Rutabaga's Reads 2026: Part 12

It is a rare post that features one author. Here is one of those posts. The author is Evie Woods. The first book I picked up caught my eye when I was wandering around Barbara’s Bookstore at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport early spring of 2025.

            The books are in order by publication/US publication date.

The Lost Bookshop (Nov. 7, 2023) by Evie Woods.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Three characters in two timelines have been supporting characters in their own lives. Opaline Carlisle/Gray faces an arranged marriage to a leering man by a misogynistic brother. Martha Winter has fled a marriage filled with domestic abuse, and Henry Field is fanatically searching for a lost bookshop while avoiding his alcoholic and emotionally abusive father. Opaline’s timeline starts in the 1920s and wraps up years after World War II. She’s a progressive woman of her time, opening her own bookshop and becoming a leader in rare book dealings. She also experiences tremendous loss and years of time when life seems to stop (but no spoilers).

            In the present day, Martha has taken work as a live-in housekeeper for Madame Bowden (first name: Eileen). It’s never what Martha would’ve chosen for herself, but she needs work. Meanwhile, Henry’s obsession crosses paths with Martha’s; she originally thinks he’s a pervert trying to peer in her window. He’s merely obsessed with the location of where Martha is living on Ha’penny Lane. Unfortunately, his fanaticism is costing him, not only financially, but in his relationships with others. The characters are all lost, but not all is lost, and the lost bookshop will prove it.

            This adult fiction novel is historical and contemporary with magical realism and splashes of romance. Despite traversing themes of domestic abuse, alcoholism and misogyny, this is an enchanting story that means to transport readers to a spellbinding Dublin that highlights the wonder of books and storytelling. It’s a story meant for bibliophiles that’s delightfully written and has a captivating warmth at its heart. While not always easy to read, it’s an absorbing novel of escapism. There is joy in storytelling and delight in reading books that capture your imagination.

The Story Collector (Aug. 13, 2024/US edition) by Evie Woods.

<This is a standalone novel.>

In present-day New York, influenced by inebriation, Sarah Harper boards a plane bound for the West Coast of Ireland and not to Boston, where her sister and brother-in-law are expecting her. While staying in the modest Butler’s Cottage in Thornwood, she finds the 100-year-old diary of Anna Butler, a teenaged farm girl who’s helping Harold Griffin-Krauss, an American visitor, who’s seeking fairy stories that have been kept alive. Anna translates the stories from Gaeilge (Irish) to English. The American is handsome and well-educated, while Anna and her family are working class. She laments that she has no real hope of catching the eye of Master George Hawley, who resides at the Thornwood mansion with his twin sister, Olivia, their father and all of their finery. That is, until she does. Oh, how tickled she is to have caught the eye of such a gentleman. But is George the gentleman he comports himself as? Will Anna trust Harold enough to share the secret of her older sister? Back in 2011, Sarah is weighed down by her own grief, questioning the wisdom of her hasty choice to fly to County Clare. Fortunately, she meets good folks like Marcus O’Brien (hotel manager), an upbeat sort, and Hazel Sweeney, who appreciates stories of The Good People. Her dad, Oran, is a good man who continues to sort through his own grief. Myth and magic in the everyday are par for the course when in Ireland.

            A standalone that is part contemporary romance and part historical fiction contains elements of fantasy and magical realism with the cottage life lending a domestic fiction feel. I didn’t fancy this tale as well as Woods’ other two books in this compilation, but the magical feel of the story is tantalizing. There is mystery and darkness, yes, but also beauty and light and, of course, the folklore and otherworldliness of fairies. The story is a tale of grief, but it’s also one of new hope, brighter days and the uplifting power of friendship. If this story were set to music, it would be haunting and lyrical, crescendoing at the highest turmoil and in the deepest grief. It is bewitching.

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris (Apr. 8, 2025/US edition) by Evie Woods.

<This is a standalone novel.>

It’s been over a year since Edith (Edie) Lane’s mother passed away. She doesn’t regret helping to care for her mom, but she knows she used her caretaker role to put her own life on hold on purpose. Now life’s staring her in the face in a big, big way and so she accepts a position in a bakery on the Rue de Paris in Compiègne, France, despite lacking strong fluency in French. The proprietor, Madame (Genevieve) Moreau, is disdainful toward her at best, and Edie’s room is the lonely attic at the top of the building, which sits over La Boulangerie et Pâtisserie de Compiègne. Edie wonders if she made a mistake, but after she makes new friends in Nicole and her husband Johnny and meets Hugo Chadwick, life seems more than a sprinkle brighter. The recipe book that Edie finds with a dash of magic in the ingredients spells deliciousness, but a recipe for disaster waits around the corner, and it involves the last person she’d suspect. Going through it also helps her see that she is exactly where she needs to be, not on the bustling streets of Paris, but in a small, locally-owned bakery on Paris Street in an entirely different town. She’s in a magical place where hot cocoa can unlock a precious memory, and a residual mystery resides in the basement.

            While this standalone novel read slow out of the gate for me, it picked up the whispers of wistfulness and whimsy that I felt when reading “The Lost Bookshop,” and then I got lost in the deliciousness of homemade bread and pastries. There is magic in a fresh croissant or a perfectly made macaron. Grief is at the forefront of the story, no matter the façade one puts on. A brave face still has struggles and sorrows, and the story balances that with secrets and sweets aplenty. The novel is a delight to the senses, even when you must use your imagination, and a literary tribute to hardworking, family-owned bakeries and all who love carbs (this includes me). Go ahead and eat a profiterole for luck!