Set in Brooklyn just after the close of WWI, this novel is filled with observations about books and the literary trade. The entire profession of the bookseller is romanticized here; the task of matching customers with the most appropriate tome is portrayed as the noblest of avocations: “Malnutrition of the reading faculty is a serious thing.” Within the trappings of a bookstore, a mystery of German saboteurs is unraveled and a romance blossoms. Told with a healthy dose of humor (“It is only the very young who find satisfaction in lying abed in the morning.”) this is a very entertaining yarn, especially for a bibliophile.
First Sentence:
If you are ever in Brooklyn, that borough of superb sunsets and magnificent vistas of husband-propelled baby carriages, it is to be hoped you may change upon a quiet street where there is a very remarkable bookshop.
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