The Unorthodox Mystery of the Lost for Words Bookshop
Stephanie Butland’s Lost for Words Bookshop is by no means a short book. However, when you get into reading the book, the novel does not seem to be a long read. Rather, you notice the stories of pain, setbacks, and recovery of the main character, Loveday Cardew, as she stumbles through her day-to-day life. This unorthodox mystery book is arranged in a way that sets it apart from other mystery books, in the way that different chapters are different genres of books. This allows readers notice similarities of the struggle of Loveday’s childhood to many different childhoods seen today: the uncertainty, the sadness, the struggle. In a way, this book helps you notice aspects about yourself that you maybe didn’t notice before.
This novel contains three timelines of Loveday’s life, braided together, inching ever so slowly toward the unfurling of the mystery surrounding Loveday, herself. The first timeline we encounter is Loveday’s present-day life. We see her working at a book shop that she had “worked at for ten years, since [she] was fifteen,” spending her days sorting books, preparing books for being shipped to their new homes, and avoiding an ex-boyfriend who was unable to take the hint that Loveday was done with him. We also meet Nathan Avebury, a magician by day and a poet by night, Archie, Loveday’s boss, best friend, and almost father figure, and Rob, Loveday’s ex-boyfriend who didn’t understand that Loveday was uninterested in him. This timeline is a roller coaster of ups and downs for Loveday from making friends to discovering herself, losing people to discovering forgiveness, the loss of what she knew, and the revival of what she loved. By the end of this timeline, readers get to discover the true Loveday, one that is far more likeable than the Loveday at the beginning of the novel. We see a Loveday that is far more than just a character in a novel, but an almost living and breathing human being.
The second timeline introduced was when Loveday met Rob, and how their relationship progressed to their eventual breakup, and Loveday’s confrontation of what Rob did and how he behaved towards her. This timeline is a showcase of why Loveday seems hesitant concerning relationships and new people. We also get to see one of the major bumps in her road to recovery in her life. The final timeline was Loveday’s past. The root to why Loveday is who she was at the beginning of the book. We see the tragedy and uncertainty of her childhood from her father getting laid off, to her parents fighting, and her eventual removal from her family and home. During this time, Loveday’s mother does something that Loveday deemed unforgivable for the longest time. The final timeline is something that most readers can connect to in some way. Whether through arguing or abusive parents, poverty, or going hungry, there is something that resonates within readers.
While I found the plot thoroughly enjoyable, I found the characters to be less than stellar. Out of all of the characters, Loveday was the only one that truly felt like she could be a real person. We see enough of her life in the novel to feel like we grew up with her. In certain aspects, I can connect with the actions and personality of Loveday. However, I did not like her character until about halfway through the book, and that’s because I grew to understand and relate with her more because I have dealt with some similar situations in my life.
For the characters Nathan and Archie, while I liked them, I felt that they were too kind and ideal. They’re the type of men who we wish to see in the world. Archie gave Loveday a job rather than having her arrested for trying to steal a book. He checks up on her when she’s sick. He acts as her best friend and offers many things to help her life get easier. With Nathan, we have an overly kind and confident man who took an immediate interest in Loveday. From the very beginning, he seemed willing to do anything for Loveday as well. I feel that there isn’t enough of a backstory to these two characters for them to really be relatable to readers. The rest of the characters like Rob or Melodie are just too commonly used in stories of this genre to be likeable or extremely noteworthy. They fall into a troupe of clichés that many books share, and while they do add some familiarity for readers to relate to, with the exception of Rob, they don’t add a lot to the story.
Overall, Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland is a fantastic book to read. It’s a book I would recommend to people due to the ability exhibited by Butland to maintain several timelines in a story without making it overly confusing or difficult to read. The book was nearly impossible to put down, and it has made me want to read other books by Butland such as The Curious Heart of Alisa Rae or The Secrets we Keep.
