OLLI-LITR-6137 - The Bookshop: A Tragicomedy of Literate Courage Under Siege

Course Description

In Penelope Fitzgerald's novel The Bookshop, Florence Green, a widow, decides to open a book shop in a small village on the English coast. Her decision, one of the villagers observes, is an indication of Florence's bravery since it shows she's "ready to chance unlikely things." Opening the bookshop does indeed turn out to be an unlikely venture. Florence's courage may not be enough for her to successfully navigate the treacherous currents that run below the surface of village life. Hermione Lee, author of a biography of Fitzgerald, described The Bookshop as a "joyous exercise in precise, eloquent detail." A reviewer called it "a memorable tragicomedy of stifling small-town English cruelties." The Bookshop was Fitzgerald's second novel, published in 1978 when she was 61. It was short-listed for the Booker Prize. "The Bookshop" Penelope Fitzgerald ISBN 978-0-544-48409-2.