I was drawn in to this rich and beautiful novel right from the very first page! The characters are beautifully drawn and the stories of the two main characters are vividly drawn and emotionally haunting. What I love best about it, as one other reviewer has already referred to, is the way the author paints every scene with rich description. So powerful, this author’s use of language to convey a sight, a sound, a human emotion. The whole novel - deeply satisfying..

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

It took a long time to really grasp where this book was going and what a delight for that. Ordinarily, I suss out the plot too soon and surprises are few. This was surprising in its thoughtful rendering of the characters and the plot was constantly interesting. Is there a sweeter, more loving character than Tom? Hannah and Peter were my favorites, though. Heartily recommend.

I am clearly in the minority of readers who quite liked this book. I DID NOT. I could have abandoned at any time. FLAT. MEH. 2.5 but cannot round up to say it was good.

The setting:

Australia. 1960s.

Tom Hope, a farmer and failed husband to Trudy.

Trudy, who left Tom for the Church of Jesus Mercy [a cult] with Peter--her son--not Tom's. Gordon Bligh, the pastor of the church and his [second] wife, Judy Susan , were vividly drawn and --in an exception to the others who populated this book--despicable.

Tom and Peter have a strong bond; and they both miss each other. This is a plot driver.

Hannah Babel, Holocaust survivor who decides to set up a bookshop in Tom's town--Hometown! Many flashbacks to the heartache that was her life in Budapest, then Auschwitz, then Berlin, then Australia.

The plot at times advanced by leaps and bounds. Other times linnear as well as back and forth from the present to Hannah's past [and a bit of Tom's]. In other words, all over the place.

No real spoiler alert. Hannah, twelve years older than Tom, eventually becomes his wife. And then...

What did I like? The writing. In a few instances, I noted phrases/sentences that struck me as noteworthy.

"Peter shook his head economically--a half turn to the left, half turn to the right."

"The sky was vastly extended in its autumn stillness..."

"In the same way as Hannah, he didn't approve of colonies on the shelves and forced all the authors to live together in a literary kibbutz." [describing setting up the bookstore]

"...bleached white with grief..." and a "...seamed face blanched with regret..."

Often I do not care for a book because I do not care for the characters. This was not the case here. They all [save for the two noted above and other, secondary, church members] were well drawn and likeable. I just didn't care--at all.

But, since I am in the not at all in the critical mass, perhaps one ought to give it a try. Some reviewers said that they were caught up immediately in the story. I dissent.

Historical fiction set in a small town in Australia in the 1960’s and flashing back to Europe during World War II. Three characters’ stories are told: Tom Hope, a soft-spoken sheep farmer, Hannah Babel, a Jewish woman whose son and husband died at Auschwitz, and Peter Carson, the young son of Tom’s first wife who is taken by his mother to live with a religious cult.

I thought the author conveyed a genuine sense of place and loved the descriptions of sheep farming. I felt an emotional attachment to the nuanced characters. The plot gained momentum as it progressed. The title is a bit misleading, as the story is not set in the bookstore. It plays a role in the plot but is not the central focus. Hannah is attempting to establish a bookstore as a form of restitution for books burned by the Nazis. It also serves as a symbol of shattered lives being rebuilt. I don’t think it is coincidence that one of the main characters is named Tom Hope, as hope for the future is a common thread among the primary stories. Other themes include fear of abandonment, the will to survive, and the healing power of love.

I felt the author was successful in portraying the guilt and psychological impact of the trauma Hannah experienced during the war. Each of the main characters is faced with trauma and all respond differently. I thought the book went a bit off-kilter toward the end and found the scenes of child abuse incredibly disturbing. I felt it was a well-written attempt to convey the human struggle to connect individual consciousness to a deeper meaning in life.

I loved this story. Set in Australia, Tom, a good man, is married to Trudy, who having left him once, returns carrying another mans baby. Tom raises Peter after Trudy once again runs, and has his heart broken, yet again, when she returns three years later to take him back.
Soon after he meets, loves and marries Hannah, who is full of life and adores him, but still carries the experience of being in Auschwitz with her.,where they killed her child. When Peter runs away to be with Tom, Hannah leaves as she can not Bear to raise another child.
The story is beautifully written.

A wonderful heart wrenching read the characters their stories drew me right in..A special book highly recommend.#netgalley #putnambooks

The book started out pretty good, introducing us to Tom, a farmer in Australia, with an unhappy wife, Trudy, who loves the city and young son, who is not Tom’s. Trudy leaves Tom for what she thinks is a better life, but she ends up in one of those Jesus camps with some nutty people and an even crazier Pastor (The Sacrament or Jonestown Massacre), but she leaves the son. Tom is very heartbroken that she life, but life with the son gets better until Trudy returns to take him too. Tom is a broken soul, but he begins to help Hannah, a survivor of Auschwitz, open her “The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted.” After first Tom thinks she is crazy for opening a bookshop and there are times she acts a little mad, but as time goes on Tom and Hannah find love and the young son of his first wife returns to him. It’s a love story, but I will admit, I expected it to be more. It was OK.

Great read, I would highly recommend it. Poignant story if the power of love. Characters were believable. The authors writing style drew you in right away.

This story is about Tom who lives in Australia in the 1960's and meets a woman named Hannah who survived Auschwitz. There are many books that tell about the horrors of World War II but this book tells about Hannah's life after and her heartbreak. Will Tom and Hannah's heartbreak end?

I really enjoyed this book. The characters are wonderful and well developed. Their individual life experiences are very heart rending at times. I highly recommend this book. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved this book. The characters jumped right off the pages. I will be recommending this book to my patrons!

Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin Group for an advance read of this title in exchange for my honest review. Some books have amazing prose, some have a spellbinding plot. Rarely do they accomplish both. This book does just that. I was drawn into the story from the first page and found the characters so well developed. I cared about what happened to them. I highly recommend this book.