Mr. Livingstone's Bookshop, which signs Monica Gutierrez, is a novel feelgood or to feel good, if we save the anglicism, a very fashionable subgenre for readers with no other pretensions than to spend a nice time in which to stay with the best sensations of a story. If it is also set in a very special London bookstore and its characters are also very unique, the whole is exactly what you are looking for. This is my review.
Mr. Livingstone's Bookshop — Synopsis
This novel tells the story of Agnes Martí, an unemployed archaeologist that has moved to London looking for a job opportunity. His ambition is to work for a museum in the British capital and his ideal dream would be to do so in the British Museum, but for the moment she is content with leaving CVs in different places and living with a nice waitress in a cozy café. However, one afternoon, discouraged and sad because nothing is coming and without wanting to return to Barcelona so as not to admit her failure, she decides to go for a walk. It is then that, without realizing it, she ends up wandering through the heart of the city. Temple district and stopping in front of a hidden bookstore whose feather-shaped doorknob and beautiful blue Moonlight Books sign invite her in.
He immediately meets Edward Livingstone, a very particular bookseller who explains that the place owes its name to a spectacular glass roof which allows you to contemplate the moon and the stars on clear nights. Agnes is very intrigued by Mr. Livingstone's personality and sense of humor and decides to accept the offer to become his assistant while continuing his job search.
Moonlight Books and its characters
From there you will be captivated by the charming bookstore, where not only is that glass dome its most special and attractive place, but you can also have a drink Afternoon tea at the romantic corner. In addition, you will meet the also very unique usual customers like the old man who looks like Mr. Magoo, the reader neighbor who can't get past a book a week and who always comes to comment on them, or the little one Oliver Twist, un very special and intelligent child whom his busy lawyer mother usually leaves there as a kind of nursery when he leaves school. He will also make friends with the Edward's beautiful editor (and fiancée). Thus, everyday life will be rewarded with endearing moments such as dinners by the fireplace at the Darkness and Shadow pub or with her flatmate.
Furthermore, Agnes, who until then had not been a big reader, will be caught up in both the good readings that Edward recommends to her and those small everyday details. However, although Moonlight Books seems like an oasis of peace in the London outside its walls, on a stormy night the Mysterious theft of a very valuable book, which is displayed like a jewel and is very important to Mr. Livingstone. It will then be when the Inspector John Lockwood, who will quickly become attracted to Agnes. And she to him, of course.
Mr. Livingstone's Bookshop — Review
Very simple and clear: a very pleasant novel ideal for reading at any time of the year but even more so in autumn and with a view to Christmas. If this literary subgenre has been successful, it is for this simple reason: the unique feeling of enjoying a light story, without artifice or complications, without excessive intrigues or hearts in a fist, but caressed by the intrinsic romanticism of a bookstore as the setting for that slow action..
With characters as welcoming as the place and the background of a London which is always to be admired, Mr. Livingstone's Bookshop It reads like any other Classic period piece, but set in the present, which is distilled with touches of humor and love, some misunderstanding or circumstance that causes the protagonists to disagree and the certainty that everything will be cleared up, will return to its course and will end as it should: in the best way. So that the Objective is 100% met and also the expectations of that good taste in your mouth and smile when you finish reading.
Monica Gutierrez
Barcelonan Graduated in History and Journalism, her hobby, or rather passion, for British literature, humorous and charming, with a weakness for Jane Austen and period stories have made her dedicate herself to writing fiction and specialise in this genre of novel feelgood. It already takes ten titles published, very well received by readers, and has won several awards and mentions in short story and poetry competitions.