The Bookseller's Secret - by Michelle Gable

About the Book

Desperate for money, struggling young author Nancy Mitford takes a job managing the Heywood Hill bookshop, where she meets a mysterious French officer who has a compelling story to tell.

Book Synopsis

"The Bookseller's Secret is a delight from start to finish, a literary feast any booklover will savor!" --Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye

ARISTOCRAT, AUTHOR, BOOKSELLER, SPY--A THRILLING NOVEL ABOUT REAL-LIFE LITERARY ICON NANCY MITFORD FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A PARIS APARTMENT

In 1942, London, Nancy Mitford is worried about more than air raids and German spies. Still recovering from a devastating loss, the once sparkling Bright Young Thing is estranged from her husband, her allowance has been cut, and she's given up her writing career. On top of this, her five beautiful but infamous sisters continue making headlines with their controversial politics.

Eager for distraction and desperate for income, Nancy jumps at the chance to manage the Heywood Hill bookshop while the owner is away at war. Between the shop's brisk business and the literary salons she hosts for her eccentric friends, Nancy's life seems on the upswing. But when a mysterious French officer insists that she has a story to tell, Nancy must decide if picking up the pen again and revealing all is worth the price she might be forced to pay.

Eighty years later, Heywood Hill is abuzz with the hunt for a lost wartime manuscript written by Nancy Mitford. For one woman desperately in need of a change, the search will reveal not only a new side to Nancy, but an even more surprising link between the past and present...

*Don't miss The Beautiful People, Michelle Gable's next novel. On sale in April 2024 and available to preorder now!

Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR THE BOOKSELLER'S SECRET

"A thoroughly entertaining tale based on the life of a legendary author. With a vivid real-and-imagined cast of unforgettable characters, Gable expertly and cleverly delivers wit, humor, and intrigue in full measure on every page. What a delightful escape."
--Susan Meissner, bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things

"The Bookseller's Secret is a delight from start to finish. Michelle Gable skillfully twines the narratives of two effervescent heroines, a modern-day author with writer's block and her literary icon Nancy Mitford who is struggling to pen a bestseller in the middle of the London Blitz. The result is a literary feast any booklover will savor!"
--Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network and The Rose Code

"Michelle Gable delivers a triumphant tale that highlights the magic of bookshops and literature to carry people through even the darkest days of war. Featuring a colorful, witty, tenacious cast of characters, The Bookseller's Secret deftly connects two authors separated by generations while unraveling a mystery that keeps the pages turning. A delightful tribute to an intriguing historical legend."
--Kristina McMorris, New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday

"Gable's ingenious story connects two struggling authors, eighty years apart, and is an ode to fans of Nancy Mitford and book lovers everywhere. Filled with crisp dialogue and populated with delightful, intriguing characters, the novel sings with wit and wisdom."
--Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue

"The Bookseller's Secret is a captivating story about the inimitable Nancy Mitford while she was working in a bookshop in wartime London, and an American author who visits the city in the present day and becomes immersed in the search for a lost manuscript. Michelle Gable has a gift for describing complex, charming characters, and her Nancy steps out of the pages in all her witty, irreverent glory. This is an engrossing page-turner about books and war, and finding love in unexpected places."
--Gill Paul, bestselling author of Jackie and Maria and The Collector's Daughter

"Gable's witty narrative effortlessly moves between two time periods and is enriched with cameos by historical figures and authentic, memorable characters. Historical fiction fans will be riveted from the first page."
--Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

"Toggling seamlessly in time between the present and the 1940s, Gable handles Mitford's actual and Cabot's fictional romantic and professional challenges with a sparkling sauciness... A cunning blend of historical fiction, fetching romance, and literary thriller, Gable's newest novel is sure to reinvigorate interest in Mitford and beguile fans of light-hearted relationship fiction."
--Booklist (STARRED REVIEW)