Have you heard of Persephone Books, a unique – I use the word deliberately – bookshop located initially in London and recently moved to Bath of Jane Austen fame? I hadn’t either until searching for a Christmas present for a relative and came across this independent publishing company that reprints neglected works by women writers of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Some works by men are included!
The reason why I bring this up, admittedly rather bizarrely when reviewing the latest work by Oakville author Natalie Jenner, is that as your reviewer delved into the comings and goings, the struggles and triumphs of the three women working in the fictional Bloomsbury Books, a century-old bookstore In Lamb’s Conduit in Bloomsbury, London, the real Persephone Books kept coming into my mind. Then, low and behold, in the epilogue to this delightful novel, what do I find but Ms. Jenner’s tribute for the ‘creative and imaginative debt’ she owes to the women-run Persephone Books.
Debt she may feel, but her new novel, Bloomsbury Girls stands on its own as an entertaining and nuanced fictional recreation of women’s working lives in the 1940s – I can attest to the ambiance of having vague childhood memories of that dreary decade. Wry, with a light touch to the novel’s character, as well as impeccable research of the time with the appearance of such well-known literary figures of the time, as Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh.
Three ‘girls’ toil daily under the direction of their male superiors. Beautiful Vivien, whose titled fiancé was killed in the Second World War, sole breadwinner Grace who is torn between her dreams and caring for her war-broken husband and two young boys. And Evie Stone!
Does the name ring a bell? It will if you have read Jenner’s previous novel, The Jane Austen Society. Young Evie, once a maid-of-all-work and instrumental in that fictional account of the creation of the now-famous society, is, by the opening of Bloomsbury Girls, one of the first female students from Cambridge to be awarded a degree. With her plans for an academic future gone askew, Evie seeks a job at the bookshop.
Life is not easy for these three women, whose working lives are governed by literally dozens of rules which they must obey, but often circumvent or in at least one instance plain disobey in one of the many delightful examples of the book’s subtle humour:
‘Rule No. 26; no personal visit shall take place on the premises of the shop.’
‘Why hello!’ is the greeting to an obvious friend!
Ms. Jenner has always wanted to be a writer, even while she trained and practised as a lawyer; indeed, she admits to writing five books with absolutely no success before giving up on her dream and opening a small bookstore in downtown Oakville. Her husband’s sudden debilitating illness led to her closing her bookstore, but his later medical stabilization brought her peace of mind enough to write The Jane Austen Society, her first published novel that quickly became a bestseller.
Bloomsbury Girls is not a traditional follow-on from The Jane Austen Society, but the happenings in that first novel are referred to here and there, and several characters, particularly young Evie, appear in both books. I am reliably informed that there will be a third book completing this unusual and refreshing trilogy.
by Natalie Jenner will be published by St. Martin's Press on May 17, 2022, as a paperback priced at $23.99.