Unfortunately this book is no longer available through the publisher, Amazon, Kobo, or any retailer I could find. Therefore I do not have anywhere to post the review and am closing this off.
Thank you.

The Book Ghost, by Lorna Gray, is a heart-warming, suspenseful novel that combines the cosy nostalgia of a Christmastime story in the Cotswolds with an emotionally powerful narrative of redemption.

The main character Lucy, otherwise known as Mrs P, is a complex character full of guilt and sorrow, desperately trying to right the wrongs of the past while facing her own insecurities and difficult choices. The contrast between her search for her family’s long-held secrets and the impending release of a book featuring an orphan girl’s story serves to amplify Lucy’s character development and showcase Gray’s intricate weaving of themes and symbolism.

Throughout the book, Lucy and Robert – the former prisoner of war and new editor at the family publishing business – struggle with coming to terms with the spectres of the past, leading to the bittersweet conclusion in which Lucy is forced to choose between safety and fulfilment.

The Book Ghost is a must-read for anyone who enjoys thoughtful and emotional fiction. Its suspenseful twists and moments of raw honesty combine to create a poignant and satisfying story about coming to terms with the past and starting fresh.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this ARC! Unfortunately it wasn’t my favorite book. I’d prefer not to spread negative reviews.

A lovely read a book that drew me right in to the story the characters. Sagas with a well developed story line are my favorite,and this one was perfect for me emotional moving romantic.#netgalley#thebookghost

This was such a cute book. I loved watching the relationship develop between Lucy and Robert. The characters in this were decently well developed and had real back stories that explained different facets of their personalities.

Moving and thought provoking. I enjoyed this book very much. It takes place post WWII when Lucy leaves behind her tragic past and goes to help her Aunt and Uncle with their publishing business.

I have tried to read this book a few times but cannot get into it. After the multiple tries I have decided to not finish it. Thank you for the opportunity to read this title.

I think I must be in the minority here because while I was excited at the prospect of reading THE BOOK GHOST and I had high hopes for it, I was so disappointed with it. I love historical fiction and losing myself to a world of books, so I thought this would be fantastic nod to that part of me. Not so.

Set in the beautiful Cotswolds in the post war ear of 1946, THE BOOK GHOST, aka "Mrs P's Book of Secrets", opens with a load of confusing waffle from seances to a book press. So much of what is written is so random I found it hard to correlate just what was going on. For example, when Lucy was talking to Robert Underhill, her uncle George bustles in and out of nowhere begins to relate to the other man how Lucy came to live with them. I mean, what the hell was that about? And why was it is important to tell him that snippet of information at that moment in time? I just didn't understand it. The rest of it just seemed to be ramblings that chopped and changed in direction and subject like a distracted person with ADHD.

I did try to like the book. But it was just so difficult as I couldn't immerse myself in the story without it feeling like a tennis match. I didn't know where to to look or what I was meant to see because everything just seemed to ramble. I know what the premise tells me the story is about but there was no sign of anything like that until at least 30% in and by then my interest had waned and I really didn't care for the mystery of this child anymore. It wasn't at all what I thought it would be and I couldn't connect to Lucy at all.

Two things I hate in books are long chapters (though I can live with them) and loads of endless descriptive narration, which in this case jumped from hither to nither leaving me wondering what it was she was talking about. The writing was long and rambling and if there was a purpose in that then I missed it because I simply lost patience trying to decipher Lucy's waffle.

I love my historical fiction to be beautiful easy reads. I don't mind some complexities but I found THE BOOK GHOST to be such hard work I was exhausted just reading a chapter. I dreaded picking it back up again. And if I am at a point where I literally have to force myself to continue the book then I know it's missed its mark completely with me.

THE BOOK GHOST had an interesting premise that just didn't live up to expectations, sadly. Life's too short to get bogged down with books you don't enjoy, so move on. Which is what I did. But you just might enjoy it!

I would like to thank #LornaGray, #NetGalley and #HarperCollinsUK and #OneMoreChapter for an ARC of #TheBookGhost in exchange for an honest review.

I believe this has also been published under the name "Mrs. P's Book of Secrets," as they both start off exactly the same. I already left a review for the latter name. A fun and interesting read!

Interesting historical read. The premise holds true to the genre. Looking forward to reading more from Lorna. Thank you NetGalley.

Published as "Mrs. P's Book of Secrets" in the UK.

It's 1946, and Europe is cleaning up and rebuilding after the war...and so is "Lucy", a recent war Widow.

Lucy returns "home", her former home before getting married, to live with her Aunt and Uncle who raised her.
Lucy is hoping for a new start, putting her grief behind, and starting fresh surrounded by the people and the family business of Publishing she grew up with. Living as a widow in a small room upstairs from the business isn't easy. It's never easy to go home. But Lucy is making the most of her newfound situation.

However, the new editor has a few too many ghosts and skeletons in his closet. Secrets too dark to share...and the quiet fulfilling life Lucy is hoping for may just be a wishful dream.

3stars

Thank you NetGalley, Harper Collins UK-One More Chapter, and the author Ms. Lorna Gray for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "The Book Ghost".
The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone.

I had a bit of a hard time getting into this book. Lucy is a war widow, working for her aunt and uncle’s printing business. She becomes involved with Robert, a former medic during the war. When researching a book, Lucy feels a malevolent presence, and is determined to get to the bottom of it. The writing was intense, but the story did not really hold my attention. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This is a cute little novel but you have to have patience with it and read it purely as an atmospheric diversion. I suppose it's just a bit of a mystery, but the mystery is mostly about what Robert (Lucy P's boss and eventual love interest) is up to when he travels. There's also a bit of a mystery about fact checking for a book, I suppose.

What I liked: The novel is set in the Cotswolds just after WWII. I have spent only a too-brief time in that area, but I recognized names like Stow-on Wold and Weston-Super-Mare, names that could only be English, and that tickled me, as did the descriptions of the old buildings in the villages. I also kind of liked Mrs. P. We are in her head for a first-person narrative, and you get a very stream of consciousness narrative indeed. She says "what I mean to say is" many times and then tells you what she thought in a different way, just in case you didn't understand her train of thought the first time. This tells you more about Mrs. P. but I found it sort of clunky way to get to know her. And most of the book is her thoughts about what other people say and do around her and her analysis of that, so if you aren't into analyzing people in miniscule detail you will probably get impatient ( I did and I even like doing this). Mrs. P. is very determined to be independent, and you can see that she will be falling in love before the book is over so all her determination never to be a burden or inconvenience to anyone can't last, because love is nothing if not inconvenient and occasionally selfless.

I both did and didn't like that Lucy worked for a very small town publisher. I love reading books about books and liked the idea of a small press (essentially a vanity press really) that put out obscure books about a housekeeper's hidden knowledge of herbology or a manor that secretly bred giraffes (could this be real? seems like it almost has to have come from somewhere). I think the author has decent knowledge about publishing, but the book got into the weeds a bit too much about tiny details (again).

What I mean to say is, what I didn't like about the book is that it got into details about things so much that it ended up feeling like filler. Not much actually happened and I ended up losing steam and not finishing this rather short book. If I had a whole day and infinite hot chocolate with a cozy blanket, I might have finished it, but while I enjoyed it while I was reading I wasn't hooked enough to come back to it after I put the book down.

This one didn't grab me as her others did but still a sad sweet story that will charm. The writing is good but the story lacked something.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. Bit of a struggle and did not finish but I wish the author the very best with it.

Lucy is helping at her uncle and aunt's publishing house. Right now she takes notes and answers phone and serves tea. She would like to become more involved with the everyday workings but her uncle has hired Robert. Robert is a prisoner of war. He had started education for being a doctor. He gave that up to go fight. Now he intrest in medicine has waned and he works for her uncle. Lucy has noticed some oddness surrounding Robert. He leaves on mysterious trips. What could be the point of those journeys. How does that affect the business.
Interesting and mysterious.

I'm sorry but I had to put this book down. I just could not get into it. It rambled on and on but I didn't care about the characters.

The Book Ghost by Lorna Gray (stunning cover) is a mixture of historical fiction with period drama taking place in England just after WWII . With an interesting focus more on the aftermath of the war and picking up the pieces of lives that have been devastated directly and indirectly. How does one move on from such loss?

‘I thought you were making it worse because you were making me admit all the parts of me that hurt. Then I found it was good to learn to talk to you because I caught a glimpse of a way out if I would just learn that I can tell you anything.’

The tale is mostly about a struggling publishing company and the blossoming relationship between Lucy a war widow , and Robert a former POW. A mostly misunderstood and awkward relationship which, although drawn out at times, thankfully finds resolution by books end. There is somewhat of a mystery, nothing incredibly gothic or ghostly revolving around a book they were editing. My main issue concerns the writing structure, that being, so much takes place in Lucy’s thoughts. A conversation will be initiated and seemingly several paragraphs later, Lucy will reply after much rumination and contemplation. It’s frustrating and painful to have to go back and read what the original question was.

I did persevere though and was happy with the outcome. Ghost story it is not. It is a quiet and gentle book about two people dealing with their emotions of the outfall from war. I appreciated this focus as a bridge between the atrocities that were and how to live again with renewed expectation and hope.

‘A person’s grasp on permanence didn’t only dwell the physical traces constructed by them in the course of their lives. It grew gently, selflessly, in the thoughts given freely by of those of us who were still living, who cared to remember them and speak their names now that they were gone.’






This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

A historical romance, unfortunately with long descriptions and not much action. Hard to keep my attention. There is also a bit of paranormal included which completely turned me off. Lucy is a war widow who tries to come to terms with her loss. She becomes rather annoying as she keeps second guessing herself and lacks much courage. Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review..

The story begins in 1946, just after the end of WWII, during the wintertime in the north Cotswolds town of Moreton-in-Marsh where Lucy, better known as Mrs P has come back home to help out in her aging aunt and uncles’ publishing house “Kershaw and Kathay Book Press”.
Lucy’s husband was just killed during the war, and despite her experience is now working as a clerk/receptionist/tea girl alongside her uncle and a new editor named Robert Underhill. Underhill prior to the war was studying to become a doctor. Though he could have been excused, he volunteered in the war efforts only to be captured immediately and became a POW for the last 5 years. Underhill would disappear from the office from time to time and the mystery surrounding his disappearance from the office intrigues Mrs. P.
I love historical fiction reads especially the WWII period. I enjoy learning about the circumstances surrounding the story line and the author gifts the reader with amazing detail and backstories of the characters.
England at that time was still reeling from the war, and while the country recovers, the people remain in rations. The men have come back and the women have to step back from their roles - running the country while the men were gone. The widows are trying to find their way back and are dealing with the guilt from the loss of their loved ones, mostly finding difficulties with establish relationships.
There are new ways of speaking in society where prying questions are not acceptable unless information is freely offered. The men that have come back are dealing with their own trauma from the war and I find that the author did a great job in creating that world post WWII.
The story is told through Lucy’s experience and point of view. Overall, I did enjoy the writing as it feels very much to the time period and the details were rich and vivid. It did move a little slow for me though I did enjoy the beautiful descriptions and the character development in this story.
I recommend this book for HF fans who are interested in the post WWII England setting.