Bloomsbury Girls: A Novel

Natalie Jenner

May 2022 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

"Delightful." --People, Pick of the Week

*Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by Katie Couric Media, the CBC, the Globe and Mail, BookBub, POPSUGAR, SheReads, Women.com and more!*

Natalie Jenner, the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, returns with a compelling and heartwarming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world in Bloomsbury Girls.

Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare book store that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans:

Vivien Lowry: Single since her aristocratic fiance was killed in action during World War II, the brilliant and stylish Vivien has a long list of grievances--most of them well justified and the biggest of which is Alec McDonough, the Head of Fiction.

Grace Perkins: Married with two sons, she's been working to support the family following her husband's breakdown in the aftermath of the war. Torn between duty to her family and dreams of her own.

Evie Stone: In the first class of female students from Cambridge permitted to earn a degree, Evie was denied an academic position in favor of her less accomplished male rival. Now she's working at Bloomsbury Books while she plans to remake her own future.

As they interact with various literary figures of the time--Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (widow of George Orwell), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim, and others--these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow.

Ratings and reviews

Women and Literature. Bloomsbury books is a well established bookstore in London. It has remained the same for years and dominated by the men that own it and run it. Women are delegated to desk work , cataloging and helping customers. The three women that work at Bloomsbury Books are not happy with the bookstore , and the management. They want women authors who are never promoted and never asked to speak at the bookstore events to have more promotions . Vivian is single since her fiancee was killed in the war and has worked the longest at Bloomsbury. She has a long grievance with Alec the head of the fiction department. He never listens to any new ideas and he does not buy books by women author's. Grace is married with two sons. She is working at Bloomsbury Books to support her family since her husband's breakdown from his time in the war. She is torn between her duty to her family and her ambitions of her own. Evie is the newest employee. She is one of the first women allowed to graduate from Cambridge University. An academic position was lost to her to a male student with less experience and she is angry over that but must move on. She has a specific agenda for taking a job a Bloomsbury Books in the rare books section. These three women along with some prominent women in society and some women authors work together to make a future for themselves and to transform Bloomsbury Books. This is a story of women working for the rights to be seen as much as professionals as men. The fight to be recognized for their work and their abilities. It also has a bit of a romantic flavor to it and descriptions of unique places in London. I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it. Thanks to Natalie Jenner for writing another great book, to St. Martin's Press for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me to read and review. All opinions in my review are my own.

About the author

NATALIE JENNER is the author of the instant international bestseller The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls. A Goodreads Choice Award runner-up for historical fiction and finalist for best debut novel, The Jane Austen Society was a USA Today and #1 national bestseller, and has been sold for translation in twenty countries. Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie has been a corporate lawyer, career coach and, most recently, an independent bookstore owner in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs.