A.J. is a bookseller on a small island, and his life has turned out very differently from what he once imagined. His wife died in a car accident, his bookshop is struggling, and loneliness weighs heavily on him. One day, Amelia appears – the quirky and warm-hearted sales representative from Knightley Press – whom A.J. initially treats with cool reserve. Soon after, an unexpected “package” arrives at the bookshop: a little girl left in his care. This sudden disruption slowly softens A.J., drawing him back toward a life shaped by hope, love, and human connection. This novel tells the story of an ordinary life, marked by grief but also by joy, friendship, and tenderness. I found it deeply moving and gentle. I was completely absorbed, reading it in two sittings because I simply couldn’t put it down – a lovely and memorable discovery.
“Amelia gets Maya into bed then pours herself a drink and debates whether or not to tell A.J. about Leonora Ferris. She doesn’t want to sour him on the idea of author events. She also doesn’t want to make herself look foolish in his eyes or compromise herself professionally: she has sold him a book that has now revealed itself to be a fake. And maybe Leonora Ferris is right. Maybe it doesn’t matter if the book is, strictly speaking, true. She thinks back to a sophomore seminar she had taken in literary theory. What is true? the teaching fellow would ask them. Aren’t memoirs constructions anyway? She would always fall asleep during this class, which was embarrassing because only nine people were in it. All these years later, Amelia finds she can still drift off to the memory.”