Esme Garland who has come to America on an art scholarship,
is living above a deli on Broadway and spends time browsing
in a bookshop called The Owl. The owner and staff of THE
BOOKSTORE are friendly to a like-minded person. This
English girl has a boyfriend although she hasn't been in
New York long, and while ravenously eating in a Jewish
diner with him, Esme realises that she might be pregnant.
Surely not, aged twenty-three, far from home, still a
student. This isn't what she had in mind at all.
Having had the confirmation she dreaded, Esme steels
herself to tell Mitchell. But first Mitchell comes out with
a line about how it's not so great between them any more
and he's sure there are other men out there who will love
her. Esme says nothing, and with her hormones in a mess,
starts trying to make decisions about her future. If she
has a baby, it should be a welcomed baby, with two parents,
not a resented child of a single mother. The only one she
can talk to is her friend Stella, a photographer, who
insists that she think about her real choices. Esme, who
is not supposed to work in America, would have to pay all
the baby's costs including more rent and childcare while
she studied. Taking a deep breath, Esme tells the
bookstore owner her situation. She sounds like their
perfect employee.
The bookstore is under pressure of course, from Barnes and
Noble and the internet stores, and like Esme I would hate
to see all the independent treasure troves for browsers
disappear. Many visitors don't buy, in the story, and
street dwelling men do cleaning work after hours for a few
dollars. Mitchell reappears in Esme's life but I didn't
warm to him, the other characters being much more
responsible and genuine. We see Thanksgiving and Christmas
celebrated as time passes, while the growing baby comes to
mean more to Esme than her studies. She's a chatty girl,
confident and enjoying her time in New York, meeting now a
fair share of strange characters as well as librarians and
art curators. She also gets to go on a book scouting trip,
finding books left for years in storage and worth a lot of
money.
I liked Esme, and I left the book wishing her well. In her
situation, who knows what choices we would make? THE
BOOKSTORE by Deborah Meyler brings to life a city full of
character.
A witty, sharply observed debut novel about a young woman
who finds unexpected salvation while working in a quirky
used bookstore in Manhattan.
Impressionable and idealistic, Esme Garland is a young
British woman who finds herself studying art history in New
York. She loves her apartment and is passionate about the
city and her boyfriend; her future couldn’t look brighter.
Until she finds out that she’s pregnant.
Esme’s boyfriend, Mitchell van Leuven, is old-money rich,
handsome, successful, and irretrievably damaged. When he
dumps Esme—just before she tries to tell him about the
baby—she resolves to manage alone. She will keep the child
and her scholarship, while finding a part-time job to make
ends meet. But that is easier said than done, especially on
a student visa.
The Owl is a shabby, second-hand bookstore on the Upper West
Side, an all-day, all-night haven for a colorful crew of
characters: handsome and taciturn guitar player Luke;
Chester, who hyperventilates at the mention of Lolita;
George, the owner, who lives on protein shakes and idealism;
and a motley company of the timeless, the tactless, and the
homeless. The Owl becomes a nexus of good in a difficult
world for Esme—but will it be enough to sustain her? Even
when Mitchell, repentant and charming, comes back on the scene?
A rousing celebration of books, of the shops where they are
sold, and of the people who work, read, and live in them,
The Bookstore is also a story about emotional discovery, the
complex choices we all face, and the accidental inspirations
that make a life worth the reading.
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