“A novel about a young woman who works in a bookstore…I kept staring at it, then finally just had to try it. What a delight! Esme Garland is a 23-year-old grad student of art history in New York City when she discovers herself pregnant by her rich, prestigious boyfriend, Mitchell. Mitchell takes off, and Esme needs to support herself, so she goes to work at a used bookstore. Esme feels painfully alone, but her co-workers and some of the homeless men who hang out at the store rally around her. Just as she’s starting to adjust, Mitchell wants back into her life. In love, Esme can’t resist, and accepts Mitchell when he proposes. While wanting to shout at her to leave him, I could also completely identify with her desire to stay.
“Meyler makes this whole book so believable. She’s obviously worked in bookstores; her descriptions of the combination of hard work and semi-slacking socializing is accurate and funny. Her writing is lovely without ever being trite. Young and unprepared for motherhood, Esme nevertheless discovers profound truths within her new experience. One of my favorite sentences: ‘We fetch our being from love, giving or receiving. All else is beggarly.’ A perfect hammock or beach read, this is a love story about books and about human love and all the different forms it comes in. It’s also much more than a ‘light read,’ packed as it is with literary references and singing, memorable prose. I hope to see more from this debut author!”
–Amanda MacNaughton, Paulina Springs, Sisters and Redmond, OR
Enjoy this behind-the-scenes novel from Paulina Springs or your local independent bookstore.