I'll Sleep When I've Read... The Mayfair Bookshop by Eliza Knight

Title: The Mayfair Bookshop

Author: Eliza Knight

Publication: 12 April 2022

Format: Kindle eArc via NetGalley & William Morrow

Amazon Description

1938: She was one of the six sparkling Mitford sisters, known for her stinging quips, stylish dress, and bright green eyes. But Nancy Mitford’s seemingly dazzling life was really one of turmoil: with a perpetually unfaithful and broke husband, two Nazi sympathizer sisters, and her hopes of motherhood dashed forever. With war imminent, Nancy finds respite by taking a job at the Heywood Hill Bookshop in Mayfair, hoping to make ends meet, and discovers a new life.

Present Day: When book curator Lucy St. Clair lands a gig working at Heywood Hill she can’t get on the plane fast enough. Not only can she start the healing process from the loss of her mother, it’s a dream come true to set foot in the legendary store. Doubly exciting: she brings with her a first edition of Nancy’s work, one with a somewhat mysterious inscription from the author. Soon, she discovers her life and Nancy’s are intertwined, and it all comes back to the little London bookshop—a place that changes the lives of two women from different eras in the most surprising ways. 

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

Amazon claims that the print edition of this gem of a book is going to clock in at 432 pages. I finished it in just over a day because once I started I did not want to put it down for anything. I have been fascinated with the Bright Young Things and, in particular, the dynamics of the Mitford sisters for years and have several of Nancy's books sitting on my e-Cloud collecting e-Dust. They probably won't be just sitting there for much longer. Eliza Knight did such an amazing job of pulling me in to Nancy's life that I am now itching to read the books that her character talked about writing. 

The current-day storyline? Eh. It was nice and sweet and helped add a little sense of mystery to the tale, but each time a Lucy chapter came up I couldn't help but hope that it would be a short one so I could get back to Nancy and whatever she was dealing with .... and she dealt with quite a lot. That being said, I still actually wouldn't mind this becoming the first of a series of some sort with Lucy and her Mayfair friends and colleagues delving into other literature-based mysteries. I wouldn't mind that at all.

If you want to share whatever has kept you up past your bedtime because you just needed one more chapter ... or the entire book ... please comment! My TBR pile is already toppling, but I can always add more.