost Bookshop is a joy to read, a seductive tale that sparks the imagination, a truly immersive and charismatic read of self-discovery and strength imbued with a sense of hope and passion." [10]

Kate Storey writes in Culturefly that "[b]ecoming the person you were always meant to be is one of the most uplifting elements of The Lost Bookshop". A "magical story", in her opinion, it is "a wonderful example of how a book about books can lift our spirits and make us feel like anything is possible." [11]

Kiefer Jones, reviewing the work for Books & Review writes that The Lost Bookshop is a "captivating tale"; "an evocative and charming novel with mystery and secrets." [12]

About the author

Evie Gaughan, who now writes under the pen-name Evie Woods, [9] was born and raised in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. [2]

She studied business at what is now the Atlantic Technological University, and went on to achieve a diploma in marketing in 1996, after a final year at the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France on a European Union Erasmus Programme. [2] [13]

During her twenties, Gaughan lived and worked in Canada. [2] [3] However, she suffered from panic attacks and developed social anxiety. As a result, she had to quit her job, returned to Galway and took up writing. [2] [3] She revealed that she is "95 per cent sure [she] wouldn't have become a writer if that hadn't happened." [2] A believer in the healing power of books, "bibliotherapy" as she calls it is one of the main themes and motivations behind writing The Lost Bookshop. [2] [9]

Before The Lost Bookshop was taken up by One More Chapter, Gaughan's novels had been self-published. [4] Describing the mainstream success of The Lost Bookshop as "dreamlike", [4] and acknowledging that word of mouth has played a huge role in this, [2] she has now signed a four-book agreement with One More Chapter for the three books originally self-published and one new book. [4] Her next book, The Story Collector was released in Ireland and the UK in July 2024 and will be released in the US in August 2024. [4]

Bibliography

Further reading and interviews

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Quinn</span> American historical romance author

Julie Pottinger, better known by her pen name, Julia Quinn, is an American author of historical romance fiction. Her novels have been translated into 41 languages and have appeared on The New York Times Bestseller List 19 times. She has been inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. Her Bridgerton series of novels has been adapted for Netflix by Shondaland under the title Bridgerton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penelope Fitzgerald</span> English biographer and novelist (1916–2000)

Penelope Mary Fitzgerald was a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. In 2008 The Times listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945". The Observer in 2012 placed her final novel, The Blue Flower, among "the ten best historical novels". A.S. Byatt called her, "Jane Austen’s nearest heir for precision and invention."

Sebastian Barry is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2018–2021.

<i>The Hounds of the Morrigan</i> 1985 book by Pat OShea

The Hounds of the Morrigan is a children's novel by the Irish writer Pat O'Shea. It was published in 1985, after taking thirteen years to complete. The novel recounts the adventures of 10-year-old Pidge and his younger sister, Brigit, battling with characters from Celtic mythology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Connolly (author)</span> Irish author, primarily of detective fiction

John Connolly is an Irish writer who is best known for his series of novels starring private detective Charlie Parker.

Pat O'Shea was an Irish children's fiction writer. She was born in Galway and was the youngest of five children. Her first novel was the best-selling The Hounds of the Morrigan, which took 13 years to complete. It was finally published in 1985 by Oxford University Press, translated into five languages, and is still considered a classic of children's literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Anne Sadlier</span> Irish American novelist (1820–1903)

Mary Anne Sadlier was an Irish author. Sadlier published roughly twenty-three novels and numerous stories. She wrote for Irish immigrants in both the United States and Canada, encouraging them to attend mass and retain the Catholic faith. In so doing, Sadlier also addressed the related themes of anti-Catholicism, the Irish Famine, emigration, and domestic work. Her writings and translations are often found under the name Mrs. J. Sadlier. Earlier in her career, from 1840 to 1845, some of her works were published under the name "Anne Flinders".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie O'Farrell</span> Irish-British novelist (born 1972)

Maggie O'Farrell, RSL, is a novelist from Northern Ireland. Her acclaimed first novel, After You'd Gone, won the Betty Trask Award, and a later one, The Hand That First Held Mine, the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She has twice been shortlisted since for the Costa Novel Award for Instructions for a Heatwave in 2014 and This Must Be The Place in 2017. She appeared in the Waterstones 25 Authors for the Future. Her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death reached the top of the Sunday Times bestseller list. Her novel Hamnet won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020, and the fiction prize at the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards. The Marriage Portrait was shortlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Keegan</span> Irish writer (born 1968)

Claire Keegan is an Irish writer known for her short stories, which have been published in The New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, Granta, and The Paris Review.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Enright</span> Irish writer (born 1962)

Anne Teresa Enright is an Irish writer. The first Laureate for Irish Fiction (2015–2018) and winner of the Man Booker Prize (2007), she has published eight novels, many short stories, and a non-fiction work called Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood, about the birth of her two children. Her essays on literary themes have appeared in the London Review of Books and The New York Review of Books, and she writes for the books pages of The Irish Times and The Guardian. Her fiction explores themes such as family, love, identity and motherhood.

Tana French is an American-Irish writer and theatrical actress. She is a longtime resident of Dublin, Ireland. Her debut novel In the Woods (2007), a psychological mystery, won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards for best first novel. The Independent has referred to her as "the First Lady of Irish Crime".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elaine Feeney</span> Irish writer

Elaine Feeney is an Irish poet, novelist, and playwright. Her writing focuses on "the central themes of history, national identity, and state institutions, and she examines how these forces structure the everyday lives of Irish women". A former slam poetry winner, she has been described as "an experienced writer who has been wrestling with poetry on page and on stage since 2006" and in 2015 was heralded as "one of the most provocative poets to come out of Ireland in the last decade". Her work has been widely translated.

<i>Paranormalcy</i>

Paranormalcy is a series of young adult urban fantasy novels by American author Kiersten White, beginning with the inaugural entry of the same name. The story focuses on a girl named Evie, a member of a special international police force assigned to paranormal cases. As the tale progresses, Evie's professional duties begin to conflict with her growing desire for a normal life.

Evelyn Rose Strange "Evie" Wyld is an Anglo-Australian author. Her first novel, After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 2009, and her second novel, All the Birds, Singing, won the Encore Award in 2013 and the Miles Franklin Award in 2014. Her third novel, The Bass Rock, won the Stella Prize in 2021.

<i>Judith Hearne</i> 1955 novel by writer Brian Moore

Judith Hearne, was regarded by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore as his first novel. The book was published in 1955 after Moore had left Ireland and was living in Canada. It was rejected by 10 American publishers, then was accepted by a British publisher. Diana Athill's memoir Stet (2000) has information about the publishing of Judith Hearne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Cline</span> American writer

Emma Cline is an American writer and novelist from California. She published her first novel, The Girls, in 2016, to positive reviews. The book was shortlisted for the John Leonard Prize from the National Book Critics Circle and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her second novel, The Guest, was published in 2023. Her stories have been published in The New Yorker, Tin House, Granta, and The Paris Review. In 2017, Cline was named one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists, and Forbes named her one of their "30 Under 30 in Media". She is a recipient of the Plimpton Prize.

<i>Descendants</i> (franchise) American film series

Descendants is an American media franchise centered on a series of Disney Channel musical fantasy films directed by Kenny Ortega and created by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott.

Sarah Maria Griffin is an Irish writer and poet, podcaster, and producer of zines. She is the author of a volume each of poetry and essays, and three novels.

Dervla McTiernan is an Irish crime novelist.

Jo Zebedee, is a Northern Irish science fiction and fantasy writer, based in Carrickfergus near Belfast.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Staff (22 June 2023). "The Lost Bookshop di Evie Woods Book Review @harpercollins #OneMoreChapter #TheLostBookshop #BookReview @evgaughan" [The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods Book Review]. Corriere della TV (in Italian). Archived from the original on 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Coffey, Edel (7 January 2024). "The best-selling Irish author you may not have heard of says social anxiety prompted her to write". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 12 March 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fraser, Katie (13 March 2024). "One More Chapter grabs four more from breakout star Evie Woods". The Bookseller . Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Donaghy, Kathy (22 June 2024). "Irish authors invite us into the spaces where they work: 'Women can write anywhere – we fit into little pockets of time'" . Irish Independent . Archived from the original on 22 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  5. 1 2 Anderson, Porter (8 March 2024). "British Book Awards: 2024 Books of the Year Shortlists". Publishing Perspectives. Archived from the original on 11 May 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  6. 1 2 Sayner, Amy Joan (17 March 2024). "The British Book Awards: Book of the Year 2024 Shortlists". The Publishing Post. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  7. 1 2 Staff (31 December 2023). "The Sunday Times Bestsellers: Fiction Paperbacks". The Sunday Times Culture. p. 24.
  8. 1 2 @0neMoreChapter_ (23 May 2024). "Fantastic news!🎉 The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods has sold over 1 MILLION COPIES✨📚 A huge congratulations to @evgaughan !" (Tweet). Retrieved 23 June 2024 via Twitter.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Doyle, Martin (3 January 2024). "Paul Lynch's Booker Prize winner is Ireland's bestselling book of 2023". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 Hearne, Mairéad (29 July 2023). "The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods". writing.ie . Archived from the original on 23 June 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  11. Storey, Kate (1 February 2024). "Kate Storey: Why I love uplifting books about books". Culturefly. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  12. Jones, Kiefer (18 March 2024). "'The Lost Bookshop' by Evie Woods Book Review: A Captivating Tale of Mystery and Magic". Books & Review. Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  13. Gaughan, Evie (7 March 2018). "Cover Story". Women Writers, Women's Books. Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2024.