Such a good story! I enjoyed the author's depiction of London in the 1920s. The characters were three dimensional and engaging, the good and the bad! The story weaves around Kate's struggles, but she is touch and adaptable. A character you'd like to be friends with.

Really enjoyed this book thank you. Vibrant, believable, characters and an absorbing plot. I will ensure I look out for this author in the future!

I received a digital ARC via Netgalley through the publisher but all thoughts are my own.

This is the story of a young woman named Kate who has grown up in a small run down town called Bermondsey, at the mercy of her cruel Aunt Sylvie and cousins who have done their best to make her life miserable and treated her as a proverbial physical and emotional punching bag.

Her Aunt forces her to get a job at the young age of fourteen and takes most of her wages, leaving an amount left that she couldn't survive on if she were to attempt to get her own place. A few years later, she is still working at the same place, though has received a bit of a raise. When her cousin said something cruel about her mother who died tragically, she responds back by walloping her a good one and then her Aunt proceeds to stab her with a knife. Shortly after being bandaged up, her Aunt essentially throws her out with barely the clothes on her back and Kate is left scrambling to figure out where to live.

Kate has learned a thing or two while being under the rule of her Aunt and one of those is that she knows she's tough and will find a way to survive even if she has to take multiple jobs. When she happens to land a job at the Bermondsey Bookshop for cleaning, she has no idea at the time of just how much it will change her life and how it just may set her on the path that she's always dreamed of.

She may even have a chance to be reunited with the Father that has been absent a good chunk of her life though her Father isn't quite the loving person that he would have many people believe and there could be a darker meaning behind much of his actions.

This story was quite the adventure and my heart ached for Kate who has been through so much and yet continues to get up to carry on no matter how often she gets knocked down. Life has been far from easy for her but she's determined to make her way in the world and along the way she could very likely meet the love of her life as well as become friends with unexpected people.

I really enjoyed reading about Kate's determination and how she really is a sweetheart who's had some tough hurtles to overcome but hasn't let that turn her bitter or into a mean person. She shows quite the growth throughout the story and finds herself caught between two different worlds. She didn't graduate but that doesn't take away from what a smart young woman she is and is talented in a number of different ways.

This is a book I highly recommend particularly if you're one that enjoys a story set in the early to mid-1920s, has a bookstore in it and shows just how powerful friendship can be. I really hope that there will be a sequel to this book at some point!

Please be aware of possible trigger warnings for death of parents, alcoholism, domestic abuse, child abuse and other forms of violence.

This was a fair historical story although I wished there was a bit more about the bookshop, which was a real place. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

The Bermondsey Bookshop was a real place. During its nine-year existence (1921-30), the venue, under direction of the forward-thinking Ethel Gutman, provided working-class Londoners with literary and artistic sustenance through its reading room, author lectures, elocution lessons, drama readings, and other programming. Mary Gibson has taken this inspiring subject and woven it into a historical saga evoking an impoverished young woman’s dreams and struggles.

Kate Goss grows up in a violent household in South London’s Bermondsey district in the 1920s. Raised by her harsh Aunt Sylvie since her Romany mother’s death and her father’s abandonment for parts unknown, she’s forced to leave school and begin work at a tin factory, where the camaraderie is warm but the pay meager and the work brutally hard on young bodies. After a vicious fight with her cousin and aunt, 17-year-old Kate is thrown out and left to depend on her own resources and pluck – and the latter she has in abundance. She takes multiple jobs, including one as a cleaner at a bookshop catering to local residents, one meant to be “common ground for the Mean Streets and the Mayfairs.” Throughout, she dreams about her father returning and lifting her away from her dreary life.

Kate is initially suspicious of the shop’s kindly proprietor, Ethel Gutman, who treats her with respect and asks to be called by her first name, as if they were equals. Through her bookshop role, Kate makes connections that prove important: Johnny Bacon, her former schoolgirl crush, a dockworker who contributes articles to the quarterly Bermondsey Book; Nora, a French teacher; and Martin North, a wealthy woman’s artist nephew. It’s clear that Johnny and Martin will develop into rivals for Kate’s affections. Both are rounded characters with visible flaws, making Kate’s decision complicated.

Gibson plunges readers deeply into the crushing poverty of Bermondsey’s streets through Kate’s hand-to-mouth existence, including the exhaustion of fourteen-hour days and the “Monday morning fever” that soldering girls got from breathing metal dust. Kate has admirable energy and courage that see her through hard times – there are many – though has a blind spot where her missing father is concerned. The novel also shows how difficult bridging social divides can be. At times I found myself wishing that the bookshop was more central to the storylines, and the novel's ending feels a bit fragmented. But I found myself fully involved in Kate’s refusal to admit defeat, and appreciative of the chance to learn more about an innovative historical bookshop and its social success.

The Bermondsey Bookshop by Mary Gibson is an intriguing tale of life in the tenements of London in the 1920s. Her father in the care of her aunt, following her mother's death, has left Kate. Her father had gone off to war and then to seek his fortune. She dreamed daily of his return. Her life was horrible. The description of life in Bermondsey for most of the people there was absolutely miserable. It was worse for Kate. This was a tough book to get into. It took about halfway to really start enjoying the read. This was partially due to the minimal dialogue that made it slower going. It did set the rest of the book up well, though, so it was worth it.

Kate lived in abject poverty, made worse by the fact that her aunt hated her and allowed her to cousins to treat her miserably. Eventually, at about 12, Kate was pulled out of school and sent to work in a tin factory. She was successful there: she worked hard and was thrilled to be away from the family so many hours a day. Her aunt even allowed her to keep a miniscule amount of her weekly pay. Things got so bad at some that several years later her aunt kicked her out and she had to make it on her own. She barely kept her head above water and then came layoffs for the summer. Presumably she would be called back in the fall, but until then she needed work. She found several jobs, cleaning. One was at a pub and one was at the Bermondsey Bookshop. There she found friends and the kind of people she didn't even know existed. By the time she was eighteen, she had a beau, and a couple of new items of clothing. Things were looking up. They stayed that way for a while, with lots of twists and turns in her life. It became a very interesting read. I enjoyed it, although if I had not committed to review it, I am not sure I would have kept reading. I recommend it with reservations.

I received a free ARC of The Bermondsey Bookshop from Netgalley. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #thebermondseybookshop

This story is based around a real bookshop that was founded by Ethel Gurtman in 1921. Established to provide a place for the working classes to learn to read, buy books, learn languages or stage classical plays. Kate Gross was a young woman who struggled with poverty. Her mother had died and her father had abandoned her. She works several jobs to try and make ends meet. When she gets a job in the bookshop, her life begins to change.

With a well crafted plot and great descriptions of the bookshop, what more could you want. I found this story both intriguing and sad. Kate is a feisty character. This is a beautifully written story but its pace is quite slow. This is a heartwarming and heartbreaking read. A must read for fans of historical fiction.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Aria and the author Mary Gibson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"The Bermondsey Bookshop" is a unique Historical Fiction story that takes the reader to the rough and raw streets of Bermondsey during the 1920's. We get a window into the plight of those living there...poor families...impoverished women working in factories, domestic abuse, brutality against women and children...money lenders and scammers...and the hope for better that lives deep inside.

Mary Gibson, author of the Factory Girls series, hits it out of the park with this absolutely engaging story.
Based around the true story of The Bermondsey Bookshop, founded by Mrs. Ethel Gutman. Wanting "to bring books and the love of books into Bermondsey", Mrs. Gutman modeled the bookshop around the working men and women; the shop was open in the evening, free lectures by authors and scholars, and an installment plan to be able to own books...or "a" book.

Our story revolves around "Kate Goss", a young girl left by her father to be cared for by her aunt after the sudden death of her mother. But life isn't easy, in fact it's dark, hateful and abusive.
Young Kate spends her nights dreaming about the return of her dad and how he will save her from the violent drudgery of her days.

Filled with longing for a better life, a will to survive and love that comes silently wearing many faces, this is a book that should not be missed.

4⭐
Thank you to NetGalley, Aria-Head of Zeus, and the author Ms. Mary Gibson for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "The Bermondsey Bookshop"
The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone.

Thank you to Vicky at Head of Zeus for my invitation to the tour and for my gifted copy of the book via NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review.

I was attracted to the title of the book as I do not read a huge amount of historical fiction I was intrigued to find out more.

Poor Kate has not had a good start in life, her Mother was killed in a fall and her Father left her with her awful Aunt who cannot wait to send her out to work at the age of fourteen. She gets a job in a factory soldering but a horrific incident at home loses her home and her job.

Poor Kate she really does have it tough but she has a huge tenacity and doesn’t let it get her down. She is a strong woman and she has to borrow money from a money lender, and she gets into further trouble. She gets the job at the bookshop as a cleaner and she begins to meet new people, including John Rasher who she had been at school with.

I enjoyed reading the book it was really well written and drew me in from the start. I instantly liked Kate she reminded me of a Jane Eyre with her awful family and the abuse that she has to endure.

I was so relieved when she starts to experience kindness from Miss Gutman’s the bookshop owner and also I loved how the bookshop is a sanctuary for the working class to continue with education and classes just like a library. I was really interested to read about the real Ethel Gutman and her wonderful bookshop.

A great read with so much history and its gripping and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Aria, Head of Zeus and the author, Mary Gibson, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of The Bermondsey Bookshop in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I was completely lost in the narrative of this book. It is what I can only describe as exquisite.
The storyline was well thought out and written with intriguing characters. The scenery was highly descriptive and captivating. I was hooked from the start and had to read this book in one sitting. It was so easy to get lost in 1920's England.
Well worth a read.

I would like to thank Aria and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book before release. The word bookshop in the title got me excited to read this and then after reading the blurb I knew I was in for a good read.
In The Bermondsey Bookshop we find Kate Goss struggling to survive and with the backdrop of 1920s London and Mary's use of language it brings to the mind a very grim existence for poor Kate. However she has her dreams and memories of her late mother to keep her going. When the factory she works for needs to lay people off she finds herself a job in a bookshop and this quite literally opens doors for her taking her life in a new direction.
Mary Gibson has written a compelling read. One that is inspiring and had me totally hooked. Even if I wanted to stop reading I couldn't. There is drama at every turn and the bookshop is a slice of heaven in a very bleak place and time in London. While reading the scene where the bookshop is first introduced to the reader I got an Alice in Wonderland feeling about it. You could go in there and not be quite sure who you would meet or what you might find. I enjoyed getting to know the characters through Kate's eyes and how she sees them and the different classes of people rich and poor. Mary's way of story telling is really good and her use of language sets the tone of the era brilliantly.
This is an outstanding historical read and one that will stay with me for some time, which is why it has Chells and Books highest rating of three leaves.

Set in 1920s London, this is the inspiring story of Kate Goss's struggle against poverty, hunger and cruel family secrets.

When her mother dies and her father leaves to find his fortune, Kate is raised by Aunt Sylvia. Her Aunt and cousins are particularly cruel to Kate who is cold, given barely enough food and forced to leave school to work in a foundry. It is there that Kate makes friends and learns a trade. The factory where she works lays off people seasonally and Kate must search for a way to make money to eat and pay her rent. Kate's only choice seems to be to borrow money from an unscrupulous money-lender while looking for work.
A job cleaning a most unusual bookshop, where anyone, from factory workers to dockers, can learn to read and then buy books cheaply opens up a new world for Kate. Even on her darkest days, she holds onto the dream that her father will return and save her from squalor and hunger. Kate has two love interests, Johnny, her childhood friend, and Martin, who wants nothing more than to save her. When Kate finds her father, she isn't prepared for the flashbacks to her mother's death and the violence that she unleashes.
Based on the true story of the Bermondsey Bookshop, this is a grim look into poverty in the 1920s and the hopes and dreams of the people who survive it.
This historical fiction opens a window into the past without sugar coating the grimness, hunger, and violence towards women and intolerance towards the physically disabled. Kate's hope and goodness shine throughut the story and serve as an inspiration to her friends and co-worksers. Historical fiction is a favorite genre of mine and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Gibson's characters ring true and add a realism and relevance to the time period portrayed. This is the first one of Gibson's books I have read, however, it won't be the last.
#bermondseybookshop

I very much enjoyed this book. I thought it was well written and it kept me reading even though I did find it a little slow. It did take me a bit of time to get into the book but it was good enough to keep reading and I am so glad I did because I liked this book.

Would this be one I would read again? Probably not but I will look for more books by this author.

I give this 3 out of 5.

The story moves at a pace that allows plenty of opportunity for the author to provide detail about daily life for working class families in 1920s Bermondsey. The contrast between their experience – poor and overcrowded housing, ill health, insecure work – and that of the wealthier and more privileged is vividly depicted. In a neat inversion, it is Kate who lives in a garret and Martin, the artist for whom she models, who lives in a swanky flat.

I might have wished for a little more of the story to be focused on the Bermondsey Bookshop itself (which actually existed, founded in 1921 by Ethel Gutman, who also appears in the book). Instead its main role is to act as a location for Kate to meet other characters that she might not otherwise have encountered. For example, wealthy French teacher, Nora, or Martin, the aforementioned artist.

In Kate, the author has created an incredibly engaging main character – spirited, independent-minded, intelligent, and resilient. She certainly needs to be all those things because the author gives her plenty of trials and tribulations to face including homelessness, unemployment, debt, intimidation and cruelty from people who should treat her better. Happiness is indeed precarious. Through it all, you can’t help rooting for Kate – or forgiving her the odd purloined sticky bun or fisticuffs with her cousin Stan.

Initially, I couldn’t warm to Kate’s childhood sweetheart, Johnny, despite his own unhappy situation, but later I was forced to reappraise my view. I also thought Kate’s idealised picture of the father who’d abandoned her as a child, although evidence of her generous nature, showed more than a little naivety. I wasn’t completely surprised by how things turned out.

As Kate learns, it’s not merely distance that separates Bermondsey and Belgravia, money doesn’t necessarily buy you happiness, ‘wealth is not the same as worth’, and dreams are sometimes just that. ‘She’d learned the folly of pinning her hopes on someone else to give her a better life, but she’d also learned her own power.’

The Bermondsey Bookshop has all the ingredients readers look for in this brand of historical fiction: a well-crafted story with great period atmosphere; moments of melodrama; a varied cast of characters, some likeable, others definitely not; and an inspiring message of the possibility of triumph over adversity. Cinderella meets My Fair Lady, if you like.

I really enjoyed this book and was right up my alley! It has a strong female lead character Kate Goss and I found her very much endearing, strong minded and cheeky but also vulnerable in a lot of ways from her past and living with her aunt did not go well as she was treated terribly.

The overall story just flows really well and contains a lot of page breaks which makes the book feel so much shorter, not sure I liked that style but I can't say it took anything away from the reading experience.

Really recommend if you like Historical fiction and this should be on your TBR List!

This is a totally enjoyable novel; it's been well planned and is just that bit different to others of the genre.

Kate is an 'almost orphan'; after her mother's tragic death her father leaves her with his sister, Sylvie, and Kate's life takes a turn for the worse. Treated no better than a slave, she endures a miserable childhood and once her aunt sends her out to work as soon as she has turned fourteen, things barely improve. But Kate never gives up hope that, one day, her father will return for her . . .

This is a very engaging tale, depicting the hardship and deprivations of the working classes during the period in which the book is set. Whilst most of the 'educated' folk looked down upon the poor it's excellent to come across some who gave them every opportunity to rise out of poverty. This is heartwarming, exciting and heartbreaking, all at the same time! A beautifully written story and one which I flew through, absolutely desperate to find out what happened next! I've read several of Mary Gibson's novels previously, and she consistently publishes work of a very high standard. Completely enjoyable, and a book I'm delighted to recommend. 4.5* and well worth them all!

My thanks to publisher Head of Zeus for my copy via NetGalley; this is my honest, original and unbiased review.

This was a very interesting story. Heartbreaking at times with an authentic feel for the era. I struggled with the length and felt it dragged and could have been a little shorter.

But all in all an enjoyable read.

Thank you to Net Galley and Aria, Head of Zeus for the chance to read and review this book. This story takes place in 1920's London, and is based on a real Bookshop. It is about Kate Goss, who has had many struggles in her life. One day she gets a cleaning job at the Bermondsey Bookshop and her life begins to change for the better. I liked this book-it kept me reading and wanting to find out what happened at the Bookshop. It was very well written with lots of twists and turns. Recommend!

I enjoyed this historical novel. Very evocative of time and place, with an exciting plot and a very engaging and likable heroine, it was a real page turner. Recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

This book is set in the early 1920's. London.....Bermondsey to be exact. It is based on the true story of the Bermondsey Bookshop... a place where where anyone from dock workers to factory workers on up can come learn to read, buy books, listen to lectures, and learn all sorts of things. It is here that young Kate Goss gets her start in life. Kate's mother died when she was a young child and then her father abandoned her. She spent her life living with an aunt and family who despised her and treated her cruelly. She had to quit school to go work at the tin factory and then after a particularly bad argument she was forced to leave her aunt's house and find a new place to live. In order to survive she had to work multiple jobs, and one of those was cleaning the Bermondsey Bookshop. It is there that Kate's story truly begins.
I loved this book. The author did such a good job with the descriptions that I felt as if I was actually there watching it all unfold. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves historical fiction, or even just loves books about bookshops and books.