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rkw25 's review for:
Bloomsbury Girls
by Natalie Jenner
Lately I seem to be reading the second book in a series before I read the first . . . I will read "The Jane Austen Society" next, but this also worked as a stand-alone. The central characters are the workers in a 1950s London bookstore, particularly the three women. Jenner seems to be working on the "opposites attract" theory regarding romance and, related to the times, the emerging role of women (vs. men) in the working world in England at this time. The three women each has a distinctiveness as do the five male characters; five other women are important to the story but less developed. The omniscent narrator seems to take a turn halfway into the book to probe motivations and make deeper commentary on the actions of all the characters. But London, early seeds of acknowledgement of diversity, a "mystery" book, bookshop customs and challenges, along with the beginnings of women's agency beyond previously prescribed roles, add up to an engaging story.