✨ Review ✨ Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner

I admit I was a little bit hesitant about this one of reading some of the reviews but I LIVED for the slow gentle pace of this book.

Bloomsbury Girls centers on the stories of three women in the 1950s UK bookstore Bloomsbury Books. It explores their efforts to make innovative contributions to the store despite the limiting men surrounding them. It explores their quests, their love lives, and ultimately, their desires for gaining more control of the store in a world that still favored men.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: historical fiction, women's fiction
Location: London
Pub Date: out now!

I reveled in the slow pace of this book, and loved the everyday sorts of adventures explored here. I loved how it integrated women's efforts to gain more control in the workplace, alongside the coterie of authors and their spouses who appear in this book. It was such a celebration of books and literature alongside a growing sense of feminism. The 1950s postwar setting was also really compelling as these women and those surrounding them had to adapt in a rapidly changing world. In this way, it gave me almost Downton Alley vibes as they reconciled with post-WWI life (but with the focus on more common working/middle-class folks).

With all that said, this certainly isn't a book for everyone. I can see where its slow pace and historical setting might turn some off. However, this was really lovely and the perfect audiobook to get me through a long car ride!

(NOTE, this is somewhat of a sequel to the Jane Austin Society, and while it references with book with some regularity, it made sense without reading it first. I do think having read it, I'd have had greater appreciation for some of the characters.)

Read this if you like:
⭕️ BOOKS and bookstores
⭕️ strong female characters
⭕️ quests to find hidden books
⭕️ 1950s postwar narratives of change and adaptation
⭕️ love stories that occur as "side stories" in a larger narrative

Thanks to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, and #netgalley for an advanced audio and e-copies of this book!

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner is the second book in the Jane Austen society series; however, you don’t need to read these in order to enjoy this book. Evie Stone is a member of the Jane Austen society, a group that helped save Jane Austen’s home in The Jane Austen Society. Now a graduate of Cambridge, she has moved to London to work at Bloomsbury Books, having been denied an academic position in Cambridge because she’s a woman. It is 1950, the war is over, and the men are returning. The women who have worked in the jobs the men had before the war are expected to return to the home, and let the men take over again.
But in Bloomsbury Girls, we meet Evie, and a host of other women, determined to steer a course for themselves. Vivian and Grace are Evie’s co-workers. Vivian is a single woman-her fiancée died early in the war, and Grace is a married woman whose husband is suffering the impact of having fought in the war, leaving Grace to pick up the pieces of their troubled marriage.
As they work in the bookstore, they meet Mrs. Browning, who is revealed to be a very famous authoress. They also meet the wife of a famous author who yields some power herself. These women form great bonds and come together to ensure that the future is great for all the women in the bookshop.
I absolutely adored this book! I loved the historical and literary characters who popped up in the bookshop! I loved the relationship that built among the women. I listened to a podcast this week in which the podcaster said something to the effect of “The joy is in reading this book!”. That is the feeling I had when reading-Joy.
Thank you to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the advanced copy of #bloomsburygirls. I look forward to the next installment of the Jane Austen Society!

This was a beautiful book that stole my heart. I found it to be a slow read but that is sometimes good as I am typically a super fast reader. It forced me to stop and spend more time with these women.

What is not to like with a novel about an English bookshop, a group of diverse employees and famous writers here and there. Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner is that book. The time is after World War II. The place is London, which is beautifully described as characters wander there on their days off. Bloomsbury Books has been in business for a hundred years and not much has changed in that time. The management of this establishment are all male. There are three female employees: Vivien, Grace and Evie. Life is not easy to navigate for the women in more ways than one. The relationship between men and women is at the center of this intricate plot. The rest of the story you must read for yourself. Natalie Jenner has written a thoughtful, honest and fair look at life in a post-war London bookshop and reading Bloomsbury Girls is an absolute pleasure. This is historical fiction at its best. A cup of tea, a comfy corner and this book is all you need for a satisfying read. Highly recommended.

thank you to netgalley and publishers for providing an e-copy for me to read and leave behind my honest opinions. All thoughts and any recommendation comes from me only.

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner is the second book I have read by Natalie Jenner. I truly enjoyed her first book ‘The Jane Austen Society’ When it came to my attention that Ms. Jenner was out with another book I was eager to read it. There is a main character and several secondary characters in both books. It is however, not necessary to read them in order. Each can easily stand alone.

The time period is during the 1950’s London. The majority of the setting takes place in a century old book store named Bloomsbury’s Books. There are three strong female characters in this novel who are trying to make women’s voices heard during a time when men still dismissed them.

The bookstore is owned by a Lord and is managed by a grumpy conservative man who likes to keep women in traditional roles. To keep the status quo and keep his employees “in line” he has compiled a list of 51 rules for the store’s employees. The various departments in the shop are managed by men with the women serving in traditional roles like secretarial duties, making the tea (four times a day) and working at the cashier’s desk despite their obvious intelligence and capabilities. One of the women is unhappily married with two small children. The second woman was engaged to an aristocrat who was killed during the war. Lastly the third woman who the reader meets in ‘The Jane Austen Society’. She has graduated from Griton College in the first class of women admitted to Cambridge. She was hoping for a research assistant position but was overlooked in favor of her less than talented male colleague. With no source of money she approaches Bloomsbury Books for a position in their rare book department.

In many ways this is a story about three women who are at the cutting edge of the feminist movement, showing the power women can have when working together for a common goal. However, this novel is just not a novel about women and the way they were treated in the 1950s. The men in the novel are also asked to re-examine themselves and what they most want from life and how the educated women may fit in. I would also like to mention that the century old bookstore is not only the setting but is a strong character in the novel.
In the end this is a charming, enjoyable and uplifting read which I could not put down. When I finished ‘The Jane Austen Society’ I was eagerly awaiting Ms. Jenner’s next novel. Here I am again, wondering what Ms. Jenner has in store for us next. Well done!

I would like to thank Ms. Jenner, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare bookstore that has resisted change for a hundred years. It is run by men and guided by the general manager’s unbreakable fifty-one rules, but in post-war 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing. At Bloomsbury Books, the women who work in the shop have plans.

Vivien Lowry: Brilliant and stylist, Vivien has been single since her aristocratic fiancé died fighting during World War II. A budding writer, she works in the shop’s fiction department. Grace Perkins: Married with two young sons, she’s been working to support the family following her husband’s mental breakdown in the war's aftermath. Evie Stone: In the first class of female students from Cambridge permitted to earn a degree, they denied Evie a position as a research assistant in favor of her less accomplished male rival. Now she catalogues books.

Although the business is struggling, the owner is reluctant to sell, because it is a London fixture. In post-war London, these three women are determined to battle misogyny and find their own way. If they work together, their dreams just might come true. The characters all have secrets, secrets that could change their lives if exposed.

Remember on Seinfeld when Jerry and George pitched a sitcom about nothing to network executives? Well, that’s how I felt about the first half of this novel. It focused on plodding character sketches without much of a plot and I had a hard time keeping my mind off my grocery list. When the pace picked up, I started to enjoy it. I particularly liked the literary and cultural references to Daphne du Maurier, Samuel Beckett, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (widow of George Orwell), and Peggy Guggenheim.

The author used some clever writing conventions. For example, each chapter begins with one of the 51 rules that are posted in the bookshop and then the storyline deals with that rule. The book is richly detailed with a strong sense of place and has well-drawn characters, some delightfully unlikeable. I adored the ending. Bloomsbury Girls is a light summer read fans of The Jane Austen Society, also by Jenner, will find charming. Other reviewers liked it better; I give it 3.5 stars.

The Bloomsbury Bookstore in London has been a male dominated business for one hundred years. All that changes when three strong women, Evie, Vivien and Grace start working there in post-war London. Evie, was one of the first women to graduate from Cambridge University. When she is overlooked for a research job in favor of a man, she starts working at Bloomsbury books and on the hunt for a rare book she things is there. Vivien is an aspiring writer whose wealthy fiancé has died. She is stuck as a cashier but wants to do more then that at the bookstore. Grace is in an unhappy marriage with a husband who has scars from the war. She has to work at Bloomsbury Books as a secretary to support them and her two sons.

The bookstore is ruled by fifty-one rules set-up by Mr. Dutton, the store manager. Each chapter starts with one of the rules. When Mr. Dutton becomes ill and Evie saves his life, things begin to change. He has to take time off and the women begin to take a more important role in the bookstore. They have progressive ideas and start a literary lunch with Daphne Du Maurier as their first author. They also add more books by women writers and set-up displays that are very popular. However, all of this is temporary when Mr. Dutton returns to work, despite his doctor’s orders.

Evie Stone is a character form the previous novel by Natalie Jenner, The Jane Austen Society. I haven’t read it yet but you don’t have to have read it to read Bloomsbury Girls. This book has romance, real life people from the writing and publishing world in the 1950’s and the literature major in me really liked that aspect of this book. It was kind of slow at times but I was interested in the characters and what would ultimately happen with them. I liked the ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a complimentary copy for an honest review.

If you enjoy historical fiction set in the UK, you are going to love Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner. Continuing with the character Evie, one of the characters from her debut novel, The Jane Austen Society, Jenner builds a wonderful story of Evie, Vivien, and Grace as they navigate the challenges of working in a bookstore in a post WWII London.
All three women are ambitious and have distinct voices and challenges. While from diverse backgrounds, they form a bond as they face the same challenges of being career-focused women in a male dominated profession. I love the strength of these wonderful women. Their story is complex and engaging and beautifully written by Jenner. A bonus with this book is that it references several historical figures including Daphne De Maurier, Samuel Beckett, and Peggy Guggenehim.
Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martins Press for the ARC. Pub date is May 17, 2002.

#netgalley #stmartinspress #bloomsburygirls #nataliejenner #bookstore #london

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Ready for another book about booksellers and writers? Natalie Jenner’s new historical novel, Bloomsbury Girls, is a delight.

Set in London in late 1949-early 1950, this post-war story follows the fates of three strong women as they cope with the world as it is and try to change it for the better. Vivien Lowry is a strikingly beautiful woman who lost her fiancé to the war. A talented writer, she has taken a job in the fiction department of Bloomsbury books to pay the bills while she secretly pursues her art. Grace Perkins, an abused wife and mother of two young sons, finds temporary escape from an unbearable home life as a secretary to the manager of the store. Evie Stone (first introduced in Jenner’s previous charming novel, The Jane Austen Society) has come to the bookstore after graduating from Cambridge and finding that, despite her very evident talents, the world of academia favors mediocre men over brilliant women. She once again takes up cataloguing rare books, but has a secret, ambitious plan of her own.

The novel brings to life the post-war literary world and explores the limitations on women that are particularly galling after the crucial homefront roles they played during the war. It is the female friendships that drive the story, but each of the women has a love interest as well. The men in the story are not exactly secondary in importance, but their roles are to antagonize or to support the women.

It’s a quiet book, one that I picked up and put down many times before finishing. Nevertheless, it was not one I would have considered giving up on. I wanted to see how the three women would succeed and what that success would look like.

The novel stands alone very well, but I recommend reading The Jane Austen Society first, both for some backstory and because that book is so wonderful it shouldn’t be missed.

The setting was superb, as were the way the 3 female leads were portrayed. I love a good strong female storyline! The writing in this one was a bit flat for me, I had a hard time connecting with the story. I wasn’t as invested as I wanted to be and got a bit bored. I struggled to finish, but I did enjoy the ending.

Immense gratitude to #NetGalley for the e-book ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bloomsbury Girls is a character driven novel by Natalie Jenner. I would say that one of Ms. Jenner's strengths in her ability to construct diverse characters who drive a story. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel from cover to cover. Another brilliant novel set after World War II that touches on the whole ranges of human emotions and relationships including being passed over due to gender or culture. This story is about three female characters working in a Bookshop, during a vastly changing world,I highly recommend it.

"Bloomsbury Girls" describes the lives and struggles of three women who work at a London bookstore right after World War II. While each of them deals with her own personal doubts and crises, they come together during a time when women were not empowered to make decisions, in a male-dominated world.

This is a character-driven novel that follows up on "The Jane Austen Society" story and includes some of the characters from that novel. The bookstore setting drew me in immediately, and gave me a flavor of the details of working in a bookstore. The character sketches of the women and the ways in which their lives intersected carried the story forward. Readers who enjoy detailed descriptions and strong female protagonists will find this to their liking.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

I absolutely adored The Jane Austen Society and was excited to see Natalie Jenner's latest on NetGalley. In Bloomsbury Girls, Jenner delivers another historical fiction masterpiece. Her characters a vividly drawn and relatable, and her sense of place is immersive and detailed. The struggles of these three distinctly different, yet presciently similar, women are elevated above the ordinary tropes of sexism and limiting cultural and social norms. A vividly drawn portrait of post-war London's literary zeitgeist, Bloomsbury Girls feels at once serious and studious, yet is well-paced and perfect for a summer book club read.

I received a digital galley of this book in exchange for an honest review, and loved this one so much that I purchased a hardcover for my permanent collection.

What a witty and wise story about books, friendship and finding your voice! I wish the pace had been a bit more brisk - there were times when not a lot happened - but I loved the characters (and that Evie from The Jane Austen Society made an appearance!) and the sisterhood they forge. If you love books and bookstores, give this one a read!

3.5 stars

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the copy to review.

https://mauriceonbooks.wordpress.com/2022/06/29/bloomsbury-girls-by-natalie-jenner/

Three strong women, One century old bookshop. London. Rare and new books. Complicated relationships. Settle in and enjoy the ride .

Jenner follows upon the success of her hugely popular Jane Austen Society (2020) with the 1950s London-based story, Bloomsbury Girls, about three shopgirls, a century-old bookshop, and much feuding between the male staff and the female staff to take ownership of the shop.

My Full Review: http://keirasoleore.blogspot.com/2022/06/review-bloomsbury-girls-by-natalie.html

This historical fiction novel, set in 1950's London, is a follow-up to The Jane Austen Society, by Natalie Jenner. It concentrates on three women who have had to return to their old lives when the men return home after the war. The characters are intriguing and the reader is pulled into their stories. Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for sharing an ARC ebook with me in exchange for my honest review.

This charming narrative evokes both the post-WWII era as well as the present times. Its themes of defiant love, romance, changing times in Europe are evocative of contemporary issues. The characters are well drawn. The intrigue of what goes on "behind the shelves" in this bookstore captured my attention from page one.

This book was a charming glimpse into life for women mid century, following WW2. I didn’t realize when I started this book that it continued the story of Evie that was started in The Jane Austen Society, Jenner’s first book. I had read the first one, and the details came back to me quickly. All three of the main female characters in the book were well fleshed out and you were able to see their faults as well as their positive attributes. It was a bit discouraging to see the realistic portrayal of how much of a “man’s world” it was at the time.

It’s post-war London and three women of varying backgrounds and ages find themselves working together at Bloomsbury Books. Vivien, an outspoken aspiring writer is behind the cash counter; Grace, a mother and discontented wife to a man scarred by the war is Secretary to the General Manager; and Evie Stone, a young female graduate of Cambridge who was recently passed over for a research assistant position in favor of a less qualified male, is hired at Bloomsbury Books to catalogue the rare books on the third floor. These three intelligent, abundantly capable women are desirous of more meaningful positions in the shop, but their fresh, innovative ideas are often hastily dismissed; their ambitions and creativity stifled by the men in charge even though their combined efforts create a beneficial symmetry that cannot be denied. This is especially true of the General Manager whose fifty-one rules govern Bloomsbury Books and must be abided by—rules that have deprived the shop of profit to the dismay of its owner, the Earl, Lord Jeremy Baskin. Lord Baskin is confident in the womens’ abilities to effect positive change in the shop, however, he’s reluctant to usurp any authority he has entrusted to his male management team. But when a bad decision on the part of one of his trusted male employees causes a chain of events that will change the trajectory of all of their lives, the women prove to be more shrewd than anyone expected.

I loved this book! While it’s not a sequel to The Jane Austen Society (one of my favorite *Top Pick* books of 2021, also by Natalie Jenner), characters from the book are present in Bloomsbury Girls, including one of the main characters, Evie Stone. While it can most definitely be read and thoroughly enjoyed as a stand-alone I highly recommend reading The Jane Austen Society preceding it.

There’s so many great elements comprising this book. Each chapter heading begins with one of the fifty-one rules from the shop and then proceeds with how that particular rule is broken by mostly the female staff at Bloomsbury Books. 😂 I thought this was a clever way to formulate the narrative. I enjoyed the womens’ tenacity in shaping their professional and personal lives and their determination to change the impressions of a woman’s worth. My heart leapt at the mention of famous female authors who attended the literary luncheons the ladies orchestrated, along with discussions of their published books, some of which I’ve read and enjoyed during my lifetime. The name dropping of famous authors, bookstores, classic books and well known publishers excited me. 😃
The women of the shop triumph with their intuitive ideas on how to bring recognition and popularity to the status quo Bloomsbury Books. I was rooting for them in life and in love. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.