jenkepesh 's review for:

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner

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I have been waiting for Jenner's new book since I fell in love with The Jane Austen Society. In Bloomsbury Girls, there is lots of literature talk, particularly about societal dismissal and erasure of women's writing; there is lots of behind-the-scenes peeking at how a bookshop of old was run; there are a bunch of interesting characters. It works well, but it isn't as deeply resonant as JAS. In JAS, plain village people (and some outsiders) with little in common with one another found themselves as kindred spirits as they discussed and argued and listened to one another about Jane Austen's works. And also, there is a tone of such deep grief, and how one lives through it all. Bloomsbury Girls, on the other hand, is more of a straightforward narrative, with a large cast of characters, shout-outs to all sorts of real mid-century literary lions, a keen eye for social straitjackets that are about to come unlaced. How the conundrum at the center of the story will be solved begins to impinge on the reader as there are more pages on the left than on the right: Will it be resolved satisfactorily, or will it be rushed? (The former.) I do recommend this book as a fun summer read. And I look forward to NJ's next work...I hope for it.