The Printed Letter Bookshop

by Katherine Reay

  Gratitude, friendship, and something more ephemeral but real swept over me. Love.

  Then Janet handed me a wrapped gift. “We’ve been waiting to give this to you. It was Claire’s idea. Open it.”

  I pulled back the blue paper. Inside was a painting of the letter A framed in black wood matching the frames of Aunt Maddie’s smashed letters. But it wasn’t simply a letter A. The A was centered and bold, in beautiful sapphire ink, while words floated through it in an intricate design.

  Anne of Green Gables, Animal Farm, Alice in Wonderland, Atonement, All Quiet on the Western Front, And Then There Were None, Antony and Cleopatra . . . The titles went on and on, crisscrossing and overlapping, in different sizes, shapes, and inks. It was stunning.

  “We hoped these could replace the smashed letters. We can hang all twenty-six letters of the alphabet along the molding.”

  “I love it. I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

  “We can hang letters from your clients too, like your aunt had. You already have a few wonderful ones,” Claire offered.

  “No. This isn’t my shop.” At her expression, I changed my phrasing. “This isn’t only my shop, and these are perfect. Thank you. Aunt Maddie would have loved them too.”

  They nodded their agreement, and the rest of the afternoon was spent introducing Mom to customers, new friends, and my life in Winsome. Mom even took over for Janet at the register when she stepped away to talk to Lisa Generis. We all held our breaths, watching. When the two women hugged, we collectively sighed—including Mom—and then they left together to grab a coffee.

  Janet’s tsk-tsk pulls me from yesterday and confronts me with the chicken parmesan I just laid to rest on the stovetop.

  “Are you really going to keep silent? Because I know this dish.”

  My blush grows hotter. “Okay, Chris made it, but I helped. While you were on the porch, he came in from the back.” I look between three perfectly still women with their six unblinking eyes. “What? He offered.”

  “At least we know it will taste good.” Janet winks and hands each of us a glass of wine. “To us.”

  Tonight we celebrate our new venture, and I’m so glad Mom is here to share in it.

  Claire is the first to raise her glass, which feels right as she now owns 51 percent of the Printed Letter and manages it. Janet and I work full days, but we also do our own things right there during business hours, out of the shop’s “Firm” and its “Studio.” She has also hired some of my clients to work more regular hours. They are thrilled—we all are thrilled.

  Janet raises her glass next to toast another new employee, though she wasn’t invited tonight, and will not be legal to drink for another three years.

  A couple weeks ago, Brittany started working with us three afternoons a week, and she’s thriving. New friends, different friends, drop by to say hi during her shifts, and often they purchase a water bottle, a tumbler, a card, or some cute trinket from Aunt Maddie’s beloved bijoux selection. They leave a fun, positive energy behind them when they walk back out the front door. We feel it. The entire shop feels it. In fact, Mr. Drummond switched from visiting us in the mornings to coming late in the afternoons to be a part of it all. His long chats with Janet are over, as he now shows up and is equally likely to seek out Claire or simply enjoy the girls’ banter as he helps some of our older customers find good books. “Gentle books,” he calls them.

  “The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise? Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand? A Man Called Ove?” Claire questioned his definition of gentle a couple days ago.

  “Yes. Yes. And maybe. Ove is only for those in the right frame of mind,” he told her.

  “I agree, David, and I appreciate your sensitivity.”

  Looking around tonight, I realize our little family has grown. Our little family. Our household. It comes unbidden, and it feels right.

  We put down our glasses after the third toast, this one to Janet and her slow steps toward Seth, and the fact that she’s visited and held Rosie two times already this month and will again over a long Memorial Day weekend starting next Friday. I pick up the platter with the chicken and lead our small band into the dining room.

  Something catches Janet’s eye, and she walks across the living room to the bay window overlooking the porch and into the front yard.

  “What is he still doing here?” She points to Chris digging along the driveway.

  “He wants to finish the flower border before he starts at the hospital next week. That’s why he was in the backyard earlier. He’s helping me build a raised garden.”

  “What’s this?” Mom follows us.

  Janet doesn’t miss a beat. “Madeline forced Chris back into medicine, so he’s finishing up some planting while he still can.” She tilts her head to the window.

  Mom gets a gleam in her eye. Only two days and she has Janet’s measure. Claire steps beside her. Her gaze follows and she isn’t so sure; two lines form between her brows.

  I feel the need to defend myself. “I did not do any of that.”

  Claire raises that one brow. And like Janet, I wonder how much time and money she spends perfecting that thing. Maybe someday I’ll ask.

  I point to it. “Put that down. I did no such thing. We’ve been talking about it, and he’s ready. He was never going to stay out forever. He loves medicine; he only needed time. Does no one in your generation ever take a breather?”

  “A time-out, you mean?” Claire lets one corner of her mouth tip up.

  Not for the first time, I realize I underestimate her. Her sense of humor is dryer and often sharper than Janet’s. She wields her humor and personality with more subtlety, and that makes them more powerful.

  Janet reacts too. “No, we were too busy working to make sure your generation felt all self-assured and validated.”

  “Ha-ha.”

  Claire shakes her head and flicks a finger back to the table. “Let’s eat. Chris’s chicken is getting cold.”

  Janet doesn’t move. Mom doesn’t move. Both stare out the window. Janet has a soft, beautiful look on her face. Mom’s look is filled with more wonder than certainty. I don’t understand her expression, either of their expressions, and I find myself watching them rather than Chris. When no one follows Claire, she returns to us as well.

  “What are you staring at?” I finally ask them both. I whisper it because only a whisper feels light enough not to destroy this moment.

  “He adores you.” Mom keeps her eyes on Chris.

  I look out at him. He’s so hard at work in the orange and purple evening light he has no idea four women are standing mesmerized by him.

  “I adore him too,” I answer.

  Claire sighs. “He’ll ask you to marry him.”

  “Don’t you see?” Janet glances to the three of us, then back out the window. “That’s what he’s doing right now.”

  Janet loops an arm around me and squeezes—and we head to the table.

  For the love of books . . .

  (A note from the author)

  Maddie’s list to each woman was a love letter—so I’ll let Janet, Claire, and Madeline keep them private. On the other hand, I can’t help giving a peek behind the curtain . . .

  If you wondered about some of the books referenced but not named in The Printed Letter Bookshop, here is a list of every book alluded to within these pages, though some only in a whisper. This accounting isn’t an endorsement—I’ll confess there are a couple I have not read. But if you choose to reach for one or two, or twenty . . . Enjoy!

  In the Midst of Winter

  Harry Potter

  Anna Karenina

  War and Peace

  Dr. Zhivago

  The Secret Garden

  Flowers in the Attic

  The Giver

  Gathering Blue

  The Hunger Games

  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

  The Lord of the Rings

  The Girl on the Train

  The Further Adventures of
Ebenezer Scrooge

  The Catcher in the Rye

  The Outsiders

  Lord of the Flies

  Fahrenheit 451

  The Brothers Karamazov

  The Horse and His Boy

  Unbroken

  Seabiscuit

  The Life of Pi

  Persuasion

  All the Light We Cannot See

  Pride and Prejudice

  The World of Winnie-the-Pooh

  “To a Mouse”

  A Christmas Carol

  A Wrinkle in Time

  Anne of Green Gables

  Gone Girl

  1984

  Inkheart

  Cinder

  Slaughterhouse-Five

  Becoming Mrs. Lewis

  Diary of a Wimpy Kid

  Buffalo Before Breakfast (Magic Tree House #18)

  Magnolia Table

  The Apothecary

  A Year in Provence

  Under the Tuscan Sun

  House of Spies

  The Paris Architect

  The Joy Luck Club

  Little Dorrit

  A Man Called Ove

  Nine Women, One Dress

  Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

  The Four Loves

  Killers of the Flower Moon

  Crazy Rich Asians

  The Screwtape Letters

  Rebecca

  Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook

  Sense and Sensibility

  Number the Stars

  The Awakening of Miss Prim

  The Hiding Place

  Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler

  Animal Farm

  Alice in Wonderland

  All Quiet on the Western Front

  And Then There Were None

  Antony and Cleopatra

  The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise

  Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand

  Discussion Questions

  The author begins the story with three different verb tenses. What did she intend to convey with each choice? Did each character fit this portrayal for her voice and her story?

  Janet contends, “The past holds no hope,” and chooses not to dwell there. How do her feelings change? Later she states, “Not looking to the past is not the same as living in the present.” What does she mean?

  Aunt Maddie and her letters exert an influence on the three women. The author calls out another character who also exerts power over this story despite not being in a single scene. Contrast Aunt Maddie’s influence with Rebecca’s from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Is it true, as Madeline’s mother states, that “even dead and gone, a person or an event can affect lives for good or for bad”?

  Perspective is an important theme in The Printed Letter Bookshop. How does Madeline’s perspective change? Janet’s? Claire’s? How much does each misjudge in the beginning? How clearly does each see in the end?

  “For the present is the point at which time touches eternity.” This quote by C. S. Lewis precedes the story and is alluded to by Chris and Madeline. What does it mean? How is it revealed within the story?

  Janet asks at one point, “What is a heroine?” What are your thoughts about characters, and what constitutes a hero or heroine?

  How did you feel about Claire switching from third person to first? What drove her to reclaim her voice? How easy it is for someone to lose his or her voice?

  Awakening is another theme within each woman’s story. Discuss the “trail of bread crumbs” Maddie left for each.

  Janet confesses that she has never told Seth she was sorry. Do you know people like that? How easy or hard would it be to live by that rule? How easy or difficult is it to say you’re sorry to someone you’ve hurt?

  Claire says she has to “appropriate the stories, make them my own, find my own voice, and learn.” Greg Frankel lists a series of books to help teenagers at risk. What have fiction stories taught you? Do they hold as much power as Claire and Greg believe? Can fiction truly affect change in our lives?

  Claire talks about the order of love. Do you agree or disagree that love can be “wrongly ordered” or cause harm rather than bring life? Do you think she was too hard on herself regarding Brittany’s attitude and actions?

  Madeline tells Chris, “Until you know the truth, you shouldn’t judge people.” Does she follow her own edict? If she does at the end, when did she begin? Who helped her along the way?

  Would you like to visit the women of Winsome again?

  Visit Katherine’s website for more questions and information for book clubs.

  KatherineReay.com

  Acknowledgments

  I had so much fun with this story. It felt as if, in writing about friends, I got to spend time with friends. Unfortunately, while writing, I’ll admit that most of that was in my head, and I now owe many of you long-overdue phone calls and lazy lunches.

  But for now, here are my thanks! Elizabeth, I’m forever grateful for your insight into the world of books, bookstores, and book buying and, of course, for being my first reader. Thanks also to the incomparable women at the Lake Forest Book Store, who not only let me into the back room but who set a high standard for Madeline, Claire, and Janet. You all always know the perfect book and share it with a smile. Kristy and Sarah, I’m not sure I’d get through a writing day without your prayers and your texts. Becky and Suzanne, you’re in that camp too. Thank you so much for your daily support in all my writing endeavors.

  Endless gratitude also goes to my agent, Claudia Cross, and to Amanda Bostic, Jocelyn Bailey, LB Norton, and Jodi Hughes for . . . well, everything; Kristen Ingebretson and HCCP’s design team; Paul Fisher, Allison Carter, and Matt Bray for all your marketing support; Becky Monds, Laura Wheeler, Kim Carlton, and Savannah Summers; and the sales team for championing my stories.

  Mason, Matthew, Elizabeth, and Mary Margaret always deserve my endless thanks. Thanks for picking up so much that I drop and encouraging me at every step, even when I forget dinner.

  Last, but never least . . . Thank you. Thank you to the readers, bloggers, reviewers, and now friends who generously read my stories, trust me with your hearts and time, and share me with your friends! Thank you for joining me and reaching out and meeting me on social media or in person.

  I’m beyond grateful to welcome you to Winsome and hope we’ll meet there again.

  About the Author

  Katherine Reay is a national bestselling and award-winning author who has enjoyed a lifelong affair with books. She publishes both fiction and nonfiction, and her writing can also be found in magazines and blogs. Katherine holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University. She currently writes full-time and lives outside Chicago, Illinois, with her husband and three children.

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  KatherineReay.com

  Instagram: katherinereay

  Facebook: katherinereaybooks

  Twitter: @Katherine_Reay

  Praise for Katherine Reay

  “The Printed Letter Bookshop is both a powerful story and a dazzling experience. Katherine Reay has the rare ability to delve into her characters’ private worlds with such clarity that they come alive on the page. Truths are slowly revealed as Reay peels back the layers of her characters and of our hearts. This novel skillfully knits together family, forgiveness, and redemption with the understanding that books can change our lives and mend our souls. As three women come together in a charming bookstore that needs saving, they discover that they might just save each other with the power of friendship and community. I want to give this book to every woman I know—I adored falling into Reay’s world, words, and bookstore. Powerful, enchanting, and spirited, this novel will delight!”

  —Patti Callahan, bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis

  “The Printed Letter Bookshop is a softly elegant and invitingly intricate ode to books and the power of their communal solace. With the charm and insight of Nina George and the sheer reckless book love of Jenny Colgan, The Printed Letter Booksh
op enfolds the reader in a welcome literary embrace. Reay’s natural talent of putting the reader at ease in her fictional world is evident from the first page. But the story is also deceptively accessible, for the moment you fall into its continued spell, you are confronted by a mature narrative that allows three remarkably different women to become the unlikely heroines of their own stories.”

  —Rachel McMillan, author of Murder in the City of Liberty

  “Dripping with period detail but fundamentally a modern story, The Austen Escape is a clever, warmhearted homage to Austen and her fans.”

  —Shelf Awareness

  “[The Austen Escape] is a charming romp full of dancing, misunderstandings, and romance.”

  —BookPage

  “Reay’s exquisite phrasing will resonate with readers and provide much fodder for pondering . . . Overall, this is a beautifully written novel and one to be savored and enjoyed.”

  —RT Book Reviews, 4 stars, on The Austen Escape

  “Reay handles . . . scenes with tenderness and a light touch, allowing the drama to come as much from internal conflict as external, rom-com–type misunderstandings . . . Thoughtful escapism.”

  —Kirkus on The Austen Escape

  “A romp among contemporary Austen fanatics. Readers eager for anything Austen-related will enjoy this clean romance that explores the concept of escapism and what it may reveal about our real lives.”

  —Publishers Weekly on The Austen Escape

  “[The Austen Escape] seamlessly blends modern-day characters into a backdrop of Regency-era England. Readers who like Tamera Alexander and Jane Austen will enjoy this book.”

  —CBA Christian Market

  “Katherine Reay’s writing shines in this modern tale that’s sure to please fans of regency fiction. Admirers of Jane Austen, especially, will delight in the delicious descriptions and elegant prose as the protagonist is transported to the English countryside, taking readers along for the ride. Both cleverly written and nicely layered, Reay’s latest proves to be a charming escape!”