My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Kitty Miller is a trailblazer. Nearing middle age during the 1960’s, she’s unapologetically single, the co-owner of her own Denver book store, and enjoying her simple, independent lifestyle. True, her social life has dwindled and her business is struggling because the new mega shopping centers have drained business traffic from downtown. But Kitty and co-owner Frieda are life-long best friends, and life is good. Then, Kitty finds herself spending her sleep time in another world, where, as
Katharine, she’s married to the hunky Lars and raising their family of triplets. Soon she can’t quite distinguish which of her lives is “real”, and sets out to investigate how her memories and experiences in both might just intersect.
The plot of The Bookseller proceeds with alternating chapters, first in one world, then the other. The general social tone of the early 1960’s is captured in both settings, before Beatlemania changed so many things. Kitty wears slacks, for example, though many women frown upon that. Her parents are conventional, supportive, and homebodies. There isn’t much detail about the bookstore, however, and not much talk about books, so the title doesn’t seem quite apropos. The pace is slow until the final third of the book, when Kitty/Katharine begins trying to pin down the facts. One of Katherine’s sons is presented as autistic, this in the days before special education, and while some of his problems are handled realistically, others are glossed over. This is a book loaded with little mysteries, and the denouement occurs abruptly, with an outcome opposite to the one I expected. The cause of the entire episode is left for the reader to infer.
A promising debut novel.
You're History! 