Charlie Lovett

EDIT: Dropped to 4 stars upon rereading in 2021.


This wonderful tale had so many of the things I like in a book...shifting perspectives, interwoven timelines, genealogical implications, a literary setting, an understated love story, and an imaginative yet plausible-enough imaginative storyline all told with (contented sigh) properly-composed sentences and a wide selection of well-employed words.

Not quite the mind-spa of Shadow of the Wind, but I'm still giving this a Five Star rating because it was such a joy to read after a string of disappointments.… (more)

The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett is a literary mystery with elements of intrigue and conspiracy. It is an extremely compelling narrative of one vintage bookseller's healing from the death of his beloved wife. The author, a former antiquarian bookshop owner himself, spins an engaging story that examines the impact of literature, the agony of dying, and the potential for redemption.

1995 at Hay-on-Wye, England. Peter Byerly is unsure of what brought him to a specific bookstore. He had been devastated by the loss of his cherished wife, Amanda, nine months ago. The young antiquarian bookseller moved to the English countryside from North Carolina in an effort to rekindle his love of collecting and restoring old books. Peter, though, is startled when a picture of Amanda jumps out of an eighteenth-century study of Shakespeare forgeries. Naturally, she isn't there. Clearly a Victorian work of art, the watercolor. However, the similarity is uncanny, and Peter gets fixated on discovering the image's history.

Peter communicates with Amanda's spirit, discovers the truth about his own past, and comes across a manuscript that might provide conclusive evidence that Shakespeare was the author of all of his plays as he follows the trail back first to the Victorian age and then to Shakespeare's time. Characters in Lovett's debut book are interesting, and the plot is intriguing. It is filled with everything, including romance, mystery, and book restoration. It was a pleasure to read and, since I love books about books, it is sure to have a place as one of my favorite reads.… (more)