Bookish People

Bookish People by Susan Coll is about a collection of book-loving people who work at an independent bookstore in Washington, D.C. 

Sophie Bernstein is the bookstore owner who just lost her husband. She is pulling away from any socialization, including employee communications, in her grief. 

She is burned out and worried about the state of the world. This is about the same time she remembers a secret nook in the store that hides behind a shelf, and she decides to make herself a fallout shelter of sorts. 

Clemi has taken over the events organization for the store. While almost every other bookstore in UK and the US has cancelled readings by poet Raymond Chaucer, she plans to keep their engagement. She has wanted to meet him for a long time – not because she is a fan, but because she suspects he may be her father. 

With most employees doing things on their own without consulting co-workers, the bookstore is starting to feel unsettled. The current manager is moving away, a newer employee was just fired and banned from the store, and Sophie is at war with a six-hundred-dollar vacuum. 

Coll has written a cast of characters readers will not soon forget. 

Coll, Susan. (2022). Bookish People. New York: Harper Muse.