Books, new love and a small child

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin is set in a bookshop on a small island which is much visited by tourists in the summer. AJ is grumpy and has firm ideas about what books people should read – he is also very sad because his wife has just died and he is on his own. Then three things happen – a very valuable first edition disappears, a new publishing rep visits him and someone leaves a small child alone in his shop with a note asking him to look after the little girl.

This is a story about how a man’s life changes because love comes into it and how the whole community, and his family, support him to bring up his child. As such, it could have been far too sentimental for me but somehow the author managed to avoid overloading it with sugar and I found myself immersed in the story.

Although it is a feel-good book the story actually includes elements and people who aren’t always good. People die, dreams aren’t fulfilled, partners cheat and things don’t always go as you expect. There are a couple of sub-plots that reveal things to the reader that the characters don’t always know which adds another, often unexpected, layer to the book. The book follows other characters than just AJ. I also enjoyed the little descriptions that AJ writes for his adopted daughter about books he thinks she might read.

I enjoyed this story a lot more than I thought I would having read the description. I thought it was well done and avoided the over-sentimentality which ruins a lot of popular novels for me. I am always inclined to make extra allowances for stories set in bookshops and the references to novels and publishing added to the enjoyment for me. An unexpected pleasure.