The Last Bookshop in London: A Book Recommendation
running a bookshop in a bombed city is heroic
“War is coming and books aren't what people will be shopping for.”
In his essay, “Learning in Wartime,” C. S. Lewis argues that the humanities are still worth studying and discussing, even while bombs are falling. War makes its earnest, practical demands, and good, heroic people do not shirk their duties.
War is also a jealous god, eager to consume every other duty and desire, especially those unnecessary intangibles like beauty, mercy, and truth - in short, the things that keep us human and remind us that others are human. Reading and discussing great works of art helps us maintain our devotion to these lovely intangibles (which, stealing the phrase from Miracle on 34th Street, “are the only things that are worthwhile”).
Madeline Martin’s book The Last Bookshop in London is a novelization of that sentiment, with some romance and adventure thrown in (though I doubt the author was inspired by Lewis’s essay). Its heroine, Grace Bennett, accepts a position at a small, cluttered London bookshop, despite not caring for books much.
“She knew nothing about literature. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She could still recall her mother’s copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales with an elegant princess painted on its front. How she’d loved letting her gaze wander over the colorful illustrations while her mother’s voice spun magic with those fanciful tales. But outside of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, she’d never had time to read.”
Her employer, a curmudgeonly older gentleman who is better at acquiring books than selling them, intrigues her as he tenderly unwraps books that survived Hitler’s bonfires.
“There are many voices that Hitler would quiet, especially those who are Jewish. It is the duty of the rest of the world to ensure they will never be silenced.”
As the events of World War II, especially the blitz, change her life, she slowly turns to great works of literature for comfort and guidance, even reading them aloud to strangers while they shelter in subway stations during the nightly bombings.
Books provide distraction, but they're more than that. People want good stories to help them forget what they've seen, what they fear. People need good stories to help them remember what they miss, the children who were sent to the countryside, the boys fighting at the front, the world when it was safe and beautiful.
“Reading is.... It's going somewhere without ever taking a train or ship, an unveiling of new, incredible worlds. It's living a life you weren't born into and a chance to see everything colored by someone else's perspective. It's learning without having to face the consequences of failures, and how best to succeed. I think within all of us, there is a void, a gap waiting to be filled by something. For me, that something is books and all their proffered experiences.”
In late 1940, incendiary bombs ignited the “Second Great Fire of London,” devastating Paternoster Row, a street full of the oldest publishers and bookshops in London. Millions of books burned, and those denizens who had turned to books for comfort return more and more to the “last bookshop in London,” with Grace reading aloud to them.
The novel is frank about civilian casualties, especially in London’s poorer East End, depicting the aftermath of bombed-out homes. The author maintains the victims’ dignity by not dwelling on the gore, but some details might be too distressing for younger readers.
Despite the sadness and violence depicted, this book makes for a cozy read, with a young woman coming into her own as she gets to know the heroes and heroines of the printed word. There’s also an old-fashioned, innocent romance formed through sharing letters and books.
Culturally, we acknowledge the importance of reading aloud to children, but we feel less comfortable reading to a group of adults, despite audiobooks’ popularity showing that people enjoy being read to. Maybe this book will inspire you to use a good book to bond with friends and loved ones a few nights this year - though thankfully, in a living room, not a bomb shelter.
If you’re like me, you’ll also have added a few more books to you To-Be-Read shelf for the next year, since every book Grace reads sounds amazing.
I also entirely endorse the audiobook version of this - I listened to it on Hoopla.