Thank you to the author, publisher and Rebecca's Book Review wins (FB group).

I'm not really into espionage and I've tried to read other books like this but I thought the subplot of the bookstore might be more interesting too. A lot of history with the A-bomb, cold war etc. Not boring but not my taste. I like Celia who works in the bookstore and trying to get ahead in life with taking typing and shorthand.

I got to my usual 100 pages and thought let's get to the crux of this book and plot already. I was tired of Celia and her life.

I decided not to finish this. It was going to be a long book since it was 416 pages. ( )

The London Bookshop Affair is a delightful dual timeline story set in 1962, during the Cold War, and 1942, during World War II. In 1962 London, Celia works in an antiquarian bookshop. She enjoys her work but there's a part of her that longs for more. Her parents are quite strict and her life sometimes feels rather small. When circumstances at the bookshop change, combined with a charming stranger entering her life, maybe she's about to get the excitement she's been looking for. The 1940s story is not as prominent but it's very important. It follows Anya who has been sent to France as part of the resistance and who is betrayed. How the two timelines are linked isn't immediately clear but I thought they came together really well.

I don't know a lot about the Cold War and so this was an interesting read for me. Louise Fein doesn't overload the reader with information about espionage and the very real threat at the time of nuclear war, but she does give just enough to facilitate Celia's story and to add a bit of an exciting element overall.. I liked Celia, who has quite a steely core underneath what seems like a quite naïve personality at times. I really enjoyed her work at the bookshop and her quest to improve herself. I also found Anya's story fascinating and heartbreaking.

The London Bookshop Affair is such an engaging book. It took me to post-Second World War London when the memories of that war were still fresh in people's minds, and the prospect of another devastating war was unthinkable. It covers many absorbing subjects, with some really well-drawn characters, from Celia's downtrodden parents, to the mysterious Mrs Denton at the bookshop, and our two feisty heroines of course. Fein always writes emotive and enthralling historical fiction and this is no exception. I enjoyed it very much. ( )

This novel had a slow start, but I stuck with it and midway through I felt thoroughly engaged in the story. Celia, a young woman living in London, works in a bookshop that's recently changed hands. As Celia gets to know the new owner and new customers, she also starts to learn new things about her own history. Overall, this novel made for a fun, interesting read that captures the spirit of a moment in time. ( )