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A Novel of Nancy Mitford and the Pursuit of Happiness
by Eliza Knight
USA Today bestselling author Eliza Knight brings together a brilliant dual-narrative story about Nancy Mitford—one of 1930s London's hottest socialites, authors, and a member of the scandalous Mitford Sisters—and a modern American desperate for change, connected through time by a little London bookshop.
1938: She was one of the six sparkling Mitford sisters, known for her stinging quips, stylish dress, and bright green eyes. But Nancy Mitford's seemingly dazzling life was really one of turmoil: with a perpetually unfaithful and broke husband, two Nazi sympathizer sisters, and her hopes of motherhood dashed forever. With war imminent, Nancy finds respite by taking a job at the Heywood Hill Bookshop in Mayfair, hoping to make ends meet, and discovers a new life.
Present Day: When book curator Lucy St. Clair lands a gig working at Heywood Hill she can't get on the plane fast enough. Not only can she start the healing process from the loss of her mother, it's a dream come true to set foot in the legendary store. Doubly exciting: she brings with her a first edition of Nancy's work, one with a somewhat mysterious inscription from the author. Soon, she discovers her life and Nancy's are intertwined, and it all comes back to the little London bookshop—a place that changes the lives of two women from different eras in the most surprising ways.
"The Mayfair Bookshop is a moving, touching tale of a Bright Young Thing turned bookseller/author and her quest to find fulfillment, inspiration, and love in the chaos of the WWII home front. Eliza Knight brings Nancy Mitford to life as an appealing and uncertain young heroine in the days before she is burnished by fame and success—you cannot help but cheer her toward her destiny!" —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code
"Take one fascinating family, add in a legendary bookshop and a few Bright Young Things and you have the bookish equivalent of chocolate cake: a delightful treat. Nancy Mitford had an extraordinary life and Eliza Knight skillfully manages research, legend, fact and fiction to bring us a truly absorbing novel." —Natasha Lester, New York Times bestselling author
This information about The Mayfair Bookshop was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Eliza Knight is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of historical women's fiction. Her love of history began as a young girl when she traipsed the halls of Versailles. She is known best for her novels, My Lady Viper, Prisoner of the Queen, and Ribbons of Scarlet. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society and Novelists, Inc., and the creator of the popular historical blog, History Undressed. Knight lives in Maryland with her husband, three daughters, two dogs and a turtle.
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