Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner Book Review! #NetGalley

 

The internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society returns with a compelling and heartwarming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world.

Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare book store that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans:

Vivien Lowry: Single since her aristocratic fiance was killed in action during World War II, the brilliant and stylish Vivien has a long list of grievances - most of them well justified and the biggest of which is Alec McDonough, the Head of Fiction.

Grace Perkins: Married with two sons, she's been working to support the family following her husband's breakdown in the aftermath of the war. Torn between duty to her family and dreams of her own.

Evie Stone: In the first class of female students from Cambridge permitted to earn a degree, Evie was denied an academic position in favor of her less accomplished male rival. Now she's working at Bloomsbury Books while she plans to remake her own future.

As they interact with various literary figures of the time - Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (widow of George Orwell), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim, and others - these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow.

Natalie Jenner is the author of two books, the instant international bestseller THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY (2020) and the forthcoming BLOOMSBURY GIRLS (2022). A Goodreads Choice Award runner-up for best historical fiction and finalist for best debut novel, THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY was a USA Today and #1 national bestseller, and has been sold for translation in twenty-one countries. Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie has been a corporate lawyer, career coach and, most recently, an independent bookstore owner in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs.

https://www.nataliejenner.com/

My Thoughts

A bookshop, Bloomsbury's Books in London, is the book's setting. It is mostly about the women who were employed there.

Vivien whose fiance was killed in WWII is a beautiful woman who has a lot of issues with the management and the house rules, all 5 1 of them.

Grace, married with two sons had to go to work after her husband was unable to. Suffers from PTSD and is not a very nice man.

Evie Stone, got the job at the bookstore so she could look for an obscure book, the first edition of The Mummy.

Each chapter starts with one of the 51 rules of the bookstore which are broken by the store's women. Because of the rules, the profits are not what they should be. The Earl, Lord Jeremy Baskin feels that with the women, things can change for the better. But how to get them past the stuffy men at the store? With original ideas, the women team up to try to make the store a success. Along with their female friends, such as Ellen Doubleday, widow of the American publisher, Sonia Blair, widow of George Orwell, and Peggy Guggenheim, American heiress, also playwright Samuel Beckett, and author Daphne du Maurier.

I was not expecting to like the story, but as I read on, I was proud of the women for standing up to what they believed in and not backing down to the men in an age where women were to be at home and not working with the public. By the end of the story, I was hoping that the women got what they achieved. 

The book is character-driven, historical detail notwithstanding, and tells a believable story of strong women in a man's world and how they overcome that.

I received a copy of the book for review purposes only.