'Who the hell are you?" A.J. asks the baby.
For no apparent reason, she stops crying and smiles at him. "Maya," she answers.'

A.J. Fikry, the grumpy owner of Island Books, is going through a hard time: his bookshop is failing, he has lost his beloved wife, and a prized rare first edition has been stolen.

But one day A.J. finds two-year-old Maya sitting on the bookshop floor, with a note attached to her asking the owner to look after her. His life - and Maya's - is changed forever.

On its way to Meg72 - hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Book has arrived, thank you so much :-)

This book has many literary references and loads of bookish quirks that only a book lover can relate to - after all, it does take place in a bookshop! But the owner, A.J. Fikry... well... I just could not warm up to him. I found him unappealing and that "spoiled" my reading, a little bit. But an OK read, nevertheless.

Picked from the VBB - Women in Fiction. I hope you enjoy the read :-)

Picked from the VBB - Women in Fiction. I hope you enjoy the read :-)

Here thanks to the Women in Fiction VBB. I've heard interesting things about this, and have enjoyed other books by this author, so am looking forward to finding time to read this. Thanks for sending!

This is the third book I've read by this author, and I remain a fan.
This is a kind of literary love letter, from a father to a daughter, with an unexpectedly heartbreaking almost end - redeemed at the last minute by an apparently optimistic ending. The characters are both flawed and perfect, thanks to those flaws, and although I am confused by how big Alice seems to be, with more than one high school, for example, the island also plays its role. An enjoyable and thought-provoking read, which highlighted for me the number of surely very worthy books I have yet to read.