The Bookshop

The Bookshop
Penelope Fitzgerald

From the Booker Prize-winning author of ‘Offshore’, ‘The Blue Flower’ and ‘Innocence’ comes this Booker Prize-shortlisted story of books and busybodies in East Anglia.This, Penelope Fitzgerald’s second novel, was her first to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It is set in a small East Anglian coastal town, where Florence Green decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop. ‘She had a kind heart, but that is not much use when it comes to the matter of self-preservation.’Hardborough becomes a battleground, as small towns so easily do. Florence has tried to change the way things have always been done, and as a result, she has to take on not only the people who have made themselves important, but natural and even supernatural forces too. This is a story for anyone who knows that life has treated them with less than justice.

Copyright (#ulink_8ccdca8c-af9a-5871-a579-f7d1a94857ee)

4th Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

This Fourth Estate ebook edition published 2018

First published in Great Britain by Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd 1978

First published in paperback by Flamingo in 1989, 2002

Previously published in paperback by Harper Perennial 2006 and 4th Estate in 2014

Copyright © Penelope Fitzgerald 1978

Introduction © David Nicholls 2013

Preface © Hermione Lee 2013

Series advisory editor: Hermione Lee

Film poster © Green Films AIE, Diagonal Televisió SLU, A Contracorriente Films SL, Zephyr Films The Bookshop Ltd.

Still photography by Aidan Monaghan.

Penelope Fitzgerald asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008263027

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2018 ISBN: 9780007373833

Version: 2018-06-05

Dedication (#ulink_1cfc742f-cc00-57a8-8928-7b4f925cd2ca)

To an old friend

Contents

Cover (#uff1a61fb-ff1c-57ba-a29b-72f67ee889c9)

Title Page (#u1ab084c2-1026-54d4-a6af-306e5aa896ac)

Copyright (#ua2822bcf-1fa6-5b81-86e8-3e0796c37bdd)

Dedication (#u196ba724-1477-5784-8210-c32ee13a6477)

Penelope Fitzgerald: Preface by Hermione Lee, Advisory Editor (#u86ea3e78-3c87-5d7a-af88-9eb5794ae38b)

Introduction (#u171361e4-294f-50b6-87e8-9408acac9b52)

Chapter 1 (#ua804a683-e28a-5f22-9c8d-e9351dcafc6b)

Chapter 2 (#u96b2f732-7e0d-5316-8a47-35bf25654bea)

Chapter 3 (#u6753e668-5fa8-5713-bb90-5d992003a3f5)

Chapter 4 (#ua1ab4825-f4fb-5d72-96a4-214988f3411c)

Chapter 5 (#ucc72eb7e-6168-588e-8f99-d0f188c3cc39)

Chapter 6 (#ub3f91d34-0d8f-5c78-bade-d91a0bd34585)

Chapter 7 (#u0fd029cb-13dc-5a10-96e5-4a8e58b05b6e)

Chapter 8 (#ua29167d6-d447-55a1-a646-b9be0f5d2bc0)

Chapter 9 (#u80c87f00-2d10-560e-91ea-09f4c1182ba1)

Chapter 10 (#u60b1bfb3-b997-5d63-bd52-350d62d488c9)

About the Author (#uc80a0575-97c1-5718-9516-4cb750cfb428)

By the same author (#u30b78497-121a-5ff2-8d4d-e1d4b59f38f4)

About the Publisher (#u3f58538f-d826-5588-9f85-580014694a77)