Lost for Words

When I saw this book I knew I wanted to read it. I love books about books, bookshops and libraries.

After reading the praise for the author Stephanie Butland at the start of Lost for Words I wanted to read it even more.

The book tells the story of Loveday Cardew who works in a secondhand bookstore called Lost for Words in York. She prefers books to people. 

The chapters take us from the present day of 2016 and then to an incident in 2013 and to Loveday as a child in 1999. I thought it was going to be confusing. It wasn't. 

This book is very well written. It has strong and raw themes which can be hard to read about at times but I really wanted to read to the end to see how the mystery unfolded and was resolved.

What I liked most about this book is the author's creation of Loveday Cardew and some of the other characters including the bookshop owner Archie, the poet Nathan, the villain Rob and Loveday's parents and her relationship with them. I also liked the book themes woven through the story.

I am not a huge fan of poetry but there are a few wonderful poems which tell their own stories in the book.

• In the photo I've used this ornament of a bookstore, which I bought recently while visiting the Netherlands. I wanted to use the ornament in this photo in memory of my beautiful father-in-law Izak Hartevelt who passed away last week. Izak was born in the Netherlands and moved to New Zealand in the 1950s. I only knew him for 10 years but he was a very special person in my life.