Reviewed by Kerry McKay
When librarian Nina loses her job thanks to a citywide revamp of Birmingham’s library system, she must find a new way to channel her love of books. It’s a daunting prospect – not least because Nina is rather used to reading about life instead of actually living it.
Feeling brave, however, she buys an old van and turns it into a travelling book bus, which services a fiction-hungry community in the Scottish highlands. Things aren’t always easy; the hours are long and cold and the locals are complex – especially her maddening farmer landlord Lennox.
This little novel was an absolute dream of a read. The blurb told me that I would delight in the storyline (it was about a travelling book bus after all), but I was so surprised at how quickly and easily I fell in love with the characters and setting, too. Everything sprang from the page and I couldn’t let the book rest for long until I’d finished it.
Funny, heartwarming and compulsively readable, The Little Shop of Happy Ever After is perfect.
10/10