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The Lost for Words Bookshop: A Novel

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The Lost for Words Bookshop: A Novel

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Overview

The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland is a compelling, irresistible, and heart-rending novel, perfect for all book lovers.

"In The Lost for Words Bookshop, Stephanie Butland has created a bibliophile's delight. Witty and irreverent, funny and sad, this is a charming tribute to stories on the page and in our lives--and the powers they can hold over us."--Matthew Sullivan author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

"Burns fiercely with love and hurt. A rare and beautiful novel."--Linda Green, bestselling author of While My Eyes Were Closed

Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never, ever show you.

Into her hiding place - the bookstore where she works - come a poet, a lover, and three suspicious deliveries.

Someone has found out about her mysterious past. Will Loveday survive her own heartbreaking secrets?

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250891679
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/19/2018
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	151,482
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Stephanie Butland lives with her family near the sea in the North East of England. She writes in a studio at the bottom of her garden, and when she's not writing, she trains people to think more creatively. For fun, she reads, knits, sews, bakes, and spins. She is an occasional performance poet.

Stephanie is the author of The Lost for Words Bookshop.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

04/16/2018
The latest from Butland (The Secrets We Keep) is an appealing novel about love’s many forms and the power of books. Loveday Cardew, who has taken refuge in books since her childhood in the foster care system, has spent the past 10 years selling books at the Lost for Words Bookshop, a ramshackle used bookstore in York. Following a brief but disastrous affair, Loveday has retreated even further into her solitary world of books and work. One day, she finds a lost book at a bus stop and posts a sign letting the owner know she has it, setting off a series of events that gradually change her plans to withdraw from the world around her. Poet Nathan Avebury, who responds to the sign, keeps returning to woo the hesitant Loveday with words and magic tricks, and his efforts are aided by the bookshop’s exuberant owner, Archie. When books from Loveday’s childhood home, including her mother’s well-used Delia Smith cookbook, start to mysteriously show up in boxes left at the store, Loveday must risk trusting those around her if she is to discover who is reaching out to her from long ago. Rich characterizations, a vibrant bookstore setting, and several poignant Wednesday poetry nights will have readers hoping for a sequel. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Filled with mystery and intrigue...Lovers of literature will enjoy this mix of contemporary women's fiction and mystery."—Library Journal (boxed)

"Truly a book for book lovers. Readers who want to get lost in a world of literature, love, and companionship in a story about breaking out of the past to create a new life will fall in love."—Booklist

"Rich characterizations, a vibrant bookstore setting, and several poignant Wednesday poetry nights will have readers hoping for a sequel."—Publishers Weekly

"A tale full of romance and violence demanding readers not judge a book by its cover."—Kirkus

"In The Lost for Words Bookshop, Stephanie Butland has created a bibliophile's delight. Witty and irreverent, funny and sad, this is a charming tribute to stories on the page and in our lives—and the powers they can hold over us."—Matthew Sullivan author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

"Less a standard mystery than a dramatic novel whose characters have deep dark secrets, it is relatable and charming."—Fine Books & Collections Magazine

"The Lost for Words Bookshop pushes all my bookish buttons."—Red (Books to Read)

"Quirky, clever and unputdownable."—Katie Fforde

"Burns fiercely with love and hurt. A rare and beautiful novel."—Linda Green, bestselling author of While My Eyes Were Closed

"Brilliant...Loveday rules every page, she is a revelation, a complicated heart string pulling enigma and her courage to let people in even though it goes against all of her self-preservation tools is amazing to experience."—The Reading Frenzy

"A fantastic story."—Red Carpet Crash

"Loveday is an admirable young woman who is very witty and ultimately realistic. The plot of The Lost for Words Bookshop has just enough intrigue and mystery and is peopled with honestly believable characters that I warmly recommend it."—BookBrowse

"[Loveday is] our narrator and though she never asks us (or anyone) to like her, we soon enough do. Violence is threatened and tension rises higher, but the resolution is hopeful and completely convincing."—Shawangunk Journal and Sullivan County Democrat

Part of The Collegian's "Summer 2018 Entertainment Guide"

From the Publisher

2018-04-03
A jaded bibliophile comes to terms with her dark past and learns to live in the present.Set in a used bookshop, Butland's (The Other Half of My Heart, 2015, etc.) latest novel tackles love, grief, violence, and friendship. Loveday Cardew—an anti-social, tattooed 25-year-old—works at Lost for Words, a secondhand bookstore in York. Despite her name, Loveday doesn't much care for anyone or anything except for books. She's reserved and painfully sarcastic, and the surrounding characters either exacerbate or quell this: Archie, the caring, larger-than-life bookstore owner; Nathan, the handsome, cravat-wearing poet; and Rob, the sullen, dangerous ex. Switching between the past and present, the chapters are organized by genre—Poetry, History, Crime, Travel, and Memoir—and correspond to the plot (i.e., Poetry chapters center around Nathan). Told from Loveday's perspective, the casual first-person narration provides an entry point into an otherwise closed-off character, which works well save for a few startling fourth-wall breaks. Loveday's descriptions of her childhood are among the strongest in the book: "His boots, which smelled of salt and oil, rubber and leather, lived outside," and "the sea was part of their story." As her charmed life descends into darkness, one life-altering moment shatters her world—and sense of self—forever. The buildup to and aftermath of this moment feel earned and purposeful. However, other things do not. Unfortunately, the book sometimes veers into unnecessary stereotypes about mental illness by equating (perhaps unintentionally) being mentally ill with violent behavior. If the novel feels particularly harrowing at times, the well-drawn romance helps temper and elevate the story. The hopeful ending is unexpected but not unwelcome—it's exactly what Loveday deserves because she's been through far too much.A tale full of romance and violence demanding readers not judge a book by its cover.

Kirkus Reviews

The Lost for Words Bookshop: A Novel

The Lost for Words Bookshop: A Novel

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