Audrey Beacon lived with her long term boyfriend David in Manhattan for years. But David got Covid and sadly passed away. Grieving Audrey tries to survive the lockdown without him, when on social media, she stumbles upon a post about a bookshop that is for sale in the remote area of Schuywich in upstate New York. It is actually a massive barn which was used as a bookstore by the former owner, Evelyn Cabot, who opened the bookbarn in 1956. Audrey decides to buy the bookbarn and to move out of Manhattan, to make a new start after the loss of David. And she makes a brand new start and opening for the bookstore as well..
Back in 1956; Evelyn Cabot works as a magazine writer in Manhattan. She attends a summer camp in Maine for ''professional women'' and there she meets Hazel, who works as a librarian in Schuywich. The two soon fall in love and after the summer, Evelyn leaves her home in Greenwich Village and moves into the farmhouse she bought in the remote village of Schuywich, where Hazel lives. The two present themselves to their friends and family as 'roommates'' while they actually live together as lovers. Evelyn writes a column named ' A Woman's Place'' Evelyn writes about her life at the bookbarn, which she renovated, and where she tends the sheep, and managing the bookshop together with her ''roommate'' Hazel. We get to know Hazel in the chapters that are shaped by the letters she wrote to Evelyn, in which we learn more about Hazel's past. The past where her brother was sent to fight in Vietnam, and came back with a Vietnamese wife, which was not accepted by Hazel's parent's, and who cut him out of the family. The letters stopped when Hazel and Evelyn had to abandon the bookstore in 2015, due to Evelyn's declining health.When the bookstore reopens, a wide cast of villagers visit the shop and becomes friends and even coworkers with Audrey, and when she finds an old stack of magazines containing Evelyn's columns and also finds Hazels love letters to Evelyn, the present connects with the past..
Upstate by Kim van Alkemade is a beatifully written new novel. The storyline is absolutely great and I also loved all the characters, and how in the end the puzzle pieces of the past and present connected in a beautiful way. Audrey, Evelyn and Hazel are all three very strong women who are very entertaining to read about. The book changes in chapters between Audrey's present, Evelyn's column, and Hazel's letters to Evelyn. For this book this totally worked out great. I loved how Audrey set up her new life in Schuywich, and how the cast of village residents came up in the story out of nowhere and made her new life very rich in the community sense which worked wonders for her healing of the grief of David.
Overall, this is a beautiful and moving new novel by bestselling author Kim van Alkemade that you don't want to miss!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave a comment here, but keep it nice!