A Bookshop Summer – Stephanie Butland

Today she’s wearing a black linen dress with peach flowers on it. It’s crumpled to bits, but the fact that Loveday clearly doesn’t care means that, somehow, she looks good. Though that might not be down to the not-­caring about her dress. It might be the fact that she got married six weeks ago, and is really, really happy. ‘Not back at work,’ Nathan says, ‘allegedly. Our flight landed a couple of hours ago and Loveday thought we should drop in on the way back.’

He smiles at his wife and she smiles back in a way that gets Trixie right in the heart. ‘We’ve had an amazing time,’ Loveday says, looking around, ‘but it’s good to be home.’ Loveday is known for her love of personal space, but when she holds her arms out to Dorothea, that’s permission for everyone. She hugs Madison, then Kelly, then Trixie.

‘Everything’s been fine,’ Trixie says, and Loveday says, ‘I know. I just wanted to see the shop.’ She pauses. ‘And all of you.’ A shattered Nathan heads off shortly afterwards – ‘I wish I could sleep on planes the way Loveday does’ – and Kelly, Madison and Dorothea follow, with plans for bath-­time and story time and then, Madison says, ‘wine for two thirds of us’.

Kelly laughs, and says, ‘It’s so good that you’re old enough for us to drink together.’ Trixie thinks of how Kelly has made her situation work, even though it began unpromisingly. Dorothea’s father is also Madison’s father; when Kelly and Craig were together, he had kept the fact that he was married concealed from her.

And yet, she seems happy. Maybe happiness is a knack that Trixie just doesn’t have, like dressing stylishly or making mayonnaise from scratch. Loveday and Trixie are left alone in the shop. Loveday checks her watch then turns the sign to ‘closed’. ‘Would you like something?’ Trixie asks. ‘Tea? Or there are some drinks in the fridge?’ Loveday shakes her head. ‘I don’t think I want anything,’ she says. ‘Except to text my mum that we’re home and then sit in the reading garden and breathe.’

Of course, Trixie thinks, that’s another thing. Kelly’s dad and Loveday’s mum are in a relationship. Kelly seems to have the ability to make a family; the opposite of whatever Trixie does. She thinks of Madame Bovary, the self-­centred heroine of Gustave Flaubert’s novel, and tells herself not to make it all about her. Except the trouble with living your life is that it is all about you.

‘Of course.’ So Trixie potters around, tidying up and putting away, washing the day’s mugs that have accumulated in the sink, and locating the books that have been bought via the website so that tomorrow she can pack them up and post them.

Author photo © Alan Butland Stephanie Butland is the author of eight novels, including the beloved bookshop tales Lost For Words and Found in a Bookshop. Stephanie lives near the sea in the north-east of England, with her husband Alan and Harris the greyhound. She writes in a studio at the bottom of her garden.

For fun, she reads, knits, bakes, walks, and goes to the cinema and theatre. Stephanie loves to talk books and meet readers, and is an occasional performance poet. Keep in touch with Stephanie on her website here on X @under_blue_sky on Facebook /stephaniebutlandauthor and on Instagram @StephanieButlandAuthor 1kitap1.com/en Praise for Stephanie Butland ‘Compelling, eye-­opening and heart-­stirring, this book is unputdownable’ Katie Fforde ‘A beautiful writer, she always writes with such attentive compassion and warmth’ Carys Bray ‘A really delightful book .

. . lots of brilliant recommendations along the way’ Adèle Geras ‘Absolutely gorgeous . . . compelling, compassionate’ Sarah Franklin ‘A warm and moving read with the healing power of books at its heart’ Kate Storey ‘Burns fiercely with love and hurt’ Linda Green ‘This delightful, well-­observed story will captivate readers until the very last page’ Candis ‘Intriguing and touching’ Sunday Express ‘A really moving read – with great book recommendations included, too!’

My Weekly ‘A beautiful book’ Prima 1kitap1.com/en By Stephanie Butland A Bookshop Summer The Second Chance Book Club Found in a Bookshop Nobody’s Perfect The Woman in the Photograph The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae Lost For Words The Other Half of My Heart Letters To My Husband Non-­fiction Thrive: The Bah!

Guide to Wellness After cancer How I Said Bah! to cancer 1kitap1.com/en When the Lost For Words bookshop hosts a ‘reading aloud’ book group, four strangers come together, with surprising results . . . Trixie has set up the group. She loves her job as a bookseller, and her broken heart is finally mending – or so she thinks. Then her ex calls. Cherry is only here for a break. Caring for her grandmother is exhausting and lonely.

Maybe things would be different if her long-absent sister would come home. Rhiannon and Guy hit it off instantly; it feels like the start of something special. Soon she’s looking forward to seeing him again. But there’s something she really needs to tell him . . . From strangers to friends to maybe something more? It all starts with the love of books in this captivating, heartwarming new novel from the author of The Second Chance Book Club and Found in a Bookshop.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 1ee0114fb3f4378c
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 3,340,198 bytes (3.185 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781035431830
• Pages: 261
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 419.23 minutes
• Total Words: 83,846
• Total Characters: 455,438
• Average Words per Page: 321.25
• Average Characters per Page: 1744.97

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