Bloomsbury Girls, Natalie Jenner
Bloomsbury Girls, Natalie Jenner
1 Rating(s)
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

Bloomsbury Girls
A Novel

Author: Natalie Jenner

Narrator: Juliet Stevenson

Unabridged: 12 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/17/2022


Synopsis

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by Katie Couric Media, Audible, the CBC, the Globe and Mail, BookBub, POPSUGAR, SheReads, Women.com and more!

“Juliet Stevenson’s luminous narration is a delight for the ears and makes for an entertaining and moving listening experience.” – Library Journal (Starred review)

"Juliet Stevenson's performance of this novel about a post-WWII bookshop is vocal virtuosity." —AudioFile

“Juliet Stevenson narrates the novel in her lovely, versatile voice, nicely capturing different personalities of the book” – The Washington Post

Multi-award-winning actor Juliet Stevenson narrates this Earphones Award–winning, heartwarming audiobook from the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society. Natalie Jenner returns with a compelling story of postwar London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world in Bloomsbury Girls.

Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare book store that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans:

Vivien Lowry: Single since her aristocratic fiance was killed in action during World War II, the brilliant and stylish Vivien has a long list of grievances--most of them well justified and the biggest of which is Alec McDonough, the Head of Fiction.

Grace Perkins: Married with two sons, she's been working to support the family following her husband's breakdown in the aftermath of the war. Torn between duty to her family and dreams of her own.

Evie Stone: In the first class of female students from Cambridge permitted to earn a degree, Evie was denied an academic position in favor of her less accomplished male rival. Now she's working at Bloomsbury Books while she plans to remake her own future.

As they interact with various literary figures of the time--Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (widow of George Orwell), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim, and others--these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

About Natalie Jenner

NATALIE JENNER is the author of the instant international bestseller The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls. A Goodreads Choice Award runner-up for historical fiction and finalist for best debut novel, The Jane Austen Society was a USA Today and #1 national bestseller, and has been sold for translation in twenty countries. Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie has been a corporate lawyer, career coach and, most recently, an independent bookstore owner in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs. Visit her website to learn more.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ellie on June 25, 2022

This book jumped into my life exactly when I needed it. The comfort and enjoyment I got from it during a difficult and stressful time was so appreciated. Bloomsbury Girls follows three women, working at a bookshop but wanting to make a life for themselves in a vastly changing world. Held back by the......more

Goodreads review by Tina on August 20, 2022

I thought I would love this one. I was so anticipating it. I loved the premise. Three ladies in the 1950's who work in a charming old bookshop in London. It just fell a little flat for me. Evie, Grace and Vivian work in a big old bookshop in London together. They are surrounded by men who basically h......more

Jenner – I am happy to report! – has delivered once more! Everything – and more – that the Ideal Reader of The Jane Austen Society found positively compelling about Jenner’s writing returns, with renewed vigour, in Bloomsbury Girls. And yet do not go thinking that this is merely a reworking of that......more

Goodreads review by Karren on May 16, 2022

Evelyn Stone is a graduating member of the first class of women admitted to Cambridge University, when she’s overlooked for a job as a research assistant and the position is given to a male colleague. Evie needs to work, she has a glowing reference from her friend Mr. Yardley Sinclair, he holds a pr......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on September 01, 2022

3 stars In post-World War II England, a bookshop that’s been in business for one hundred years faces some changes, mostly from the three women who have been hired to work there. Vivien, Grace, and Evie: all with different backgrounds and yet all three have the goal to be taken seriously by the men......more