“What could be better than a novel set in a haunted bookshop on an island in the Pacific Northwest? And not haunted by just anybody, either. Auntie’s Bookstore is haunted by the spirits of author’s past. When young, career-driven Jasmine agrees to take over the bookstore for a month while dear old Auntie goes back to India to ‘get her heart fixed,’ she thinks she’ll be able to work on her ‘real job’ selling stock portfolios while she’s at the bookstore, then lock it up and leave it all behind every night. Ha! Jasmine soon discovers (surprise!) that running a bookstore takes a lot more attention than that, and that the old house the store is in ‘gets cranky’ if she leaves it at night. It isn’t long before she’s living above the shop and taking lessons from her employee, Tony, on how to figure out what customers really need. Meanwhile, disembodied voices quote poetry to her, books jump off shelves when they want to go home with customers, and a handsome, mysterious man shows up at the strangest times and won’t quit asking Jasmine (who’s not in the market for a relationship after her divorce) to go out with him. This story is enchanting and delightful to read. Light on its feet as a ballroom dancer, it makes good writing look easy and pulls you into its world with irresistible charm. Banerjee lives in Olalla, Washington.”—Amanda MacNaughton, Paulina Springs Books, with locations in Sisters and Redmond
Banerjee will read at Eagle Harbor Book Company on Bainbridge Island this Sunday (March 20) at 3pm.