Published By: HarperCollins
Pages: 416
Released On: 28/09/2023
Jo Sorsby is hiding from her past when she agrees to run her uncle’s beloved stationery shop. Glimpsing the lives of her customers between the warm wooden shelves, as they scribble little notes and browse colourful notebooks, distracts her from her bruised heart.
When she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and Malcolm, a septuagenarian still finding himself, she suddenly realizes she isn’t alone.
They each have a story that can transform Jo’s life… if only she can let them in.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
It took me reading this to realise that the author Libby Page (author of The Lido and The Vintage Shop of Second Chances) is in fact Sally’s daughter! Which is amazing as they’re both very accomplished and tender writers.
I think more books should be set in stationery shops. To be surrounded by beautiful fountain pens and ink pots and notepaper – oh it’s all just wonderful. Sally clearly has a passion for good stationery (I mean, she does own her own pen company), and that passion comes in drives, whether it’s just describing a packet of envelopes or the art of writing with a fountain pen, it’s just gorgeous. She has really found the magic that pens and writing can offer.
Sally hasn’t hidden from the serious topics: relationship troubles, pregnancy, dementia, injury, aging, loneliness etc. It’s very real, not too morose, but realistic. And it’s by getting through these potentially difficult times that make the good times sparkle even more.
The love and joy and happiness and, above all, hope that comes from this book is so lovely to read. It’s about a community, the feeling of belonging and having a purpose, That no matter how old you are, where you’re from or where you’re going, you n achieve whatever you want. It’s about knowing you have that ability and that support and that community around you. It’s about no longer feeling lonely, and instead feeling tethered to something or somewhere or someone. I love that there is a range of ages. We’ve got middle aged adults, we have children, and we have the elderly. And they’re all mixing and they all find friendships across the age spectrum. Which is lovely. As I think the young can learn from the old, and the old from the young. We shouldn’t accept being pigeonholed. Like who you want to like and love who you want to love. That’s all there is to it.
There is a great deal of love, but it’s not necessarily a romantic love, although there is some of that. It’s more about loving strangers who become friends, who you then love enough to become family. It’s about loving your job and your surroundings. Loving your dreams and your wishes, your opportunities and possibilities. And most importantly, learning to love yourself.
We see characters come in and out of this story, much like they come in and out of the stationery shop. Some are just passing, and some stick around. But they all orbit around Jo and her story. Your main players are, of course, Jo, who after her relationship and her job breaks down, she takes over her Uncle Wilbur’s stationery shop whilst he is unwell. She is a fabulous, fabulous character. So full of warmth and want to help others, putting others before herself, and so familiar and relatable, and she is definitly a character I will remember. Then you have her friends from home, Lucy and her brother Finn. They aren’t in it for long, but their friendship is a running theme throughout the book and it was interesting to read how they fit into this new life she is creating. And then we have Jo’s three new friends, Ruth the vicar, Eric the Optician (or Eric the Viking, as Jo calls him), and Malcolm, the elderly neighbour. They all work wonderfully. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book where I love every character and feel they are all perfect in their creation, their story and their development.
For me, there isn’t a hugely complicated plot – bear with me, this isn’t an insult. There is a light plot ticking through it, but this is more focussed on the characters and their emotions, dreams, pasts and futures, and their development. And I for one applaud Sally for writing it like this as she has hit the nail on the head perfectly.
I am not ashamed to say I cried at several moments in this book. It’s isn’t necessarily sad, per se, but, without spoiling it, it is incredibly moving for a number of reasons which I hope you pick up if and when you read it. Sally has managed to speak directly to me and I can feel that.
Sally may not be a seasoned novel writer – I believe this is her second – but she has clearly found her natural skill and rhythm, as she reads like someone who has been honing their craft for many years.
I may have read this in August during a very hot spell, but for some reason, once I’d finished it, I had this very cosy, warm, wintery, festive feeling that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I think it’s the feeling of being loved and being safe.
I read it in less than 24 hours. It was so addictive and I just wanted to stay amongst this story, and I can’t wait to see what Sally produces next.
Books By Your Bedside 