Grace and Viv left their small home town of Dayton and moved to London to get away from an uncle and overbearing parents. They had no idea things would get as bad as they did.

Grace found a job in a bookstore....how fun to arrive in London and to work in a bookshop. Viv worked as a sales clerk at Harrod’s.

The funny thing was that Grace had no love of books, but that was the only job she could find since war was about to break out. She had to deal with the grumpy shop owner, but she made the best of the situation.

A handsome, helpful customer, George, that visited the book shop and smiled at Grace made the shop more bearable. He was also helpful and gave Grace ideas about getting the shop organized after all these years.

Grace brought new life and more business to Primrose Hill Books. Her organization had customers buying more and staying longer. She was a success and knew she would get a wonderful letter of recommendation if she could last for her required six months.

All things weren’t great, though. The children in London were taken from their parents and sent to the country, and George and Colin, their landlady’s son, were sent off to war leaving Grace, Viv, and Mrs. Weatherford alone.

As the women are alone, Grace learns the beauty of books and how they can take you to another place and keep the story with you.

Viv learns that she can’t work at Harrod’s when she knows other women are doing things for their country.

Mrs. Weatherford learns to cope with her son being gone and with helping others while continuing to take care of Grace.

Readers will hear of the London bombings which I didn’t know were so often and so devastating, but for the most part bookworms will not want to miss THE LAST BOOKSHOP IN LONDON.

It is a must read because of the bookshop setting, London, and the endearing characters. The characters are just so heartwarming and genuine.

This book would definitely be good for a reluctant reader because Grace shares how she turned from a non-reader to one who can’t stop reading and recommending and turning others into readers and book lovers.

THE LAST BOOKSHOP IN LONDON is a lovely, lovely read and a tribute to mankind in times of need.

You will need some tissues and many ways to tell everyone how wonderful this book is. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It gave me a new perspective on the world war. I didn’t realize how life was affected for people living in England. What a scary time in history! Life was so difficult!
This book inspired me to read The Count of Monte Cristo, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I've read many books in this historic fiction subgenre, but this one will remain in my memory because of the beautiful storytelling and character development. Highly recommended.