We were saddened to hear of the death of Thomas Arnold, who ran Arnold’s Booksellers for over fifty years and was greatly respected by everyone in the book world. Our old friend and niece of Mr. Arnold, Gertie Bingham, asked us to convey how grateful she has been for your messages of condolence. She is still enjoying her retirement on the Sussex coast living close to our favourite children’s author, Hedy Fischer. We are excited to report that none other than Walt Disney is planning to adapt her bestselling Adventures of Gertie and Arno （illustrated by the aforementioned Elizabeth Chambers） into an animated film.
In other news, we send congratulations to former Bingham Books assistant bookseller Betty Hardy and her husband, William, who moved to Florida after the war and have recently welcomed their second child, Jimmy, a brother for Scarlet, into the world. We also send best wishes to former Bingham Books orders clerk Mrs. Eleanora Higgins, who recently opened a taxidermy business with her husband, Mr. Horatio Higgins. We wish many happy returns to Mrs. Constantine and Mr. Reynolds, two of our most loyal book club members, who both celebrated their ninetieth birthdays this year. Last but by no means least, congratulations to Mr. Gerald Travers, another book club regular, who won the 1952 Kent Best Allotment Award, and to his wife, Mrs. Margery Travers, who was recently appointed to the national chair of the Women’s Institute. She is looking for someone to take over on a local level and asks that interested parties contact her directly at Beechwood 8153 to arrange an interview.
We look forward to welcoming you to the next meeting of Bingham’s Book Club at our Beechwood branch on Thursday, 15 January, at seven o’clock. We will be discussing the new spy novel A Shot in the Dark, by Philip du Champ, which, as many of you know, is the pen name of Gertie Bingham’s old friend Charles Ashford.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy, blessed, and peaceful Christmas.
Yours,
Florence and Nicholas Hope
Bingham’s Book Club Recommends
Treasured Classics
The Arabian Nights
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer
Grimm’s Folk Tales by the Brothers Grimm
Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Thrilling Stories
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Excellent Capers
The Lord Peter Wimsey detective series by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse
Children’s Favorites
Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Adventures of Gertie and Arno by Hedy Fischer, illustrated by Elizabeth Chambers
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers
Historical Resources
This story was inspired by a wealth of research, most of which was carried out remotely because of the pandemic. The following
proved particularly useful:
Books
Millions Like Us: Women’s Lives in the Second World War by Virginia Nicholson （Penguin, 2012）
The Truth About Bookselling by Thomas Joy （Pitman, 1964）
1939: A People’s History by Frederick Taylor （Picador, 2020）
Blitz Spirit: Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times, compiled by Becky Brown from the Mass Observation Archive （Hodder and Stoughton, 2020）
Films/TV
WW2: I Was There （BBC Studios, 2019）
Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley （BBC, 2021）
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, written and directed by Mark Jonathan Harris （Sabine Films Skywalker United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2000）
Websites
Imperial War Museums （iwm.org.uk）
WW2 People’s War （bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar）
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my agent, Laura Macdougall, who when I told her about the idea for this book said, “How quickly can you write it?” She is always supportive, always honest, and always brilliant. Thanks also to Olivia Davies for her wisdom and encouragement. Huge thanks to the wider team at United Agents for their help in bringing this book to life, especially Lucy Joyce for answering my many questions and Amy Mitchell and the brilliant foreign rights team.
Thank you to Emily Krump and the team at William Morrow in the U.S., who published Eudora with such love and care and are now showing the same for Gertie and Hedy.
Thank you to Sherise Hobbs for sharing my vision for this book and to everyone at Headline for their enthusiasm and passion.
Thank you to my publishers around the world who read Gertie and Hedy’s story and got it straightaway. You are all now official members of Bingham’s Book Club.
Many thanks to Catherine Flynn, senior archivist at the Penguin Random House Archive, who sent me an incredible amount of valuable information about the history of bookselling; to Lindsay Ould, borough archivist at the Museum of Croydon, who pointed me toward the wonderful local Ward’s Directories, which led me to find the equally wonderful local Kelly’s Directories; to Raphaelle Broughton at Hatchards, who recommended Thomas Joy’s fascinating book The Truth About Bookselling; to Melissa Hacker, the president of the Kindertransport Association, who gave me lots of information and further resource references; and to the Bromley Gloss Facebook page community, who offered photos and facts about local history and bookshops.
Love and gratitude to my fellow writers who are always generous with their support and wise with their advice, especially Celia Anderson, Kerry Barrett, Laurie Ellingham, Fiona Harper, Kerry Fisher, Ruth Hogan, Andi Michael, Helen Phifer, and Lisa Timoney.
Thank you to the booksellers, librarians, and online community who tirelessly read, review, and share their love for stories and reading. This book is inspired by your passion.
Special thanks to Jenna Bahen （@flowersfavouritefiction）， who is kind, generous, and has been an incredible cheerleader for my books among the Bookstagram community.
Thank you to my friends who encourage, support, and cheer me every step of the way. To Carol for the blackberry jam, lychee martinis, and trips to author talks; to Jan for all the chats and laughs on and off the tennis court; to Melissa for daily Wordles, kindness, and excellent cultural recommendations; to Nick, Becs, Eva, and James for all their love （cheersn）; to Julia for kind words and laughter; to Helen （and Kobe） for head-clearing dog walks in all weathers; to Gill, who believed in me from the day she read my first book nearly a decade ago; to Pammie and Rip for games of Perudo and kindness; to Sal for plot walks and excellent taste in wine; to Sarah for always sending me a message when I need it most and, more importantly, for taking the time to tell me about her family’s experience of fleeing Germany in the 1930s.