The Lost bookshop by Evie Woods


This was a wonderful book with a dual timeline story.


In the past timeline in the 1921s we follow Opaline who escapes her older brother who tries to force her to marry a complete stranger. She flees London to Paris where she gets a job at a bookshop. It doesn’t take long before she has to leave Paris and flee again.


In the present timeline we follow Martha who escapes her abusive husband and gets a job as a live-in housekeeper to Ms. Bowden in Dublin. Martha gets to know a man called Henry. Henry is researching and looking for a missing manuscript that could be in a bookshop that used to be somewhere near the house where Martha now works.


I loved how the author weaved these two stories together. I loved many of the characters and very much disliked some of them. This is a book for anyone who loves books.


Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the opportunity to read this book.

The Lost Bookshop was definitely a love letter to classic fiction and it meant I totally missed the mark for this one. The dual narrative followed two different women - their connection I felt was obvious from the start so that reveal was a bit lacking. There was another reveal closer to the end which I did appreciate though not enough to save this book for me.
I felt the characters weren't fleshed out enough. One made awful decisions with men and suffered insta-love constantly over and over. It was hard work and they both were victims of convenience to move their stories forward.
In contrast, the narrative was easy to read, not too dense and felt like it would be a quick holiday read if the content was more interesting for me. I'll still look to read the authors other books if they appeal due to this as I appreciate an easy narrative style.

I completely fell in love with this story, it was just lovely.
The only reason it wasn’t a five star was because it took me a while to get into it at the beginning but it soon wounds its way into a delightful story with interesting characters and perspectives across different timelines. This had me so invested and I really think this book would appeal to so many people! Really enjoyed this one.

I adored this book from start to finish.
Unique, atmospheric and just so magical.

The connection of the characters was fantastic, The dual timeline was perfection.

Talking of perfection, the ending was as it should have been.

LOVED IT!!!

I loved this book. It drew you in from the start. The twists were great. We were always left guessing and what you think you know turns out you don’t.
Definitely a reread book for me

This book was phenomenal! I found that the storytelling was so rich and filled with detail - without being weighty. The characters are multifaceted and engaging and as the dual timelines become woven together, the characters continue to take shape which was fascinating - they didn’t stay stagnant and predictable. Opaline’s story is heartbreaking and riveting at the same time and I really enjoyed her strength of character - which you also saw mirrored in Martha - surviving domestic abuse and moving on with her life. I loved the magical element to this story as well, when the bookshop begins to reveal itself and how that brings all three characters’ story together (Opaline, Martha and Henry). This is a book I feel like I could reread and be as captivated the second time through. Highly recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the electronic advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading this but I ended up not enjoying it like I thought I would. I think other people would enjoy it though.

The lost Bookshop by Eve Woods, is a nice book. I didn't love it, but I don't regret reading it either. I found it quite slow, but the storyline itself was good

This was a. truly wonderful story with lovely characters. I don't want to give away the storyline, but if you like a little magic in your stories and are an ardent book lover at heart then you will love this.

Every now and then I like to pick up a book that is not necessarily a go to read to give me a break and cleanse my pallet so to speak and this time The Lost Bookshop fit the bill perfectly. Told via dual timeline through the eyes of Opaline, Martha, and Henry we follow their lives and Henry’s determination to find a missing bookshop.
Opaline’s story takes us to 1920’s Dublin and charts her struggles to escape her claustrophobic family life and the arranged marriage that her brother has lined up for her. Her love of books sees her travel to France and begin working in a bookshop there. When her new life is threatened she returns home and tries once again to make her own way. Martha has finally plucked up the courage to leave her abusive husband and finds employment as a housemaid to a very reclusive lady who appears to have some strange habits yet despite this does seem to actually care about Martha and this becomes evident further into the book. Henry is a bit of a over focused academic who is determined to find out what happened to a bookshop that should have been located right next to the house that Martha now works in. He is convinced that he has actually been in the premises but now there is no trace of it at all.
As the book progresses you can see the similarities between Opaline and Martha and the circumstances they have found themselves in. Although times had clearly changed it shows that for some the attitudes hadn’t and the way that strong women were dealt with never ended well. As you become involved in their stories you are constantly hoping that they will eventually find what they are looking for. I found it harder to take to the character of Henry, probably down to his initial focus on finding what he wanted with no thought to others and when he disappeared from Martha’s life for a while I will admit I was a little relieved.
There is definitely a magical/mystical element to this book that runs throughout the present-day timeline and the further I got into the book the more I looked forward to these parts of the story as things are revealed and the timelines come together. If you love your books to have that bit of myth and magic then this may be one for you

I wanted to love this book but I struggled to finish it. I found myself putting it down very often. It just wasn’t grabbing my attention. There was a lot going on and I don’t like reading out physical and verbal abuse. This book was not for me.
Thank you NetGalley, Evie and HarperCollins for the ARC!

This magical, evocative story reads as a hymn of love for books and readers and kept me spellbound throughout. I very much enjoyed the dual narratives and the clever way they were woven together and felt so much empathy for the main protagonists.

A book about the magic of books? What is not to like about that? I loved the magical realism, the romance, and the way the author dove into the power of stories and the way they take hold of us to weave this one.

Martha flees an abusive marriage and goes to Dublin and becomes a live in housekeeper for an unusual woman at an unusual address. She meets Henry who is searching for a bookshop but the address brings him to Martha’s. Opaline, is a woman who discovers her family has tricked her and is now traveling the continent in search of an elusive memory. Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives. Now a magical bookshop is going to bring them all together and discover something wonderful. A great story.

Immersive and engaging. A recommended purchase for collections where bookish women's fiction is popular.

Magical and captivating. An absolute delight of a book. Martha is lost. She has left her husband and come to Dublin with nothing. There she meets Henry who is looking for a bookshop once owned by Opaline Gray. Henry saw the bookshop once when he was very drunk but it has disappeared.
Opaline's story is fascinating in it's own right. She adored her father who died when she was quite young and has a bullying, vicious brother who treats her appallingly.
Add in Madame Bowden who is the owner of the house where the bookshop stood and who becomes Martha's employer and friend and you have a delicious story of love, friendship and survival.
The book also has a brilliant line: Martha says to a young boy ' The thing about books is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of ' Which is, of course, why we all read.

This is a book for book lovers, with a dual timeline. ( a bit of magic), and the history of books, papers . It was unbelievable but totally believable at the same time, so many references and stories that keep you wanting more.

The Lost Bookshop – Evie Woods

I received a copy of this book through Net Galley.

Evie Woods is the pen name of author Evie Gaughan. Living on the west coast of Ireland Evie enjoys writing her books in her converted attic and enjoying the weather.



The tales told in this book all center around a magical book shop that has a habit of vanishing from time to time.

And it is this shop that Henry is determined to find as well as the missing second manuscript of Emily Bronte – if it even exists that is.

It’s on this journey that he meets Martha – a young woman on a journey of her own. Escaping an abusive husband and trying to find herself, who she is and want she wants from life.

Together they look for something magical and a touch other worldly. Digging up the truth about this bookstore they also uncover the story of Opaline. Like a ghost from the past Opaline is trying to escape the controlling clutches of her brother and live her own life when she discovers a quaint little shop and makes it into something else.



“The Lost Bookshop” is quaint story about a quaint little lost bookshop, with different timelines and stories trying to meld with each other. Generally, I don’t mind dual timeline but with this story it made it really hard to follow the story and see how it all was to meld together until the last handful. Unfortunately, that really affected my enjoyment of the story. It made the pace of the story telling seem really disjointed and very much stop and start. I did enjoy the scenes of Opaline – she has been through so much, so much hardness and sadness yet still managed to find some light in it all. Martha's own story had similar echoes of Opaline’s. I very much liked the concept of a magical, disappearing bookshop. I just wish the pace of the story flowed together a little more.

What a rollercoaster of emotions, anger, disgust,grief,fear,hope,
joy and anticipation all wrapped in an incredibly powerful story. The burden of always feeling controlled by others,living in their shadow,constant self doubt,not standing behind your choices and desires, questioning your abilities and feeling terribly unsure of yourself and your life choices can be a tremendous struggle. All the characters seem entangled in a world past and present,where their dreams are so close yet unattainable. Until,they believe in a bigger and better life they deserve.
The Lost Bookshop will keep you riveted to the end. I couldn’t stop smiling.
I received a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions in this review are my own.

Sounded interesting & promising, however seemed like too many ideas were trying to be crammed into one book and ultimately failed to deliver.