… quirky and attractive first person narrative …lost for words
No doubt the hook for many will be the bookshop setting, but it’s the reclusive and intense Loveday Cardew which held my attention throughout this quirky and attractive first person narrative. Finding refuge in the second hand bookshop owned by the lovely Archie – who rather reminded me of Simon Callow in Four Weddings and a Funeral – Loveday negotiates her way through a romance with the understanding poet and magician, Nathan, whilst trying to drop the damaged Rob. Stephanie manages the three timelines and poetry with a deft touch and the story flows along to a satisfying climax and ending.

Stephanie Butland lives in the North east of England. When she’s not writing, she trains people to think more creatively. Apart from this, she has written How I Said Bah! To Cancer: A Guide to Thinking, Laughing, Living and Dancing Your Way Through and Thrive: The Bah! Guide to Wellness After Cancer. She is my tenth review in the British Books Challenge 2017.  Come and join us at over at Chelley Toy’s site.

Cover design moment:  The design is by the freelancer, Nathan Burton, and he is credited on the back. (HURRAH.) I love his covers. In fact, I’ve even bought a book Radiance by Catherynne M Valente on the strength of his design. (He won the Academy of Book Cover Design Award for SciFi & Fantasy 2017 for it.) Further examples of his work can be found on his website here. However, I was a bit “meh” about this design. I can entirely understand the thinking behind it: girl reading in the shadows of a bookshop; chick lit approachability of the cream background and the funky lettering. It will sell the book – which is what it is all about, right? And yet, I would have liked something a little more spiky, a little more Loveday Cardew … but perhaps that’s just me.

Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland was published by Zaffre Publishing on 20 April 2017.   It was recommended to me by Emily who runs Emily’s Bookshop in Chipping Campden. Thanks, Em!