An appreciation of Suffolk's bookshops
To celebrate Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop, Suffolk resident Emma Shercliff, the founder of Laxfield Literary Associates, picks her favourite Suffolk bookshops.
Not every town without a bookshop necessarily wants one, as Florence soon discovers in this wise and funny gem from Penelope Fitzgerald.
In a small East Anglian coastal town, outsider Florence Green decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop. Hardborough becomes a battleground, as small towns so easily do. Florence has tried to change the way things have always been done, and as a result she has to take on not only the people who have made themselves important, but natural and - on occasion supernatural - forces.
Penelope Fitzgerald
About the Author
The novelist and biographer Penelope Fitzgerald won the Booker Prize in 1979 with Offshore before executing a poacher-turned-gamekeeper u-turn and joining the 1991 judging panel.Listen to an extract from The Bookshop
Eve Karpf brings Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop to life in the audiobook.
The Bookshop on screen
Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop was adapted into a film in 2018, starring Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy and Patricia Clarkson.
The film was written and directed by Isabel Coixet, and the Independent said it ‘may seem like an exercise in cosy heritage cinema but it has an edge’.
Other nominated books by Penelope Fitzgerald
In Penelope Fitzgerald’s historical novel, two strangers wake up in the same bed after a bicycle crash. Complications, of both heart and head, ensue.
In Penelope Fitzgerald’s intriguing historical novel, a woman inexplicably disappears as the shadow of impending revolution hangs over imperial Russia.
The shortest novel to win the Booker Prize, Penelope Fitzgerald offers a delightful glimpse into the workings of the eccentric London community living on houseboats on Battersea Reach.
