The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis Published by Amazon Publishing on May 30, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / General, Fiction / Historical / General, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Historical
Pages: 443
Format: Audiobook, eBook
Source: Library
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A novel about the magical lure of books and summoning the courage to rewrite our stories by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Keeper of Happy Endings and The Last of the Moon Girls.
Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer's affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books' previous owners--an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.
With no trace of how these mysterious books came into the world, Ashlyn is caught up in a decades-old literary mystery, beckoned by two hearts in ruins, whoever they were, wherever they are. Determined to learn the truth behind the doomed lovers' tale, she reads on, following a trail of broken promises and seemingly unforgivable betrayals. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the nearer she comes to bringing closure to their love story--and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.
I really enjoyed this even though I found a lot of its “final twists” to be kind of soap opera-y. But I think I’m pretty easy to please as a reader. I also read this kind of because it fulfilled a lot of stuff on my challenges, which unfortunately means that although I have a lot of stuff completed I will have to double back and “fix” challenges where I counted a book in more than one category. I have decided that this is a Later Problem If I Have Time.
Read Harder fulfillment – A book about books
52 book club fulfillments:
More than 40 chapters
An academic thriller
Set during a holiday you don’t celebrate — unfortunately I was really counting on this one, but the holiday ended up being Hanukkah which means I actually cannot count it for this one. Oh well — a Later Problem.
For the content of this book, I really liked how this book was about manuscripts, or about books that only have one copy. I work in an archive, and I think manuscripts are my favorite item, because they tell such a specific story. Also, it had Secret Jews in this book, which was kind of exciting! Four stars.
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