In “The Bookstore Keepers,” the third installment of Alice Hoffman’s Once Upon a Time Bookshop series, readers return to the enchanting world of Brinkley’s Island, Maine. The novella continues the story of Isabel and Johnny Lenox, five years into their hard-won happiness after reconnecting in “The Bookstore Sisters.” With her signature blend of lyrical prose and magical realism, Hoffman crafts a moving tale about the transformative nature of grief, the unexpected paths of desire, and how love persists through life’s inevitable changes.
This latest addition to the series beautifully expands the world of the Gibson sisters, whose story began when Isabel returned to help save Sophie’s struggling bookstore in the series opener. Now, having built a life together after years apart, Isabel and Johnny face new challenges when Johnny’s father passes away, triggering a profound grief that threatens to upend their carefully constructed happiness.
A Tale of Love and Loss
The novella opens with Johnny waking from a dream in which he sees an angel—or so he believes until he realizes the luminous figure is actually his father, Jack Lenox, who has just passed away in his sleep at an assisted living facility. This premonition sets the tone for a story deeply concerned with the spiritual connections that transcend physical boundaries.
Hoffman writes with remarkable sensitivity about Johnny’s grief:
“This was the day when Johnny didn’t want time to go forward. Let it all stay as it was, he thought. Let us wait until it does. But he had the sense that it was already too late.”
Johnny’s mourning manifests in nocturnal wanderings, emotional withdrawal, and a growing sense of his own mortality. In this emotional vacuum, he arrives at a surprising conclusion: he wants a child. At forty-two, both he and Isabel had assumed that chapter of their lives was closed, but Johnny’s loss awakens in him a desperate desire to experience fatherhood as his own father did.
Meanwhile, Sophie’s daughter Violet returns home after college graduation, secretly planning to escape to Paris rather than take over the family bookshop as expected. This parallel storyline about wanting something different from what others expect provides a resonant counterpoint to Johnny and Isabel’s journey.
The Language of Longing
Hoffman’s prose remains her greatest strength. She writes with an almost otherworldly awareness of emotional undercurrents, illuminating the complex ways people hide from and reveal themselves to those they love most. Consider this passage where Isabel contemplates her husband’s grief:
“By now she understood that Johnny grieved alone. When he finally came back, he ran the hose and cleaned the mud off his hands and arms, then came to sit beside Isabel. That was when she wrapped herself around him.”
In these simple lines, Hoffman conveys volumes about their relationship—Isabel’s patience, Johnny’s need for solitude, and the wordless understanding between them. This delicate emotional choreography appears throughout the novella, revealing character through gesture rather than exposition.
The Bookstore Series: A Growing Legacy
“The Bookstore Keepers” fits seamlessly into the Once Upon a Time Bookshop series, which now includes:
- The Bookstore Sisters (2022) – Where Isabel returns to save Sophie’s failing bookstore, confronting her past and the man she left behind.
- The Bookstore Wedding (2024) – Continuing the sisters’ story with celebrations and new beginnings.
- The Bookstore Keepers (2025) – The present novella, exploring grief, desire, and family bonds.
- The Bookstore Family (2025) – The upcoming conclusion to the quartet.
Each entry builds upon the central metaphor of the bookstore as a repository of stories—both those printed on pages and those lived by the characters. The illustrated children’s book “How Much Do I Love You,” written by Isabel and Sophie’s late mother, continues to serve as a touching narrative anchor, connecting generations through words of love.
Strengths and Weaknesses
What Shines
- Emotional intelligence: Hoffman demonstrates profound insight into the complicated workings of the human heart, especially in her portrayal of Johnny’s grief.
- Sense of place: Brinkley’s Island feels like a character itself, with Hoffman’s descriptions of the marshes, woods, and changing seasons creating a vivid backdrop for the story.
- Intergenerational themes: The book thoughtfully explores the ways we inherit emotional patterns, how children both resist and embrace their parents’ legacies.
- Language: Hoffman’s prose remains poetic without becoming precious—she finds beauty in ordinary moments and expression.
Room for Improvement
- Limited scope: At novella length, the story sometimes feels constrained, with potentially rich narrative threads receiving only brief attention.
- Predictability: Some plot developments, particularly regarding Isabel’s pregnancy, unfold rather conventionally.
- Supporting characters: While Violet’s storyline provides an interesting parallel, other minor characters remain somewhat underdeveloped.
- Pacing issues: The middle section occasionally meanders before the emotional resolution gathers momentum.
Magical Realism in Everyday Life
Hoffman’s brand of magical realism doesn’t rely on overt supernatural elements but instead finds the extraordinary within ordinary existence. Johnny’s premonitory dream, Isabel’s deep connection with her deceased mother through illustrating her book, and the almost mystical quality of the island setting all suggest reality slightly enhanced by something unexplainable.
When Johnny tells Isabel, “You cannot love someone too much,” it becomes the emotional thesis of “The Bookstore Keepers”. Hoffman suggests that magical thinking isn’t about fantasy but about recognizing the wonder in commitment and in choosing to remain open to life’s possibilities, even after loss.
Themes of Parenthood and Identity
“The Bookstore Keepers” poignantly explores how parenthood (both the having and losing of parents, and the becoming of parents) shapes identity. Isabel fears loving “too much” precisely because such vulnerability invites heartbreak. Johnny wants a child partly to continue his father’s legacy. Violet resists returning home because she needs to define herself apart from her mother’s expectations.
Through these intertwined narratives, Hoffman suggests that we are forever caught between honoring our origins and forging our own paths—and that both impulses deserve respect.
Final Assessment
“The Bookstore Keepers” is a warm, compassionate exploration of grief and hope that will resonate particularly with readers who have experienced loss or struggled with life’s unexpected turns. Hoffman fans will find her characteristic emotional wisdom and lyrical style throughout, even if the story occasionally follows predictable patterns.
The novella works best when viewed as part of the larger tapestry of the Once Upon a Time Bookshop series, as certain emotional payoffs depend on reader investment in relationships established in earlier installments. Newcomers may want to begin with “The Bookstore Sisters” to fully appreciate the characters’ journeys.
For readers who enjoy Hoffman’s blend of emotional realism with hints of the magical, comparable works include Erin Morgenstern’s “The Starless Sea,” Sarah Addison Allen’s “Garden Spells,” or Joanne Harris’s “Chocolat.”
By the closing pages, as Isabel and Johnny anticipate their daughter’s birth while watching Violet embark on her Parisian adventure, Hoffman delivers a message that feels both timeless and timely: that beginnings and endings are perpetually intertwined, and that love—whether for parents, children, siblings, or partners—requires both holding on and letting go.
In Johnny’s realization that “nothing stayed the same,” but that some things “would always be remembered because they were handed down, things like love and memories and stories,” Hoffman captures the essence of what makes her writing so enduring—the recognition that even within life’s impermanence, we find meaning in what we pass along to others.
