A quiet story of finding a path in your life after great change. It's after World War II and Lucy Peuse, known as Mrs P has returned to the Aunt and Uncle who fostered her. They ahve run a small press for years and now with the end of the War there's a paper shortage and many small presses are falling by the wayside. She had married during the war after a whirlwind romance and while she did some war work. Sadly her husband dies. Her family have had psychic mediums in it, who claim to help ghosts move on.
Robert Underhill was a medical student before enlisting and was a prisoner of war for a while, now he's restless but Lucy's Aunt and Uncle take him in and give him a job and a place to stay in their old home.
Lucy is now living above the business and feeling displaced and in certain ways haunted. When she edits a book she finds a mystery and feels an urge to investigate but what she finds will change her and the book.
It's a gentle read, with characters who have to deal with ghosts in different ways, particularly as Robert and Lucy start feeling an attraction to each other. I would recommend it. ( )

Moving and thought provoking. I enjoyed this book very much. It takes place post WWII when Lucy leaves behind her tragic past and goes to help her Aunt and Uncle with their publishing business. ( )

I'm quite clear on what initially drew me to this book. It was the family publishing business amidst the post-war paper rationing. I thought it was a unique and interesting focus for a story. Set in 1946, Mrs P's Book of Secrets is a complex and intriguing tale.

Mrs P is Lucinda Peuse, working at her uncle's publishers. I had to smile as she worried about whether people were calling her Mrs P or Mrs Pea. She's a war widow and so has returned to her aunt and uncle's only to find that Robert Underhill is now living there and has also taken a job as editor at the publishers leaving her to step down to a secretarial role and live above the 'shop' so to speak.

This book is set in a really interesting time. The war has just ended but it took a long time for things to get back to normal afterwards. One thing that comes across from early on is how qualified Lucy is to do an editor's job and yet her uncle has passed her over for a man. I expect he wouldn't get away with it now! I did like Lucy's little bit of feistiness, her little digs at Robert when it seemed like he might be patronising her (although I'm not sure he actually was).

There's also a side story, a mystery surrounding the disappearance of a young girl which comes to light when Lucy meets an author, although in actual fact this is not really a mystery read, more a look at how people coped trying to return to everyday life after the devastation of a war.

Lorna Gray's writing is elegant and in depth. I felt like her prose could have been written in the era the book is set. It has that feel about it, a sense of a simpler time in many ways, even though the after war years were so difficult. There feels like none of the frantic pace of modern day life in this story. This modern day reader would perhaps have preferred a slightly faster paced read but that is personal taste and this book would definitely suit those who like to immerse themselves in a book and savour every word.

I will admit this book wasn't quite what I expected. I think I had in mind a fairly light-hearted story whereas it's much more serious. It's also a book that needs a fair deal amount of concentration to get to the heart of the story. Nevertheless, Gray has a flair for description and has clearly done her research to transport the reader back to the post-war era. ( )

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. The Book Ghost by Lorna Gray is a story that takes place shortly after the end of World War II. Widow Lucy Peuse has returned home to help out the aunt and uncle who raised her in their small publishing business. Things are much changed and the former prisoner of war Robert Underhill that her uncle hired as an editor seems to have usurped her place in the family home and business and secrets and mysteries abound both with her family and in the manuscript that Robert is editing and passes on to her. As Lucy comes to understand that only by dealing with her grief and the ghosts of the past that seem to haunt her present she finds first friendship and then perhaps love with Robert. I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it. Publishing Date December 14, 2019. #NetGalley #TheBooKGhost #LornaGray
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