The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

Grace Bennett had always dreamed of living and working in the city of London. But in August of 1939, when Grace and her friend Viv move to the city, as the country prepares for war, the blackouts and underground bunkers are not the life she dreamed of. Although having a dislike of reading, Grace reluctantly accepts a job in a local bookshop in Primrose Hill. As air raids and the Blitz soon dominate her life, through the power of storytelling, Grace changes the lives of not only herself but of everyone who visits ‘The Last Bookshop in London’.

I was a little hesitant to read this book at first because I realised that the author was American. Whilst I love American novels, I was concerned that this book wouldn’t ring true with the main protagonist being British. Having written some pieces myself, I know how difficult it is to successfully write a character using a different ‘language’ but I think that Madeline Martin has pulled this off. There were several spelling errors where the American spelling was used rather than the British spelling, but that aside, I think the author has captured the British spirit well in this novel.

It’s interesting to read how complacent people were in the UK towards the air raid sirens at the outset of the war. When they first began, people were scared and anxious but soon became immune to them due to nothing happening and them being ‘false alarms’. But with the fall of France, German planes were soon spotted over the UK and the air raid sirens became key to keeping people safe. No-one could ever have imagined the horror of the Blitz that was to devastate London and other major cities when it was expanded in November 1940.

The novel started off quite slowly and took a while to get into but once I did, I really enjoyed it.

Bewitched by Books Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️