by Noella Noelophile®
Normally, I don’t review Christmas books that could be considered “romances”.
But The Christmas Bookshop, by Jenny Colgan, merits an exception–for several reasons.
First, it’s about so much more than simply a romance. Like discovering your innate creative gifts, and the ways they can bloom, given the right opportunity.
There are also some believable family dynamics. As well as some completely unpredictable developments (no, I won’t tell you here!).
But most of all–it’s simply fun.
Jenny Colgan writes with a sense of humor and an eye for detail which evokes the “feel” of Scotland at Christmastime. And her protagonist, Carmen, isn’t the standard-edition lissome, resourceful romance heroine. Instead she has some very-human foibles.
A journey to herself
(Royalty-free image by Mariya Muschard from Pixabay.)
At the start of the story, Carmen becomes the family “project”.
Her “golden girl” sister Sofia appears to have everything: a high-powered career as an Edinburgh attorney; a new, “perfectly symmetrical” home straight out of a magazine; three children and a soon-expected baby with her husband.
(Royalty-free image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay.)
Meanwhile, Carmen is working below her capabilities at a department store in her rapidly-deteriorating hometown. Almost thirty, she has yet to find a lasting relationship. Her education ended after high school. And the once-vibrant store, at which she began working part-time while still in school, is failing.
And then, things get worse.
Finding herself suddenly unemployed, Carmen has no options but to move back home and live with her parents.
With jobs scarce in their town, their mother prevails on a reluctant Sofia to “sort out Carmen”.
Warning that Carmen must not “mess it up”, Sofia recruits her to come to Edinburgh and work with one of her clients in his bookshop, while helping with her three children.
The ensuing action is both hilarious, and believable.
Carmen’s missteps along the way make for entertaining reading. So does her gradual self-discovery. And Colgan’s characters are a delight.
The players in her world
(Royalty-free image by Дарья Яковлева from Pixabay.)
One of the first people Carmen meets in Edinburgh is Sofia’s nanny, Skylar. Intimidatingly beautiful and annoyingly overconfident, Skylar is a hilarious caricature of a New Age authoritarian.
We also meet bookshop proprietor Mr. McCredie, a lovable bibliophile with a reverence for antique books and no head for business, whatsoever! As well as Carmen’s three children: intellectual Phoebe, know-it-all Pippa and cheerful Jack. And then there’s Blair Pfenning, an all-too-true-to-life renowned author character who will alternately make you howl with laughter, and cringe when he makes an appearance.
There are also some surprises–too good for me to ruin here!
Within minutes of meeting Carmen, Skylar delivers the unwelcome news that they will be “working together” to care for the children. This is a fact that Sofia has somehow neglected to mention!
However, as Carmen will discover on her first day at the bookshop, it isn’t the only one. “You’re here to save the day,” Mr. McCredie informs her, after telling her that the bank will close him down if the shop fails to turn a profit by Christmas.
(Royalty-free image by bluartpapelaria from Pixabay.)
As this is a Christmas story, we know the expected conclusion. But the “getting there” is all the fun.
Unlike many romances, The Christmas Bookshop manages not to be predictable. Expect some surprises. And had you ever heard of “thundersnow” before? I had not–so this was a fun way to learn something!
I found myself almost angry on Carmen’s behalf, at her family’s intervention. Jenny Colgan appears to know a lot about well-meaning families and how they operate–as well as the feelings such actions elicit in their intended “beneficiaries”.
“So, Sofia knows best again?” demands a furious Carmen when her mother delivers her “solution” to Carmen’s current situation. (Who hasn’t had a family “expert” who delivers all-knowing pronouncements on a situation they don’t understand in the least?)
(Royalty-free image by Ylanite Koppens from Pixabay.)
More than one nonconformist will find an all-too-familiar ring in the conversations between Carmen, her mother and Sofia. As well as the conversations about her, as the family “problem” and “project”.
Carmen’s gradual growth, as her creative gifts blossom, is my favorite aspect of The Christmas Bookshop. But another magical element is the way Jenny Colgan immerses you in her environments. I could almost see the sparkling silver stars and twinkling lights decorating the main street of shops, and pick up a faint scent of leather from the collectors-edition Hans Christian Andersen volumes.
Warm, funny, true-to-life–and oh yes, the romance is fun. All of the above make The Christmas Bookshop a book I’ll want to read again–and you probably will, too.