The Bookshop on Jacaranda Street by Marlish Glorie

EXCERPT: Armed with an arsenal of cleaning products, cloths, buckets ladder and tools, Helen went at the old building with the relentless force of a prosecution lawyer hammering a witness under cross-examination. The grubby bookshop’s defence was meagre and came to pieces under Helen’s scrutiny, surrendering up its filth to her tireless hands.

The irony that she had left one dump to land in another did not escape her. But this time she was free to do as she pleased; for once, junk was subordinate to her. And she didn’t want Vivian’s help; she wanted this job, she’d earned the right to throw out whatever and however she pleased.

ABOUT ‘THE BOOKSHOP ON JACARANDA STREET’: Helen can’t sleep. Her husband’s hoarding tendencies have taken over not only their house, but their marriage too, and she needs out. In a moment of desperation, Helen burns her bed, and leaves. Seeking to rediscover herself, she rather spontaneously seizes the opportunity to buy a run-down secondhand bookstore. But when her two adult sons unexpectedly return home with their own problems, Helen’s attempt to turn her life into something out of a literary novel starts to look like more of a comedy of errors. As quirky characters browse the shelves of The Book Maze, and relationships are put to the test, Helen fights to write her own happy ending to her story.

MY THOUGHTS: The Bookshop on Jacaranda Street is the book that ended my reading slump. I loved this Australian family drama which begins with Helen chopping up and setting on fire the bed she cannot sleep on, dragged home from some deceased estate by her husband Arnold who has become an inveterate hoarder.

Helen is rather judgmental. She judges books by their cover, people by their appearance. She’s probably not the best person to own a second-hand bookstore, especially when she believes that anyone who doesn’t read classics is ill-educated. Thank goodness for Vivian her younger son who, although he suffers from depression, has a far more realistic grip on what customers want.

There are some wonderful characters; not the least is Razoo who is illiterate but owns a second-hand book warehouse.

This story is quirky, poignant, entertaining and utterly charming. Once started, I only put it down when I went to sleep, and then not voluntarily. Marlish Glorie tells a story of love and loss, of the harm of long-term hoarding, of grieving and the bonds of a very dysfunctional family.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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THE AUTHOR: Marlish Glorie is a novelist, short-story writer, mentor and teacher of creative writing. Marlish loves in Perth, Western Australia with her husband Lindsay.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Fremantle Press for providing a copy of The Bookshop on Jacaranda Street for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.