Bloomsbury Girls

I just finished Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner and here is my review.

Bloomsbury books sells new and rare books and has been run by men for 100 years. After the war, things need to change but the management, all being men, means nothing will change. The ladies that work there have other ideas.

Vivien, Grace and Evie all come from different backgrounds and life experiences but their goals all seem to align. Vivien should have been married but he died in the war. Grace, married with two sons but her husband is a shadow of his former self after the war. Evie was in the very first class of women allowed to get a degree at Cambridge but lost an academic position to a less suited male.

They all have dreams that women would never dream of having back then but they all want more than life is giving them.

This historical fiction is set in the aftermath of WWII and follows the lives of 3 women who all work in a book shop. It starts out a little slow but it gives us a chance to meet the ladies and really get to know who they are. I didn't really warm up to any of them like I usually would but I found their dynamic rather charming. They were all strong women during a time where women were little more than placeholders to their spouses.

Loved the setting of the book store and the ambience of the old building. There were some really lovely descriptive parts in the book which I really enjoyed. The book was really quite wonderful and I thought the ending was really well done.

I will definitely be on the hunt for more from this author.

4 stars,

Thank you @stmartinspress for my gifted copy

I was expecting to like this more.

Meh. I learned some interesting things about famous 20th century people (Orwell, Guggenheim), but this book mostly fell flat for me. The balance between build-up and climax was way off - the story should have continued past the climax instead of shoving the reader off a cliff at the end.

It's 1950 and the war has been over for five years in London, but the people working in this London bookstore are still struggling. Vivian still misses her fiance, killed in the war. Grace's husband suffered a breakdown and Grace is trying to support the family and care for her children. Evie was one of the first women to be admitted to Cambridge, but the job she'd hoped for was given to a man instead. All three women face the discrimination against women that was endemic during this time.

I enjoyed this story of strong women working in a London bookstore, with all the bookish celebrities of the day popping into the narrative.

I would note (because I didn't realize this) that this book is a sequel to The Jane Austen Society.

This is what 84 Charing Cross Road should have been. It was wonderful to see the characters from The Jane Austen Society again - and I hope this is not the last time! Jenner's books are so relaxing and transport you to post-war England. Loved it!

Natalie Jenner is quickly becoming a must buy author.

Historical fiction is a new genre I have been exploring. What I liked about this story is the depiction of life after the war. The women working at Bloomsbury Books are trying to find their place in the new world. Just a few years earlier they were needed to work while men were off to war, but now they are back to where they started. Only marginally better off than before.

All of the characters in the story are well developed and I enjoyed watching their growth over the story. These women are learning more about themselves and going against what society expects of them. One is figuring out her life after losing her fiancé in the war.

This is a wonderful read and I can't wait to add it to my collection right next to The Jane Austin Society.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.