the lost bookshop reviews

Price: $11.99
(as of Jan 06, 2025 06:29:19 UTC - Details)

The life-affirming and unforgettable novel from the author of Lost for Words

'I read this book in one sitting, it made me smile and made me wipe a tear from my eye too' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'This book had me sitting up into the small hours. Such a lovely read, very relatable and touching' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'I LOVED this book . . . A joy to read' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'One of the best books I've read in quite some time' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Loveday Cardew's beloved Lost for Words bookshop, along with the rest of York, has fallen quiet. At the very time when people most need books to widen their horizons, or escape from their fears, or enhance their lives, the doors are closed. Then the first letter comes.

Rosemary and George have been married for fifty years. Now their time is running out. They have decided to set out on their last journey together, without ever leaving the bench at the bottom of their garden in Whitby. All they need is someone who shares their love of books.

Suddenly it's clear to Loveday that she and her team can do something useful in a crisis. They can recommend books to help with the situations their customers find themselves in: fear, boredom, loneliness, the desire for laughter and escape.

And so it begins.

'A delightful and original concept about how a second hand bookshop can heal a community' Katie Fforde

'The perfect book to curl up with . . . It's heartwarming, emotional and full of kindness. A lovely and life-affirming novel' Sara Nisha Adams

'What a lovely book - so assured and gentle, full of compassion and replete with astute observations of human nature and behaviour' Carys Bray

'A really moving read - with great book recommendations included, too!' My Weekly

'I truly loved this book; it made me laugh out loud and also had me choked up a few times too' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'Stephanie's stories are thoughtful and warm, written with much humour, and most importantly care. I'd recommend them to anyone, and especially those recovering from a broken heart' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'It made me laugh, it made me cry and left me with a feeling of community spirit - I will definitely be recommending this to others, it is a fantastic read' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'This book is going straight on my list of top ten books' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'Her writing is utterly engaging and this book truly moved me. Compassionate, unusual, original and full of wonderful characters' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'Beautiful, heartwarming, a true gift of a book' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B6VBLDL1
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Review (March 30, 2023)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 30, 2023
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1861 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 385 pages
Reviewer: Donna Telley
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Super book with great characters.
Review: I'm sorry I finished because I will miss all the characters. Good plot line even in the time of Covid. Great story.

Reviewer: Eileen
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A book lovers dream
Review: A used book story opening a book pharmacy b during the pandemic of 2020. I loved reading the books they chose for certain people. Then to intertwine the bookshop people with outside characters and to see what they were going through was very ingenious. I didn't read book 1 but I felt you didn't need to to understand this story. Quite enjoyable.

Reviewer: K. Sellin
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Heartwarming
Review: This was a beautiful read about a community in York trying to get through the pandemic, and the bookshop at the heart of it all--Lost for Words. I didn't realize this was a follow-up book but it reads well in its own.Loveday inherited the bookstore from her mentor Archie, and it's become so much more than a bookstore to people. It's a community space and safe haven for vulnerable women. When COVID hits, Loveday needs to come up with new ideas to help people, and to keep the shop afloat. Her assistant, Kelly, comes up with the idea of a book "pharmacy," where people can request book ideas for their specific issue. Of course we learn about each of these people and their back stories, but there are some great book recommendations too. Add more to my ever-growing list!

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Chicken soup for the bookish soul
Review: This book is, shiningly, an ode to reading: what books give to readers, how the art of storytelling underpins our collective wellness. It explores how one might reimagine fulfillment, and/or community, in the face of uncertainty.Though the pandemic backdrop is quite prevalent, this is a story about simply being human. It's filled with characters from different ages and backgrounds, each with cares and longings both unique and relatable. It's also a wandering love letter to small bookshops, which I adored.I found it healing to revisit the pandemic era so gently, and with a tone of acceptance for all the ways it might have undone us. I emerged from the pandemic alive but shaken, grieving, isolated on many fronts, and tired on a bone-deep level. This book, for me, put a bandage on all of that. It was a bit like a mother's kiss on the brow, or maybe something newly baked and aromatic pressed into my hands after a terrible day. Just what my heart didn't know it needed.Plus: this comes with a syllabus of book recommendations I've highlighted to return to later. It was entertaining to get a glimpse of the author's bookshelf, see where mine overlaps, and find new potential treasures waiting to be explored.*Editing to add, I've just finished the prequel to this. I loved reading them in backwards order. I found I couldn't set the prequel down until the middle of the night. Together they give a broader sense of this author's depth (she's a gem). I really want to read more of her work.

Reviewer: Jesus
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: It was something
Review: I love books about books but I couldn't finish it. It started good but the introduction of so many characters made it difficult for me to continue. It has a good message from what I read. It just wasn't for me.

Reviewer: Ali
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A different feel good read
Review: Loved the theme of the book and the real-life characters. I wish there really was a bookshop like that portrayed in the book. The only slight criticism I have is the fact that the pandemic is over, and reading a book that takes place during the pandemic is not my cup of tea. That being said, the book is very hard to put down when she start reading it.

Reviewer: Ann bodwell
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Calming And hopeful
Review: I wished I knew all of these caring characters and that there was a bookshop just like this that I could visit and be a part of. The characters feel like dear friends. I wish I was cooking dinner and chilling a bottle of wine for them right now. I loved the writing style which I felt is very similar to Rosamund Pilcher.

Reviewer: bdtharp
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Enjoyable and touching
Review: Many of us know the joy and power of reading, but seen from the point of view of a bookseller during the pandemic is quite moving.The characters remind us of how it felt to be isolated and totally thrown out of our normal routines.I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though parts were sad. It is a moving take of the world gone mad and how reading got them through.

Reviewer: Linda Pfeiffer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: There are many human characters in this book but the most prevalent and the most memorable are the books that are recommended by this bookshop. During the worldwide Covid 19 pandemic, all of us had to find a way to live in a space with few others or even by ourselves and change our usual way of living so that we hopefully would avoid getting the virus and/or pass it along to someone else. Most countries called it "lockdown". Many stores and businesses shuttered as they had no way to serve the public without possibly transferring this new disease, especially before the invention/discovery of the vaccination that eventually saved us all. One very clever bookstore owner of Lost for Words, in York, England realized that many people were suffering from some sort of mental problem brought on by isolation, lack of human contact, or just plain boredom and loneliness. So she decided the prescription for this would be reading books and suggested to her clients that they tell her their symptoms and she could prescribe some books which might fit that problem and alleviate it. The emails began arriving in droves with people describing their particular anxiety story and the bookshop would choose certain books, in the shop, to help. These were not self-help books but works of fiction and non-fiction that took the reader to another time or place and touched on their particular fear. The books would be delivered to their home or picked up on the curb in front of the store. This method was just what so many of us did when we needed to get something during the pandemic. I loved reading the list of books and the names of each author when the books were chosen by the shop. Some of them I've made a note of to read later. Many of them I have read in the past. And I understood how the prescribing worked for the people writing in.So although the characters are well-drawn and interesting, the real heroes of this novel are the books that the author so generously tells us about. This is a fictional book, but the recommended books are all real, about a worldwide common experience and one way that helped me to survive in fact. I strongly recommend this book.

Reviewer: Susanne Berlin
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I enjoyed reading this gem. The intricate plot lines, the pandemic situation, the development of the characters - a great achievement. I love it!!! I plan to read it again after I've read the prequel. By the way, you can find many book recommendations that will keep me going after I manage to pull myself out of this enchanting world.

Reviewer: Kathryn Gorman
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I LOVED this book! Wasn’t sure how I’d go delving into the pandemic… yet it was a joy to read, as are all of Stephanie Butland’s magical books.A great escape, touching, funny and inspirational, grounded characters I am with all the way!Thank you, Stephanie Butland!

Reviewer: Diane S
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I liked this book. I wish the chapters had names and not just numbers - especially since there are nearly 100 chapters! … and at the beginning I found it a little difficult to keep all the characters straight, but it had a good story, and characters to whom I could relate.A Covid story. A human story. A book for people who love books.A book full of mini book reviews which depending on how you look at it, could be a plus or minus.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Loved it. Every character was so well written that they came alive, no matter how small their part was. I wanted to hug and comfort them all. I did struggle a little with wanting to know more about them all but on reflection that was another part of lockdown, sometimes deep but fleeting connections with people made in those brief moments we snatched. The emotional and physical impact of the pandemic was beautifully evoked and I had a couple of oh yes I remember feeling like that, including being totally overwhelmed and struggling with 'everyone' being totally brilliant achieving loads while I struggled to get through the weeks. I think this one will stay with me for a while and will be re-read.