The Bookseller's Wife - Jane Davis - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Jane Davis

SERIES: The Chiswell Street Chronicles, #1

GENRE: Historical Literary Fiction

PUBLICATION DATE: March 13, 2024

RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A good literary fiction, but might not work for everyone. I love the research, the storyline and the main character, but certain small factors prevented this from being a top star read for me. Still, recommended to historical fiction readers who like character-oriented plotlines and a grounded setting.

Plot Preview:

1775. London. Twenty-five-year-old Dorcas Turton once belonged to a wealthy and reputed family. But due to her father’s gambling problem, worsened after her mother’s death, she now resides in a small house, taking up sewing jobs and running a class for young ladies to make ends meet. Books are her only solace.

With no improvement in their financial situation, Dorcas leases out a room. The new tenants, James and Nancy Lackington, rejuvenate the house with their spirit and friendliness. Dorcas finds their support helpful, but she also starts thinking about how she has no one, the way Nancy has James. Does she actually envy sweet Nancy her husband?

The story comes to us in the limited third person perspective of Dorcas.

I became a fan of Jane Davis when I read ‘A Funeral for an Owl’. In 2022, I also enjoyed her then-latest release, ‘Small Eden’. Today, as I was struggling to figure out where to begin this review, I went back to those two reviews for some inspiration. And I laughed at myself! Because in both those reviews, I said exactly the same thing: that I didn’t know how and where to begin! I guess this is going to be the status quo for me when it comes to Jane Davis’ novels.

All the features from the earlier books are present in this novel as well: interesting characters in various shades of ‘human’, a strong female lead, excellent historical research with a firm rooting in facts, a deceptively simple storyline that sometimes makes you wonder where it is going, and an ending that leaves you thinking. The tempo, however, is quite fast this time around; this is the first time I completed a Jane Davis novel in two evenings flat!

As the titular character, Dorcas is the star of the show, and she shoulders this job well. I loved how her character grows over the course of the story, and how she didn’t allow the men in her life to thwart her intellect. Of course, she is still a woman of the 1770s, so her freedom comes with chains. Let’s just say, she stretches those limits to the furthest she is allowed to. Thanks to her arc, there are some insights about societal restrictions on women, especially on those involved in the running of a business.

James and Nancy Lackington are also well-sketched characters. James is unlike typical historical fiction leads, and his exuberant behaviour that rarely sticks to social mores adds a fun element to the plot. But my favourite character has to be Patience, the young girl chosen by Dorcas to help in housework. I loved her gumption, and I hope she gets a greater role in the next book.

Davis’ historical books stress greatly on accuracy and authenticity, and this book is no exception. She brings the era alive with her descriptions and references to historical places, people and events. Her author’s note was insightful, letting us know the inspiration for this story (I shall reveal nothing!), her research methodology in brief, and her writing choices wrt fact vs. fiction. Reading her note further enhanced my satisfaction with the novel, because until then, I treated Dorcas and James as ordinary fictional characters.

Courtesy the above two characters’ interest in books and later, in bookselling, we also get a fascinating glimpse at the book business of that era. It is amazing how we today take so many things about books for granted. This novel brings back the heydays of the bookstore, with physical stock and the smell of books and no digital marketing. There are also several quotes from and discussions about books, poems, and authors of those days.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part worked better for me as it was more personal. The second half was very different in tone, and I took some time to adjust to the change in direction. Though interesting, Part Two didn’t grip me to the fullest extent, which is surprising as everything about the bookstore was in this section. But somehow, the emotions felt very distant. The finale had references to some historical events I had no idea about, so those scenes went a bit above my head. I wish there had been better cohesion between the two parts of the book.

If I could, I would change the title of the novel. Though the book is about Dorcas and she does become the bookseller’s wife, this isn’t until around the halfway mark. As we already know who the bookseller is and that he is married, it isn’t tough to figure out what is going to happen to his wife. The title thus is a kind of spoiler, and I hate spoilers.

This is the first book of The Chiswell Street Chronicles series. There’s no cliffhanger ending, but there’s also no completion. I guess I can say that it ends at one phase of the characters’ lives, and the second book might show us the aftermath of that final decision. I am interested to see where the plot goes; I just hope I remember enough of this mellow drama until then.

Recommended, but not to all. This is a story about working class people, so it will work well for historical fiction readers looking for a grounded depiction of an ordinary middle-class couple in 1770s London. No dances or balls herein, just plenty of realism. If you are the kind of reader who needs a steady plot progression with a clear start-middle-end, this isn’t for you. It is quite literary in style, so go in expecting character-oriented writing and true-to-life feels.

My thanks to author Jane Davis for providing me with a complimentary copy of “The Bookseller's Wife” at my request. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.