The British Booksellers by Kristy Cambron
Inspired by real accounts of the Forgotten Blitz bombings, The British Booksellers highlights the courage of those whose lives were forever changed by warand the stories that bind us in the fight for what matters most.
A tenant farmers son had no business daring to dream of a future with an earls daughter, but that couldnt keep Amos Darby from his secret friendship with Charlotte Terringtonuntil the reality of the Great War sobered youthful dreams. Now decades later, he bears the brutal scars of battles fought in the trenches and their futures that were stolen away. His return home doesnt come with tender reunions, but with the hollow fulfillment of opening a bookshop on his own and retreating as a recluse within its walls.
When the future Earl of Harcourt chose Charlotte to be his wife, she knew she was destined for a loveless match. Though her heart had chosen another long ago, she pledges her future even as her husband goes to war. Twenty-five years later, Charlotte remains a war widow who divides her days between her late husbands declining estate and operating a quaint Coventry bookshopEden Books, lovingly named after her grown daughter. And Amos is nothing more than the rival bookseller across the lane.
As war with Hitler looms, Eden is determined to preserve her fathers legacy. So when an American solicitor arrives threatening a lawsuit that could destroy everything theyve worked so hard to preserve, mother and daughter prepare to fight back. But with devastation wrought by the Luftwaffes local blitz terrorizing the skies, battling bookshopsand lost loves, Amos and Charlottemust put aside their differences and fight together to help Coventry survive.
From deep in the trenches of the Great War to the storied English countryside and the devastating Coventry Blitz of World War II, The British Booksellers explores the unbreakable bonds that unite us through love, loss, and the enduring solace that can be found between the pages of a book.
- Split timeline: WWI and WWII
- Stand-alone novel
- Book length: 118,000 words
- Includes discussion questions for book clubs