by Robert Hillman
Published: 2019
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Genre: Historical, Jewish, Australia
Hardback: 304 pages
Rating: 5
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First sentence(s):
She didn't stay long as far as marriages go, jut a year and then months.
Zombie sighting:
"… She has been six weeks at my apartment. Not a word. A zombie."
-chapter 35, page 280
Can one unlikely bookshop heal two broken souls?
It is 1968 in rural Australia and lonely Tom Hope can't make heads or tails of Hannah Babel. Newly arrived from Hungary, Hannah is unlike anyone he's ever met--she's passionate, brilliant, and fiercely determined to open sleepy Hometown's first bookshop.
Despite the fact that Tom has only read only one book in his life, when Hannah hires him to install shelving for the shop, the two discover an astonishing spark. Recently abandoned by an unfaithful wife--and still missing her sweet son, Peter--Tom dares to believe that he might make Hannah happy. But Hannah is a haunted woman. Twenty-four years earlier, she had been marched to the gates of Auschwitz.
My two-bits:
Loved the portrayal of books and the bookshop in this story.
Loved the Tom character and his gentle and loving ways.
Loved the description of how to make trifle.
* weekly theme: Australia - country
