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Sto caricando le informazioni... Bloomsbury Girls (2022)di Natalie Jenner
Books Read in 2022 (565) » 4 altro Sto caricando le informazioni...
Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. 1950’s London and young women are starting to rattle the gates of establishment. They like the level of independence they earned during the war years and want to keep it! Bloomsbury Books has been a book store for over a hundred years and it’s a thing of beauty, original wood-panelling, three floors of books and a refined, old world ambience. There are rumblings afoot among the female staff however and the senior males don’t like having their rules flaunted or their feathers ruffled! The shop hasn’t been making money for some time and between them, Grace, Vivien and Evie are about to turn the place on its head. I liked each of these young women, they’re full of grit and a determination to get out from under the thumb of rules and tradition. To add a fun bit of interest to the story, wives and ex-lovers of some famous literary figures start to appear towards the end. These older women have, through their marriages and relationships acquired much wealth and many connections. So, with their help, just when you think our three shop girls are never going to change anything, each one manages to turn her life about! Bookshops, 1950’s fashion, old traditions versus emerging woman’s rights, an unknown first edition that appears in a mystery bubble all its own….if you like books about books, I think you’ll enjoy this. Well, this is a fun book. Must admit I picked it up because my dream life involves working at/ owning a bookstore, particularly with women friends. The Bloomsbury Girls are a group of three women who work in the bookstore. The author creates the world well- I’ve lived in London and it filled my head with thoughts of that complex, endlessly fascinating city. The women are entrapped in the rebalancing of the workplace after the end of WW2. While the men were gone to the war, it was fine to have women DO things, but afterwards they were all told to go home, re-tie those apron strings, squash any thoughts of other success. Evie is bumped from an academic position; Vivien is endlessly denied promotion; Grace is stuck with a brutal husband. The book swirls along various crises and triumphs. It is, frankly, unbelievable. Major female leaders of the time all become involved with the trio and are so impressed with them they send money and endless support. Vivien, a writer ho scrawls endlessly in a wire-bound book, but who can’t plot to save her life, ends up being taken under the wing of Samuel Beckett! Daphne Du Maurier and Peggy Guggenheim are major benefactors. The characters are caricatures. Evie, the academic, is quiet, endlessly referred to as “poor Evie” and small, but awesomely competent at her job. Vivien is loud and loose and over the top. Always angry, she can’t seem to have a conversation without causing a fight, and yet, is awesomely competent at her job. Her anger is never fully explained. And Grace is, of course, graceful and patient and loving and kind, conflicted at the thought of leaving her husband, avoiding conflict wherever she goes, and yet awesomely competent at her job. It’s a tiny bit annoying, all these perfect women. We aren’t given enough roundness to really care about any of these folks. Still, the book is an enjoyable read, not stressful, cheering as the women work their way through various smallish problems. The stakes never feel urgent, especially when all the heavy-hitting characters come in to support the women. (Because, sure, I’ve worked in retail and had people come in and offer to take my career to new heights. Yup. Happens all the time) So, a light, stress less read, with the requisite amount of romance tucked in. There’s an attempt at being edgy, with a gay couple and an interracial one, but these are all ultimately perfectly happy (again, quite unrealistic given the time). It’s all happiness and light. And sometimes we need that kind of read. A post-war bookshop in London sounds intriguing, however, I found this a little slow. It's a male-dominated world where women have to push to be noticed and obviously this is the beginning of change to the status quo. The three women in the bookshop, Vivien, Grace, and Evie, are from different classes and social backgrounds and here too changes are on the horizon. Their interaction with real-life literary women of the day gave the story some gravitas but not enough to carry it beyond light historical fiction. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
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"Natalie Jenner, the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, returns with a compelling and heartwarming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world in Bloomsbury Girls. Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare book store that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans: Vivien Lowry: Single since her aristocratic fiance was killed in action during World War II, the brilliant and stylish Vivien has a long list of grievances--most of them well justified and the biggest of which is Alec McDonough, the Head of Fiction. Grace Perkins: Married with two sons, she's been working to support the family following her husband's breakdown in the aftermath of the war. Torn between duty to her family and dreams of her own. Evie Stone: In the first class of female students from Cambridge permitted to earn a degree, Evie was denied an academic position in favor of her less accomplished male rival. Now she's working at Bloomsbury Books while she plans to remake her own future. As they interact with various literary figures of the time--Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (widow of George Orwell), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim, and others--these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow"-- Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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Bloomsbury Girls is the second entry in the Jane Austen Society series but it’s more of a spin‑off than a sequel. The setting, the time period, and most of the characters are different and the slight connection to the previous book is sufficiently explained. I’d enjoyed reading the first Jane Austen Society book a few years ago and was lucky enough to win the third one in a Goodreads Giveaway. Now I feel lucky twice over because winning gave me the push to pick this one up from my TBR list. ( )