Description
Author: Ruth Shaw
Format: Hardback
Publication date: 29/03/2022
Imprint: ALLEN & UNWIN
ISBN: 9781988547756
A rich, immersive, funny and heartbreaking memoir of the charming bookseller who runs two tiny bookshops in the remote village of Manapouri in Fiordland, in the deep south of New Zealand.
Hedley’s Books –
At first, I thought this was going to be a quaint quirky book about the running of two tiny bookshops in Manapouri in the tradition of Shaun Bythell ‘s The Diary of a Bookseller.
However, the story is really about Ruth Shaw’s bittersweet and traumatic life before all this as she struggles as a young woman traveling from high point to low point in and around the South Pacific trying to escape herself and her demons.
A times heartbreaking and other times a touch funny the load is certainly lightened by the bookseller’s anecdotes from her present life which is deceptively peaceful. I came away thinking – what a woman!
Easy to read and highly recommended. – David
Joy Delahunt –
This is a beautiful book, the narrative of her life, and what a life, has been mingled with stories of the characters who visit her bookshop at the end of the world. A great read that you just jump into and and ride along with her as she tells you stories of her life, sometimes sad sometimes wow!