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Bloomsbury Girls

By: Natalie Jenner
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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Summary

One bookshop. Fifty-one rules. Three women who break them all.

1950. Bloomsbury Books on London’s Lamb’s Conduit Street has resisted change for 100 years, run by men and guided by the manager's unbreakable rules. But after the turmoil of war in Europe, the world is changing, and the women in the shop have plans.

The brilliant and stylish Vivien Lowry, still grieving her fiancé who was killed in action, has a long list of grievances, the biggest of which is Alec McDonough, the head of fiction.

Loyal Grace Perkins is torn between duty and dreams of her own while struggling to support her family following her husband's breakdown.

Fiercely bright Evie Stone was one of the first female Cambridge students to earn a degree but was denied an academic position in favour of a less accomplished male rival. Now she plans to remake her own future.

As these Bloomsbury girls interact with literary figures of the time among them Daphne du Maurier, Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien, Grace and Evie plot out a richer and more rewarding future.

©2022 Natalie Jenner (P)2022 Allison & Busby Ltd
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Critic reviews

"A timely and beautiful ode to ambition, friendship, bookshops and the written word." (Janet Skeslien Charles, author of The Paris Library)

"Fans of 84 Charing Cross Road will be delighted." (Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures)

"A book lover's dream." (Sarah Penner, author of The Lost Apothecary)

What listeners say about Bloomsbury Girls

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Fabulous

Loved it, as ever Juliette Stevenson is brilliant! Post war England, 3 strong female characters from completely different backgrounds come together in an old fashioned book shop.

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Surpassed all expectations

Bloomsbury Girls 📚 has everything from romance, to tears, to happy glows, highs and lows. At its centre are the characters who you can't help but like. It's almost written like a mystery... It's gripping, exciting, I just wanted to keep listening and at the same time I didn't want it to end and all taking place in a seemingly uneventful, even verging on boring world of books, bookshops and academia. I don't know how Natalie Jenner does it and can only admire her writing style and the faultless narration by Juliet Stevenson too. It does have quIte a feminist flavour, I really felt for the injustice the main characters endured. There's also a very happy and satisfying ending 💗. And for those who've read the Jane Austen Society, this is a sequel of sorts.

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Excellent in all ways

We loved this book. It gave us great pleasure. One of us is unwell and unable to read at length, but remained fully engaged throughout.

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Great fun but …

Rather disappointed to hear from early on the Americanisms in this book, which is pretending to be English but obviously intended for an American audience.

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My best read in quite a while

Second of this authors book I have read I love the context and the characters. Also superbly narrated.

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So delighted to have discovered this wonderful book

Extremely well written, a great story line with a gentle unraveling of great characters all very different from each other and with their own stories of past unhappiness and tragedy. Remarkable women making their mark in a male dominated post war Britain, not using aggression but natural talent, imagination and tenacity. Beautifully narrated as always, by Juliet Stevenson.

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.Loved it

Natalie Jenner must done such a large amount of research into this period in London.
I lived through the same period and I was amazed how, as a Canadian,
she immersed herself in the life of women in England in the 1950s.

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Loved it

Really loved, took a little while to get into but grew to really like and care for the characters. Very enjoyable.

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Loved it!

Loved the three strong female characters, the story & the narration which was sublime,

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Utterly phenomenal!

A fabulous story, with characters you just fall in love with from the get-go. I power that the women found within themselves was inspiring, especially for the era in which they found themselves. It's a must-read for women from all walks of life.

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