The Bookshop Girl

"A lot of the comparisons in the reviews mention Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , and there is a comparison in that there’s a competition—but there the similarity ends. It’s warmer than Roald Dahl. I love Roald Dahl , but he’s got a delicious cruel streak. This is kind and witty. It’s very cleverly put together. She drops little clues that are then skillfully and effortlessly picked up later in the story. It has a very recognisable structure for a children’s story—which is comforting for a young reader. They know where they are. There are baddies, there are goodies. There’s a simplicity to it. Then the author creates the most complicated bookshop imaginable which she describes brilliantly. It’s very, very funny. I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed throughout it, as did my 8-year old daughter. It’s also rather wise. It imparts good life advice along the way, which comes over as advice from a loving and really rather fun aunt. This standardised structure for a children’s book is so beautifully and imaginatively played with, so beautifully expressed. Yes, she’s found in the lost property when she is five years old and is called Property Jones. That’s the setup. The lady who owns the bookshop and her son keep her. Because they work in a bookshop and live with books, they assume she can read because she’s five, but actually she can’t. Part of the story is about her hiding the fact that she can’t read, but that becomes a mover and shaker in the plot, because she sees things differently. That helps her solve the mystery. It’s subtly brilliant. Because it’s set in a bookshop and, to a certain extent, is about books and words, she plays with language and the meaning of words as well. The meaning of ‘goodbye’ is ‘God be with you,’ which means that you can come back again. This definition is used to satisfying effect in the plot."