Britta H. (buchwurm) reviewed on 8/28/2007 + 6 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 12

The main character, Margaret Lea, immediately delighted me with her descriptions of life in her father's rare book shop where she tends old and precious books. She is asked one day, by letter, to write about the true life of the century's most important writer, Vida Winter. She is intrigued and mystified as she has never read any books by contemporary writers and doesn't consider herself a writer, safe for a small publication of an essay. She makes her way to misty Yorkshire where she begins to delve into Vida Winter's story and that of a mysterious and tragic family.

For me this book is primarily about the stories that each person has. There may be a public story, a told story and a true story, but every person has stories. And by telling us Vida and Margaret's stories and placing books so centrally within the plot, it celebrates books and the characters within them. There is a section when Margaret tells us that she takes care of the books in her fathers' shop and reads a few pages every day and as long as someone reads about the characters in them, they stay alive.

This is a wonderful book and I recommend it gighly.

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