The female publisher behind James Joyce finally gets the spotlight in THE PARIS BOOKSELLER

The enchanting tale of Sylvia Beach is told with a beautiful lightness by Kerri Maher in the book for book lovers that is The Paris Bookseller. Through Sylvia’s little-known story, as the woman who published James Joyce when no one else would, Maher is able to indulge us, and I’m sure herself, in a world obsessed with the written word. From musty corners to sun-drenched window seats, every aspect of Shakespeare & Company – Beach’s Parisian bookstore and lending library – is lived in by the reader.

Continuing to carve out her career in historical fiction, Maher (whose previous novels have taken a Kennedy sister and Grace Kelly as their subjects) brings real life to Sylvia. Her lesbian love affair is treated with sensitivity for the restrictions of the time, but not over-scandalised; instead, Maher allows Sylvia to love and be loved. Similarly, the excitement around Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound popping into the shop is seen through Sylvia’s eyes, not through some historical looking-glass.

The build-up to Joyce’s Ulysses publication really puts the restrictive publishing laws of America into perspective alongside prohibition and a perpetual intolerance for immigrants, and the wartime setting is made believable on a very human level. While tackling all this, Maher still manages to write with a freshness that makes The Paris Bookseller an interesting but easy read.