“The right book in the hands of the right person at exactly the right moment can change their life forever.”

This resplendent first sentence in the transcendent new novel by Libby Page, THIS BOOK MADE ME THINK OF YOU, was more than enough to enthrall this reader. Libby Page writes of loss, grief, family, friendship, second chances, and love. It is a story about the human condition.

When it comes to love, the author explores deeply the love we have for our lost ones, for friends old and new, for potential new life partners, and most especially, for books and bookshops and the roles both can play in our lives.

Readers will find passages filled with wondrous insight, compelling them to annotate the text and return to these ideas again and again: “Maybe this is what books do, she thinks, whether stories real or imagined or poems compiled in one place for people to flick through in search of what they need. They offer something universal but allow you to find your own meaning among the words. They are for everyone and yet they are for you too.”

This book — this love letter to books, reading, and bookshops — found me at the right moment, when I was feeling disheartened and contemplating a change to my own life story. Reading it — experiencing it brought me to tears multiple times and put a smile on my face. It changed me, and I am the better for it. For that, I must thank the women who had the prescience to bring it to my attention; and to Libby Page, I must thank you for writing a book that will impact the lives of those readers who stumble across THIS BOOK MADE ME THINK OF YOU. I know it will find them at the right moment and will change their lives, too.

6 ⭐️ / 5