The Haunted Bookshop--Intrigue, Romance and Spies, Who Could Ask for More?

 “The Beauty of being a bookseller is that you don’t have to be a literary critic; all you have to do to books is enjoy them” Roger Mifflin, The Haunted Bookshop

 The Haunted Bookshop

A Review by James Romano

Hello 1000 Bookies!!  Today we return to the world of Christopher Morley with his sequel to The Parnassus on Wheels—The Haunted Bookshop.  Both of Morley’s books, featuring the adventures of Roger and Helen Mifflin, have landed on the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die.  This engaging novel is set in late 1918 Brooklyn, the story picks up in the quirky marriage of Roger and Helen.  When we last saw the couple, Helen had bought Roger’s mini bookstore on wheels to stop her brother from buying it and drove from town to town selling books. Roger helped her and they fell in love and married. Roger and Helen retire the traveling bookstore and open a shop in Brooklyn, New York named Parnassus at Home.  The Haunted Bookshop is a fun, slapstick mystery with some serious overtones.  At 125 pages the story is fairly short, but ultimately a fun read.  This book has everything you could ask for in a novel-- romance, espionage, and of course books.  If you enjoy and love books, you should read The Haunted Bookshop for the pleasure that it would give you. 

I had obtained a copy of this book many years before (and had not read it until now).  I entertained the vague idea (and on my crazier days I still do) of writing a biography of the Years of Woodrow Wilson (in the same vein of Team of Rivals or No Ordinary Time, but I digress). I was collecting literature and primary source documents of the time period.  The Haunted Bookshop begins in November 1918, a day before Thanksgiving which was two weeks after the armistice that ended the Great War was signed which was November 11th (at the 11th minute, of the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month).  In several weeks’ time President Wilson will come to New York City, board the ship The George Washington and sail for Europe to negotiate a peace treaty and attempt to build his League of Nations.  The American entry into World War 1 tilted to a victory by the Allied Powers and spelled the defeat of Germany.  With Wilson’s idealism of “open covenants openly arrived at” and “making the world safe for democracy”, he was the man of the hour in Europe and in the United States. 

On the day before Thanksgiving, Mr. Aubrey Gilbert enters the Parnassus at Home Bookshop and encounters Mr. Mifflin.  Mr. Gilbert is a young advertising executive and he wants to sell advertising space to Roger for the store.  Of course, Roger will not want to buy advertising, but he wants to sell books to Aubrey.  The two strike up a unique friendship and Aubrey stays for dinner.  One of the books that Roger and Aubrey talk about is the book by Thomas Carlyle on Oliver Cromwell.  Supposedly this book is a favorite of President Wilson.  Wilson being a strident Presbyterian would strike me as a fan of Cromwell, the Puritan leader in the English Civil War.  Helen is away but returning the next day from her travels. 

The first item I want to point out about the book is the role of Thanksgiving. Today Thanksgiving is a major national holiday.  We give thanks (mostly) for our family and the good fortune of our lives.  In The Haunted Bookshop, Thanksgiving is not reflected as a major holiday. In fact, that evening he invites his fellow bookshop owners for their weekly meeting, there isn’t even pumpkin pie.  Roger goes to show the group the Cromwell book, but it has disappeared.  Mr. Chapman, a rich member of the group asks Roger and Helen to take in an employee, his daughter Tatiana Chapman.  Ms. Chapman is young, blonde, beautiful, vivacious and rich.  Her father is paying the Mifflins to teach Tatiana the book business, so she does not grow up spoiled and self-centered.  Aubrey and Tatiana meet and sparks fly. 

Aubrey keeps coming around to the bookshop to see Tatiana.  However, he notices odd things going around specifically over this Cromwell book.  One evening, Roger tells Aubrey that the book was returned but it was a different book not the one that was stolen.  When Aubrey goes into the drug store on the corner, which is owned by a German, and finds the cover stashed away.  He quickly puts the cover in his jacket pocket and leaves the store.  However, when Aubrey crosses the Brooklyn Bridge to go home to Manhattan, Aubrey is attacked by two men with German Accents.  He is almost thrown off the bridge when the attackers are stopped. 

The next day Aubrey has an idea as to what is going on.  He wants to protect Tatiana and rents a room across the street from the bookshop because Aubrey thinks a group wants to kidnap Tatiana because she is rich for ransom.  During his spying he sees someone enter the bookshop late at night.  He begins to think that Roger is collaborating with German spies.  Aubrey is being watched by German intelligence.  The story becomes very intriguing and funny.  Aubrey embraces his espionage by sneaking into the bookstore only to be discovered by Tatiana with crazy consequences.   Aubrey also breaks into the drugstore to spy on the German druggist.  Just as Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at the end of the Civil War, is German intelligence attempting to assassinate Woodrow Wilson before he negotiates the peace treaty?  You need to read the book and find out.  The story ends with a Bang!! 

The Haunted Bookshop title is not an allusion to a supernatural event in the story.  Roger is very clear as to why he calls his shop the Haunted bookshop.  “That’s why I call this place the Haunted Bookshop.  Haunted by the ghosts of the books I haven’t read.  Poor uneasy spirits, they walk and walk around me.  There’s only one way to lay the ghost of a book, and that is to read it.”  I understand the feeling, I am surrounded by books I have not read yet and so much want to read.  I keep finding more and more.  I am very glad I read The Haunted Bookshop and you should also. 

I love used books stores.  I love visiting them anywhere I go.  I love browsing through the shelves to see what collections they share.  You can discover some great finds.  I am going to discuss three specific shops today.  My favorite is Barrier Island Books & Art in Stone Harbor, New Jersey.  The store is run by proprietors Peter Lengle and his wonderful wife Marni.  When you are down the shore in a place like Stone Harbor, you can grab an ice cream at Springers and then cross Third Avenue at 95th Street and walk a few steps to the book shop and pick up some books.  During the summer season Barrier Island Books hosts Wine Down Wednesday with live music by Marni and Pete’s talented daughter and the serving of good wine.  They have a great selection of books and art in the quaint shop.  

I travel to Frankfort, Kentucky periodically for work.  Frankfort is the capitol city although the city reminds me of what Mayberry would be if it existed.  The Capitol Building is impressive.  If you go along West Broadway Street, who will come to a wonderful restaurant, Serafini’s.  Serafini’s is across the street from the Old Kentucky State Capitol Building where Henry Clay served.  A few storefronts down from Serafini, you will find a beautiful used bookstore, Poor Richard’s Books.  The store has a great selection of new and old.  You can find wonderful finds of Kentucky history.  I have purchased books of Henry Clay and Kentucky history while there.  The tall shelves and creaky stairs are very imposing and impressive. If I was a ghost, I would settle at the bookstore.  If you find yourself in Frankfort enjoying the Bourbon Trail check out Poor Richard’s Books. 

Finally, I cannot fail to mention my own town.  In old town Fredericksburg, Caroline Street is lined with antique shops, restaurants and specialty stores.  Trolley tours and carriage rides bring the history of the little town to life.  George Washington grew up in Fredericksburg.  His mother, Mary Ball Washington, stayed in the town till her death in the first year of her son’s presidency in 1789.  There is an ice cream shop, several jewelry stores (my wife's favorite), and there is Riverby Books.  The store has three floors of used books.  The basement level has a plethora of children’s titles.  The main floor has history and biography.  I have found so many great volumes at Riverby Books.  The staff is always friendly.  Come to Fredericksburg, see the history, and buy some books. 

Independent bookstores like in the story and in real life are a labor of love for the owners.  They are not going to make millions of dollars from the sale of novels and biographies.  But you can tell by looking at Pete and Marni’s collection of classics, Riverby’s collection of Civil War books and Poor Richard’s children’s section that they love what they do.  Please patronize independent and used books stores.  They are a national treasure.  You may even thwart German spies.  I am going to end with a quote that Christopher Morley said on his deathbed:

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.  Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do.  It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.”

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