The Wartime Bookshop
Hertfordshire, England during the early days of World War Two, in the fictional large village of Churchdown. Alice Lovell moves to Churchdown with her retired father and looks to find a role for herself. She volunteers at the local hospital helping wounded soldiers to recover, and there she can indulge her love of books and reading with the patients. Alice necessarily comes into contact and conflict with the village’s overbearing Queen Bee (every small community seems to have one, fictional and in real life), and this one, Naomi Harrington, is quite naturally bossy and snobbish, but Alice soon understands that Naomi’s attitude is predominantly a front to mask her own insecurities and concerns. Alice forms a friendship with Kate Fletcher, who is a bit of an outsider and treated as a figure of fun by much of the village. Churchwood does not have a library or bookshop, and Alice and her new friends and acquaintances come together to raise funds to establish a bookshop for the village.
Lesley Eames writes well, and the story bounces jauntily along, in the familiar style of the wartime saga formula. It is not a tale with depth: the characters are well-formed if a little simplistic, and the reader instinctively knows how the narrative will pan out. Nonetheless, an enjoyable story, with the historical context well-researched and presented. This is the first in a projected trilogy of wartime stories set in Churchdown, a village well worth visiting indeed.
