the lost bookshop ch 37 - 56

Ch 37 opaline

Her brother has found her and drags her off to an insane asylum. 

Ch 38 Martha 

Our hero plays cards with Martha and they talk about life.  Martha uses her mentalist powers to read our hero and our hero doesn't like it.

And if you've forgotten Madame Bowden is our hero.

Martha is reading a book and the book tells her to go up to the attick. She does, but she cant get it open.  Our hero arrives and instead of asking for help from a hero she lies a out what she's doing.  Our hero sees right through those lies.

Ch 39 henry 

He's down and the world is going to kick him.

His finding has been pulled.  He says he's gonna keep doing what he's been doing and get to the bottom of this mystery. The great mystery from my perspective is how will he do that without money.

He turns to the internet and finds that opaline was someone's maid of honor. He looks up that lady and finds a letter to a newspaper about the deplorable condition of insane asylums in Ireland. 🇮🇪 

Ch 40 opaline 

She has a fleeting hope that she might be able to escape when she is taken to the hospital to have her baby.  But when the time comes she isn't taken anywhere.  She has her baby and im.lead to believe that her baby was born dead.

Ch 41 Martha pg 295

Things are going well at university. 

She sees henry and they have a brief awkward interaction. 

Ch 42 henry

He gets a call from  Madame Bowden inviting him to Martha's birthday party. They dance, he freaks out and tries to escape but our hero Madame Bowden stops him.  She makes him go back in and give Martha her birthday present.   It's  a super expensive pen.

43 opaline 

Being stuck in an asylum sucks.  It sucks worse when you've just undergone a stillbirth.  Shes prepared to starve to death so she can be reunited with her baby in the afterlife. But her roommate Mary says she needs her help to escape.  So she starts eating again.  But Mary gets sick and is likely to die.

You take the good, you take the bad,
you take them both and there you have
The facts of life

source: https://lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/thefactsoflifelyrics.html

The facts of Opaline's life are all bad.  Butt she does send a letter to her friend Jane that we know in the future tries to do something. So maybe there's hope for.us after all dear reader.

44 Martha 

She has a book she's pretty sure opaline wrote.  She goes to henry to discuss.  Henry is real awkward about it.  He can't stay to talk, he's late for his bus. The Opaline research is the only thing in his life.  I cant imagine he really needs to catch this bus more than he needs to hear more from Martha about this book.  But we'll probably find out soon

45 Henry

He's going to the asylum. Martha goes with. It's a good thing she does.  His approach of asking  nicely is worth fuckall.  Martha's idea to claim theyre doing a government spot check works much better.  She finds opaline's file.

46 opaline 

She has been here for a long time.  World war 2 has started.

She gets a letter from Jane saying her mother is dead.  She goes to the doctor to request going to the funeral. He tells her the funeral was weeks ago.  She has a sudden clarity of purpose.  She grabs the doctors knife and threatens to kill herself.  That will stop her brothers money train from rolling in.  The doctor just let's her go.

47 martha

This chapter is all sorts of fun.

Martha's mother comes to visit.  Madame Bowden is happy to be there and welcomes her in.  To Martha's memory she has never spoken.  Mom tells her that her grandma was an orphan.  She died when Martha's mom was 3.  She went to Dublin to find her biological mother and was hit by a train.  Unless this is the reddest of red herrings she was opaline's daughter.  

They talk more about life and love and whatnot and when she leaves she says maybe she'll get to meet Madame Bowden next time.  

Maybe there is no Madame Bowden and this is all the magic of her great grandmother's magical bookstore. 

Ch 48 henry

He and Martha talk about opaline and the book and her file.  Maybe there's hope for their friendship. 

49 opaline 

She makes her way back to her shop.

She befriends a Jerry POW who helps her rebuild.  Her thought is to sell the manuscript to finance a full rebuild. Alas, the man She left it with is dead.

She and the Jerry (who's not really a Jerry, he's Austrian) do this shop rebuilding for 3 years.  He is sent back to Austria.

50 Martha

Our hero is missing.  Martha doesn't know what to do about it.  She calls her mom to talk about it.  Henry shows up.  She has a bit of a meltdown and she tells henry she wants him and they kiss.

51 henry

They totally did it. 

We get confirmation that Martha's tatoo is Emily bronte's manuscript.

52 opaline 

This chapter is all killer no filler.

Opaline decides to get revenge against her brother. She goes to a friend at the times and tells her story.  It's not interesting to him.  Women get placed in institutions,  no big deal.  So instead she starts digging into her brothers military records. All the men get killed for cowardice. 

Aside,  they mention shell shock. I always thought that term didn't come up til ww2.

Lots of evidence that a lot of those men weren't deserter.  The article is written and going to press.

She goes to her brother's to tell her of his upcoming demise.  He tells her he's really her father. A sad side affect of his sewing his wild oats with a French lady.  She asks her name cause she wants to find her real mother cause of course. But hes like, it doesn't matter and it don't remember. 

As she's leaving he kills himself with a gun.

53 Martha

She and henry are canoodling.  He came here with a purpose before the canoodling started.  She found the birth certificate of Opaline's daughter.  As we knew, its Martha's grandmother.

54 henry

They dont really discuss the whole being opalines great grandmother's daughter thing.  They talk about how the hero of the book Madame Bowden only ever interacted with the two of them and Shane.  Martha doesn't think she was a ghost.  They go up to the attick and there's doors and tunnels and they end up back in Martha's servants quarters.  

55 opaline

That lovely Austrian man returns and they live happily ever after. 

56 Martha 

They emerge from the servants quarters the next morning to discover that they are no longer in Madam Bowden's house.  They're in the lost bookshop.

Epilogue

Happily ever after.

Authors note 

This isn't an easy book to read.  It's a book about women being abused and oppressed. But its also a book about how books can inspire people.

The story collector extract pg 415

Sarah is going to Ireland becuase of a ceramic sheep.

No, she's going from New York to Boston because she's leaving her husband to live with her sister. 

She gets drunk at the airport and wakes up in Ireland. 

She calls her sister and doesn't apologize once.  What a monster.  She was worried sick.

She ends up renting a cottage.

Who knows how long she'll stay.  A couple days?  Weeks?  A lifetime?

the lost bookshop 19 - 36

19 opaline

She's got a bit of a romantic thing with the landlord.  He's married with kids so they just hug but you know they wanna bone.

20 Martha

Her husband shows up and madame Bowden tells him to fuck right off.

21 Henry 

He calls his fiance and says things he doesn't mean like I love you.  Also she tells him that his mom told her that his dad is in rehab.  He doesn't care.

He bumps into Martha at the library and they make out and she signs up for a class.

22 opaline 

She goes to England to research Emily Bronte.  She runs into her Moroccan man.  They go to an auction. 

23 Martha

Madame Bowden is the hero of the story so far.  She kills Martha's husband and Martha is a real ungrateful brat about the whole thing.

24 Henry

He goes home and breaks up with his fiance

25 opaline

She goes to a closed down bookshop and talks to an old lady about Emily bronte and buys an old sewing kit of Emily's for two dollars.

26 Martha

She goes to Henry's bnb and is told henwint home.  She feels very bad about kissing now as she thinks he has abandoned her.  She foes home for the funeral. 

27 Henry

He stays home longer than expected to help his very pregnant sister.  She has her baby.  His dad shows up and it pisses Henry 9ff.  Henry texts Martha and she doesn't respond. 

28 opaline

She's pregnant and it seems like landlord is into it.  She investigates this sewing kit she got from the old lady.  She finds a hidden compartment and she finds a notebook  and thinks it might be the beginning of Emily Bronte's second book.

Martha has this thing where she dreams of a story and then gets it tatood on her back.  I wonder if its this.

29 Martha

Martha goes to the tattoo shop to have more of her dream story tatood.  She has to wait so she writes it down first.  By the time the tattooer is ready, she says that part of the story is already tatood on her back.  Nuts.

Turns out the book the house gave her is the story of the shop opaline is running.  Fun.

30 Henry

Henry goes to see his dad in rehab.  From my perspective it seems like his dad is trying.  He gets an email from princeton and in it there's a letter from opaline to someone that it seems like was a German prisoner of war and says she was also incarcerated. Guessing we will see that in the next chapter.

31 opaline

She goes to an auction and meets a nice French man whom shows her to the historical library and it's cool.  But then moracan man shows up.  He's there looking for a book.  She wants to tell him he's pregnant with his baby.  But he only care about the Emily bronte manuscript that he can somehow tell opaline has found. He's all, let me sell this for you.  No woman will ever get a high price for a rare book.  She tells him to fuck off forever.

32 Martha pg 243

Martha is insecure

33 Henry

He goes to our heros house and she makes him explain himself.  She doesn't hate it.

34 opaline

She writes a letter to the lady that she worked for in the paris book shop.  She tells her everything and gives her her phone number.  One of the guys she knows from book auctions shows up at her shop around closing time.  She goes to make tea or whatever and comes back to fund he's gone and has taken her letter.  She makes the wild logical jump to thinking this guy must be working for her brother.  She brings the bronte manuscript to her landlord and she flees.

35 Martha

She goes to the beach to celebrate Celtic spring.  She goes into the water and its hella inspiring. She sees Henry and runs to his arms and they kiss and cuddle and she warms up.  I thought he came with her.  No, this is a surprise.   He knew she was here because our hero told him.  Also, there's some a book related thing here.  He didn't come for her, he came for books.  She puts her clothes on and just jumps on the train.  This seems nuts.  There's no way the train station can be right there on the beach can it?

36 Henry

Henry wakes up drunk and injured and makes his way to the bnb where the guy tells him that he told Martha that Henry had gone home for good.

They should have placed this book in a time before cellphones.  Any time my brain thinks something akin to a text like "gotta visit my sister, be back in a few days" could have solved this whole thing, you're doing it wrong.

Then he goes to our hero's house and Martha answers and patches up his head wound.  They read a letter from opaline that leads me to belive she gave up her baby for adoption.

Martha tells Henry she doesn't wanna get with him.  And not cause of anything that happened, but more because she's gotta work on herself.

The Lost Bookshop ch 1 through 18

Ch 1 opaline

There's a lady and her family wants to marry her off but instead she sells her books and starts a life as a book merchant

Ch 2 Martha

Matha was in an abusive relationship and left to Dublin.  She got a job with an eccentric lady as a live in house keeper.  There's some weirdo looking in the windows.  He says his name is Henry and he's looking for something. 

Ch 3 henry

Opaline is a bit of a legendary figure in book seller circles which Henry is.  Henry doesn't like his family cause he's into books and they are jackasses.  He found a letter that was sent to her and he feels very proud.  He's looking for her lost bookstore and that's why he was looking in Mary's window.  And he's all little smitten with Mary.

Ch 4 Opaline

When opaline left her family she went to Paris.  She met a man that's also into books.  They should get married and have tons of babies.

Ch 5 Martha 

Martha is good at reading people.  Not books, books make her nervous. She wasn't good at reading her abusive husband.  She blames herself for having been abused.  She's decided to give up on hope or happiness. Not sure which yet.

ch 6 henry

Henry goes to Martha's house and asks her to come to coffee with him and asks about the house and whether there's a hidden bookshop inside and she explains she's just started working there.

Ch 7 opaline 

She gets a job working at a book shop run by an American woman.

Ch 8 Martha 

Martha take her first pay, buys new clothes, throws away her old clothes and goes to the town college.  She has a sudden sad crashing down moment when she realizes she doesn't even know how to check out a book.

Ch 9 henry.

Henry is trying to help Martha with this whole library situation and she drops her bag and he tries to help put stuff back and it pusses her off.  But after a bit of embarrassment they get to talking and henry wonders aloud if opaline ever went to Paris.  Martha asks Google and finds a picture of her in Paris with Ernest hemmingway.

Ch 10 opaline 

They do the scene where the picture Martha found was taken and opaline is immediately worried that her family will see it and come get her.  That's exactly what happens.  But before that she makes sweet love to a Moroccan man.

Ch 11 Martha 

The lady of the house is having a get together and is a nervous wreck.  The ladies that come over are mean.  Martha is sad and lonely.  She wishes henry was there to hold her.  We know that Henry would like to do that.  But she sure doesn't. She sees some odd cracks in the wall and thinks it might be something cool.  I think it might be an entrance to the lost bookshop.  She cant sleep so she goes upstairs to clean up after the mean women.  But the place is already clean.

Ch 12 henry

Henry wakes up Martha by knocking on her bedroom window.  They plan to meet at 11th am.  He tries to impress Martha by buying a fancy pen. But it turns out he can't afford it.  I wish he was a hermit crab so he could crawl back into his shell and and die of shame.

Ch 13 opaline

Her brother and fiance kidnap her to a hotel.  Luckily her Moroccan man saw it all happen and followed them and rescues her.  With the help of the bookshop owner,  she flees to Dublin.

Ch 14 Martha

Henry take Martha to a other fancy book place with a really old book and he tells her she's welcome in the world of books.  She tells him she's gotta get to work several times.  But she never leaves.  Makes me worried she's gonna get fired.  They go out to dinner and she tells him her history with her abusive boyfriend. 

Ch 15 henry

Henry is having this real intimate moment with Martha.  Then his phone rings.  It's his fiance.  She sounds like she's a bit much.  But she's impressive and it makes henry feel good to be with an impressive lover.

Anyway, Martha was already broken and this situation is probably going to break her more.

Ch 16 opaline pg 107

Opaline is shipped off to Dublin where a friend of the bookshop owner has agreed to take care of her.  Surprise, he's dead.  But his son is a good dude.  He suggests opaline stay and run the shop.  She agrees, but the shop is a bit spooky.

Ch 17 pg 117

There's odd cracks in the house.  Martha is concerned but the lady that owns the place is not.  Remember how Martha is good at reading people?  Martha knew henry was engaged.  She could see it in his eyes.

As she's trying to go to sleep there's odd noises and she wakes up to see one of the cracks has grown out.to be a bookcase with one book.

Ch 18 henry pg 123

Henry brings Martha donuts and coffee a apologizes for not telling her about his fiancé sooner.  She says they can still be friends.  She also tells him a out her boss's friend that walked into the lost bookshop and then it disappearing.  Henry recalls the same thing happened to him.  It's real yo.