The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II

Grace and Viv, two young women from Norfolk, travel to London on the eve of World War II to lodge with Mrs. Weatherford, the best friend of Grace’s mother. Viv is hopeful of a job at Harrods; Grace doesn’t have proper references, so she must content herself with a job at the local shop Primrose Hill Books (although she’s not much of a reader). Primrose Hill’s owner, Mr. Evans, grudgingly hires Grace at Mrs. Weatherford’s behest. Mr. Evans sets out some conditions: Grace may stay for only six months, after which he will provide her with references and she can seek employment elsewhere. He didn’t count on Grace’s entrepreneurial and community spirit, or the imminent war, or people’s insatiable need for words and stories during hard times. Grace’s first task is to make effective blackout curtains for the shop, as the war and air raids begin. Decency prevails in Martin’s (Borderland Ladies) historically accurate book, despite the horrors of the London Blitz, which Grace, as an air raid warden, witnesses firsthand.