This definitely had a gothic feel, and there were moments when I definitely felt Jane Eyre vibes, but, for me, something didn't quite gel for me, and I can't put my finger on it. This is a book I should have loved. I wanted to love it. I didn't dislike it, but it didn't leave me satisfied when I finished.

I think I liked a lot of the side characters more than I liked the main character. I kind of wish this had been one of their stories and not Florence's. Persephone's story or her sister's especially.

This will be on the May 7th episode of All the Books. Here's the transcript:

The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé
Florence is a 19-year-old woman in Victorian England.
She’s just been thrown out of her house by her father, a bookbinder, after he found her in a compromising position with a young man.
She has one chance to save herself: she has intercepted a letter from a client of her father’s.
He has a home library he wants to sell, but first he needs the books repaired.
Florence has learned her father’s precise bookbinding skills, so she shows up at Lord Francis Belfield’s doorstep and claims her father has sent her to complete the task.
Lord Belfield is skeptical, but after she’s proven her skills and agreed to work for a lot less money — as long as she can stay at his estate — he agrees.
Now Florence has to navigate the delicate hierarchy of Rose Hall.
She doesn’t fit in with Lord Belfied, his brutal brother, or his haughty sister-in-law,
But she’s not supposed to be the same class as the help, so she tries to distance herself from the cook and remaining servant.
Meanwhile, Florence can’t help but be intrigued by the mystery of the recent death of Lord Belfield’s wife.
She’s supposed to have drowned on a night-time walk, but that seems unlikely. Did someone push her?
Florence risks her safety as Rose Hall by sneaking around at night and reading the late Lady Persephone’s letters.
Despite herself, she also develops a close friendship with Wesley, a servant, who sneaks into her room to braid and oil her hair at night.
This is one of those books where the description includes things that don’t come up until the latter half of the book, so I’m not sure how much more to mention.
I haven’t even gotten to the eponymous library theft!
I’m not sure if I would categorize this as a mystery, though there is a strong mystery element.
It’s more focused on Florence as a character, who is discovering new things about herself and where she fits into the world.
There are lots of secrets and scandals that are revealed.
Some of the early Goodreads reviews were scandalized by this being too “woke.”
To which I would like to say, history wasn’t all straight, cis, and white.
Florence is progressive, but her reasoning and reference points are time period-specific.
The Library Thief doesn’t have a queer main character, but it is a pretty queer book overall, and the main character is a white-passing Black woman.
She doesn’t learn that until later in the book, but it is mentioned in the description, and I don’t feel like you can call that a spoiler.
I thought this was a really interesting book of historical fiction with a focus on characters who don’t usually get written about in that genre.
Content warnings: racism, racist slurs, rape, unwanted pregnancy
That’s The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé

I was intrigued by the summary describing burned books and a gothic "whodunit" but this is way too much in the romance genre.

Wow! I loved this. This book speaks on homophobia and racism but our heroine, Florence, is fighting against this.

Florence is from Jamaica, but when her father brings her back to his home, she just doesn't quite fit in. No amount of hair straightening can solve these overwhelming issues. But when she does something her father deems unforgivable, she is tossed out of the house.

She makes her way to Rose Hall to hopefully work, but winds up finding a mystery instead. This story is full of magic and love. Something that I will cherish.

Out May 7, 2024!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!!!

A different representation of the Victorian backdrop that you are used to. Lots of twists and turns. At times I felt the plot lost its way, but I still kept reading because I wanted to find out the answers to all the questions that had been building. I feel satisfied with the wrap-up and how the story ended. It made me think and question all the characters and their motives/actions.#NetGalley #TheLibraryThief

I enjoyed the Gothic Victorian atmosphere of this debut novel; the author clearly has a reverence for literature and included plenty of nods to famous works of the genre. The Library Thief has an intriguing premise, a roster of mysterious characters who all have something to hide, and plenty of scandal in the first 100 pages, and while the writing style didn’t always work for me, I was eager to see how it all turned out. Shenjé tackles some really ambitious themes throughout, delving into racism, colorism, sexual abuse, gender identity, and more, and I appreciated the genuine exploration of issues that are not typically at the forefront of stories set in this time period, but I did find that the plot got a little lost along the way.

Thanks to Harlequin and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

According to Florence‘s father, she committed something so immortal he couldn’t have her in his house anymore.

He kicked her out, but not before she saw a letter from a man who needed his books rebound.

Florence scooped up the letter and made her way to Mr. Belfield’s estate Rose Hall.

When she arrived, Mr. Belfield refused to have her there since he had just recently been widowed and wouldn't look right..

She talked him into keeping her.

Florence really wasn’t welcomed by the household staff except for Wesley.

She made the best of her stay and the best of what Mr. Belfield offered.

She spent her days repairing books and befriending Wesley.

While she was there she found out there was more than rare books needing to be repaired.

Quite a few secrets were hiding within the walls of Rose Hall and many conniving characters. There are also some delicate subjects discussed.

The storyline and eloquent writing will pull you into this Gothic-themed book with a mystery to solve and somewhat likable characters. 4/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I love reading about libraries, old books. There is an element of mystery among old books, a specific smell. This historical fiction adds a little mystery to the mix as our main character is curious and wants to know why Lord Belfield's wife died. I love the vibe of this, the setting is beautiful. I wish it moved a little quicker, but overall, I enjoyed it.

This book was interesting. I liked the library/books setting. The writing was good and I liked all the description. I could have done without some of the graphic detail but that’s just me. Overall, I enjoyed it!

There's a lot to love in this book even if I wasn't always a fan of the FMC but this is a book about libraries, book and serious issues like racisms.
It's a well plotted and well done story. I wasn't a bit diffident but, hey, when I read "woke" in a review I know I have to read that book because it's means there're interesting themes even if I don't always agree with the author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Gothic - check
Historical - check
book about books - check

This book has it all for me and I really enjoyed it! I will be purchasing a copy to own as well and already set up a buddy read with a friend as soon as she can get a copy as well when it's published.

3.5 stars

I loved the setup of The Library Thief and felt that, for the most part, the author did a good job telling the story. I will say that the pacing felt slow at parts, and that caused me to put it down a lot while I was reading. I enjoyed the characters and the descriptions of the time period, but would have preferred a quicker pace to the story overall.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I really wanted to love this book, but it was a struggle. The writing was very clunky and felt quite jarring at times. There were so many things happening in this book that it was overwhelming and left quite a few subplots inadequately handled. While the central premise was interesting, the author attempted to take on too many issues and created a scenario that would have been highly unlikely in late 19th century England- 21st century, maybe, but definitely not the 1890s. It felt like the author was trying to cram too many plot lines, many of which seemed overly pointed for it to be historically accurate. There seemed to be so much promise in the beginning, but the writing was off putting with very odd details like the main character counting the rice in her friend’s teeth after dinner and her getting something stuck in her teeth at some point. Phrasing often got repetitive, as if the author forgot they’d already put a particular point in the story, and this ARC did not seem to be well edited- especially since the publication is next month. I only finished it because I was too far into the book to give up. The author tried to do too much and didn’t do much very well

There's a lot of good in this book--interesting historical representation, explorations of sexuality and identity in buttoned up Victorian England, and a turning of tables on rich white aristocrats. I think all of that is amazing.

Admittedly, I found the graphic rape scene resulting in pregnancy too much for my own abilities, which is mostly a me problem. I understand that it was an important scene in the book to pull the main character into her true self, showing readers the horrors faced by people who weren't cishet white monied men. That said, my interest in the book couldn't recover.

I also think the mystery was a little underwhelming--a wife accidentally drowning is not super enticing mystery material, so I feel like the book could have been more punchy with its instigating plot point. As it was I kept asking myself why anyone cares about this wife's death when it seems like something that would occasionally happen every so often (although maybe that's the point?).

An intriguing adventure with complex characters, important messages about life and stereotypes, and lots of unexpected twists. A wonderful way to learn about Victorian society, bookbinding, and the ways people can or cannot change. This book provides so many opportunities to look within and out with sadness and love and a little humor thrown in as well.

A white passing book binder, an old library, and a mystery…I was so excited for this story. Unfortunately, the writing didn’t hold my attention, so I decided to DNF..

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced eARC.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

Hard story to get into, even harder to maintain my interest. Blech.

2☆

This book is set in Victorian England and our main character is Florence, a female bookbinder who has been tossed out by her father. She decides to show up at a customer's house with a story of being sent by her father to do work in his library on his book collection. Lord Francis Belfield owns Rose Hall and allows her in despite suspecting something is off in the request.
The lady of the house has recently died and Florence suspects she was murdered and wants to solve the mystery. She does not wait even one night to begin sneaking around. Things go from there with this page-turner that sometimes had surprising and even unlikely twists and turns.
The book did push my buttons a bit with the racism of the time being included. If this is how people thought at the time, it is downright embarrassing today. Since the author is of color (and I am not) I will say no more, but I did wonder if some of it was necessary as it seemed over the top.
I loved the first half to two thirds of this book, but things went off the rails for me after that.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free ebook copy of this book for my honest review.

The Library Thief
by Kuchenga Shenjé
Pub Date: 07 May 2024

The library is under lock and key. But its secrets can't be contained.

1896. After he brought her home from Jamaica as a baby, Florence's father had her hair hot-combed to make her look like the other girls. But as a young woman, Florence is not so easy to tame—and when she brings scandal to his door, the bookbinder throws her onto the streets of Manchester.

Intercepting her father's latest commission, Florence talks her way into the remote, forbidding Rose Hall to restore its collection of rare books. Lord Francis Belfield's library is old and full of secrets—but none so intriguing as the whispers about his late wife.

Then one night, the library is broken into. Strangely, all the priceless tomes remain untouched. Florence is puzzled, until she discovers a half-burned book in the fireplace. She realizes with horror that someone has found and set fire to the secret diary of Lord Belfield's wife–which may hold the clue to her fate…

Evocative, arresting and tightly plotted, The Library Thief is at once a propulsive Gothic mystery and a striking exploration of race, gender and self-discovery in Victorian England.

I loved this book—I didn't know what to expect because I associate Harlequin with romance, but this is definitely not a romance (although it does include several love stories). It really captures the classic elements of the gothic novel, and the characters are so well developed. The descriptions of Black society in late Victorian Liverpool made me want to read a whole book about that. As other reviewers have said, some scenes are hard to read—there is an on-page rape, threats of sexual violence, and racial slurs. But honestly, that's what I should have expected at this stately home of ultra-privileged white Victorians. I would love to read more from the author.