The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson
336 pages
★★★★
When Maggie Banks arrives in Bell River to run her best friend's struggling bookstore, she expects to sell bestsellers to her small-town clientele. But running a bookstore in a town with a famously bookish history isn't easy. Bell River's literary society insists on keeping the bookstore stuck in the past, and Maggie is banned from selling anything written this century. So, when a series of mishaps suddenly tip the bookstore toward ruin, Maggie will have to get creative to keep the shop afloat.
To help save the store, Maggie starts an underground book club, running a series of events celebrating the books readers actually love. But keeping the club quiet, selling forbidden books, and dodging the literary society is nearly impossible. Especially when Maggie unearths a town secret that could upend everything.
Maggie will have to decide what's more important: the books that formed a small town's history, or the stories poised to change it all.
This is a story that will attract book lovers and readers looking for stories of healing from one's past. The author makes many references to well known books and literary works. Poetry authored by the characters is incorporated into the story. It is a story of processing past events, renewal and ultimately, stepping forward. I enjoyed the writing and the tale of this book because I value stories that show character development and growth in knowledge and maturity. This is a story that has stuck with me in the weeks since I finished it.