Every book tells a story. Every heart hides a secret.
The Lost Bookshop meets The Lost Apothecary in a beguiling novel full of secrets…
In the shadowy aisles of The Lamplighter’s Bookshop, secrets lie as thick as the dust …
When Evelyn Seaton answers an advertisement for an assistant at a forgotten bookshop in York, she is not the only one with something to hide.
There she meets the enigmatic and prickly William Morton, an aspiring writer keeping secrets of his own. But when the walls of Evelyn’s carefully built defences start to crumble, there is only one person she can turn to.
As the layers are brushed away, Can Evelyn and William find the courage to write the next chapter of their story?
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Evelyn Seaton watched her breath mist against the window and said, with a calmness that belied her thudding heart: ‘There are a lot of strange men coming towards the house, Bessie’. (Chapter One, 12th May 1899, Riccall Hall, Riccall, Yorkshire)
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(@HarperCollinsUK, 1 March 2025, 368 pages, ARC from the publisher via @NetGalley_UK)
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I love the blurb which made me really want to read The Lamplighter’s Bookshop. I’ve started to read a lot of historical fiction in recent years and it’s now one of my go-to genres when I would have avoided it like a plague only a few years ago. I loved Evelyn as a character. She’s well written, relatable and I was rooting for her from the start. The Victorian setting really come to life and I enjoyed the sense of place. All of the characters are well-written. I found this a compelling read. I’d recommend it.
4/5
