It was an oddly shaped thing, scarcely bigger than her hand.
“They’re made in America, specifically for soldiers to carry about in their uniform pockets,” he said, answering her question before she could even ask it. “It’s quite brilliant, actually.”
“It is.” She turned it over in her hand to study it before reading the bold yellow title aloud. “The Great Gatsby?” In the far left corner was a black circle declaring the book to be an Armed Services Edition.
“All the Americans are raving about it.”
“You haven’t read it?” she asked in surprise.
“I’m rather keen on the idea of having it read to me from the infamous shop owner of Evans and Bennett.” He put his large, warm hand over hers, so they held the book together.
“I’m sure I can arrange that.” Grace’s smile grew even wider. “I don’t know if I ever thanked you.”
He lifted a brow, making him look as dashing as Cary Grant. “What would you have to thank me for?”
“For teaching me how to love books.” She regarded the bookshop with fondness.
He furrowed his brows with a genuine expression. “You did that, Grace. Not me. That passion was something you found inside of you.”
Her chest swelled with his words. Deep down, she knew part of her newfound passion had started with him, with that old battered copy of The Count of Monte Cristo he’d given her. Part of it had been Mr. Evans and everything the bookshop stood for. Still another part was the people she read to, the dark times those stories had guided them through with distraction and love and laughter. It was even the war itself, the desperation to have a means to escape, a longing to feel something other than loss and fear.
It was everything and everyone coming together as a community, drawn by the power of literature, that truly made her love of books complete and what put the heart into Evans and Bennett—or as some of her long-time patrons still referred to it, The Last Bookshop in London.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a WWII historical fiction novel has always been a dream of mine. Thank you to my editor, Peter Joseph, his editorial assistant, Grace Towery, and my agent, Laura Bradford, for helping make that come true.
Thank you to Eliza Knight for her constant support. This has been such an amazing experience for us to go through in our careers together. Thank you to Tracy Emro and her mother for always helping keep me in line. Thank you to Mariellena Brown and my wonderful mother, Janet Kazmirski, for taking the time to beta read for me.
And an enormous thank you to my family: John Somar for being by my side through all of this, always willing to step up and help with the kids so I can make deadlines. To my sweet daughters, who are my biggest fans and are so excited to finally get to read one of my books. To my parents for always being so proud of me. I have so much love in my life and am so grateful to each one of you.
And a heartfelt thank you to all the readers out there who make dreams come true with each book they hold in their hands.