This Book Made Me Think of You - Hardcover

Page, Libby

Hardcover

ISBN 13: 9798217186990

Verlag: Berkley Books, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

A woman receives an unexpected gift from the man she loved and lost—a year of books, one for every month—launching a reading-inspired journey to live, dream, and love again in this glimmering and heart-stopping novel.

Twelve books. Twelve months. One chance to heal her heart…

When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. But mainly because Joe died five months ago....

When she goes to pick up the present, Alfie, the bookshop owner with kind eyes, explains the gift—twelve carefully chosen books with handwritten letters from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him.

At first Tilly can’t imagine sinking into a fictional world, but Joe’s tender words convince her to try, and something remarkable happens—Tilly becomes immersed in the pages, and a new chapter begins to unfold in her own life. Monthly trips to the bookstore—and heartfelt conversations with Alfie—give Tilly the comfort she craves and the courage to set out on a series of reading-inspired adventures that take her around the world. But as she begins to share her journey with others, her story—like a book—becomes more than her own.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Libby Page is a Sunday Times bestselling author whose work has been published in over 20 territories around the world. Before becoming an author, she worked in journalism and marketing. She lives in Somerset, England, with her husband and young son.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

January
BOOK LANE RECOMMENDS
BOOKS TO READ WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE READING
Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books, Cathy Rentzenbrink
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
Tilly and the Bookwanderers, Anna James
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Sangu Mandanna

The right book in the hands of the right person at exactly the right moment can change their life forever. At least, that's what Alfie has always believed. It's hard not to when you spend six days a week in a bookstore and have witnessed more times than you can count the magic of someone entering your shop as one person and leaving with the possibility of becoming another held in paper between their palms.

But Alfie isn't thinking about changing lives when he pulls up outside Book Lane on his battered red bicycle early that January morning. He's thinking about the fact that his glasses are misted with rain, his trousers are drenched, and there are three enormous and very soggy cardboard boxes waiting for him on the doorstep.

"Bloody books," he mumbles under his breath as he digs about in the pockets of his bottle-green duffle coat for his keys.

"Bloody door." The key sticks as it always does before finally creaking open, letting a gust of cold wind and the disheveled bookseller into the shop.

Alfie drags the deliveries out of the rain and scoops up the post, flicking through the assortment of bills and dumping them on his desk with a sigh. Closing the shop in the quiet period between Christmas and the New Year had felt like a good idea at the time. But now Alfie has only an hour to go until opening and a whole carpet of pine needles to sweep, several boxes of books to unpack, and a window display to change, swapping festive romances and comforting cookbooks for healthy recipe books and self-help manuals.

People are always telling Alfie that he has the best job in the world. But what they think being a bookseller entails-reading all day-and what it actually involves are quite different. They'd be surprised by just how much heavy lifting and dusting is involved.

A scratching sound draws Alfie's attention to the back door.

"Happy New Year. It's just us this morning, Georgie," he says as the cat flap swings open and the furry, mottled gray face of the neighborhood's stray appears in the opening.

Georgette shakes the rain from her fur and hops onto a pile of special-edition Jane Austens on the counter, settling herself and watching with a faintly judgmental expression as Alfie gets to work.

Eventually, with the display refreshed, the radiators clicking, lamps glowing cozily, and the nutty smell of fresh coffee in the air, Alfie looks around, satisfied. Even after all this time he can't help but feel a stirring of anticipation as the shop awaits its customers, books waiting patiently for covers to be stroked, pages to be flicked through, and selections to be made.

Just as he is about to open up, his attention falls on the Book Lover's Calendar that was a Christmas gift from a customer and is pinned to the shop noticeboard, open on the New Year and illustrated with an image of a woman reading in a pool of lamplight. Today's date is circled in red, the words "PHONE NIGHTINGALE" written in capital letters. He glances at the shelf that is reserved for books ready for collection. For once it is empty apart from one solitary book wrapped in brown paper and tied with ribbon. It has sat there for a long time, unmoving as a rotation of titles came and went around it.

"What a way to start the year."

Sweeping a scattering of paperwork to one side on his desk unearths a leather-bound book the size of a particularly comprehensive dictionary. Alfie flicks through the crinkled pages until he finds the number he needs. As he picks up the phone, he thinks back to the promise he made over a year ago. He had almost forgotten that this day would eventually arrive. That he'd have to make this call.

He pauses for a moment, his finger hovering over the dial button. Because he's worked as a bookseller long enough to know how transformational books can be. But he also knows from personal experience that some people don't want their lives to suddenly change. And he has a feeling that the call he is about to make will turn this customer's life completely upside down.


The dentist’s hand looms above Tilly’s face, and Tilly tries to focus on the shade of Dr. Jafari’s deep aubergine manicure instead of the glimmering silver instrument delving inside her mouth.

"Had a nice Christmas?" the dentist asks as she rummages among Tilly's molars.

Tilly attempts to mumble a noncommittal response.

"Mouth open nice and wide, please."

She opens wider, grateful for the excuse not to have to explain that she spent Christmas Day at home with a tub of Quality Street sweets to herself.

"Of course, Christmas is a terrible time of year for dental care," Dr. Jafari continues brightly. "All that sugar and red wine. It's good that you're getting your checkup in now, because we'll get pretty busy soon. Chipped fillings. Ulcers. Root canals. Abscesses."

The dentist rolls off each malady as cheerfully as if she were listing the names of her grandchildren.

"Everything seems fine for you though," she adds wistfully, withdrawing her hand from Tilly's mouth.

"Well, that's a relief." Tilly swings her legs off the chair, her brown leather boots with the red laces touching down on the shiny floor. She tucks her long ginger hair behind her ears and shrugs on her tweed coat with the mismatched colorful buttons, thinking as she does that it's strange that this woman has just been so close that Tilly noticed her chapped lips and could smell her violet-scented perfume, and yet they likely won't see each other again for at least a year. She doesn't even know Dr. Jafari's first name.

"Excuse me," says Dr. Jafari, "I think your phone is ringing."

She points at Tilly's satchel, which is steadily vibrating.

The number is not one she recognizes, but as she steps out into the waiting room, she answers with a polite "Hello?"

At first there's silence, then a cough followed by a low and unfamiliar male voice.

"Um, hello. Is that Matilda Nightingale?"

"Who is this, please?"

There is a child sitting nearby with her head bowed over the pages of a book, forehead furrowed in concentration and teeth biting down on her bottom lip. It's an expression Tilly knows well, and for a moment the memory of reading like that, totally absorbed, is so all-consuming that when the man on the other end of the phone speaks again, she wonders if she has perhaps imagined the words.

"I'm Alfie Lane, the manager of Book Lane. The bookshop in Primrose Hill. I'm calling as we have an order here for you to collect."

"But I haven't placed an order."

Not only has she not stepped foot inside her local bookshop for a long time, but it has been over a year since Tilly picked up a book, unless you count the manuscripts she edits at work, which she doesn't.

"The order was placed for you by Joe Carter," comes the voice on the other end of the line at the exact moment that the woman ahead of Tilly in the queue steps aside and the receptionist calls, "Next, please."

"Did you say Joe Carter?"

She can feel her chest tightening, and she is suddenly very aware of the smell of mint mouthwash and latex gloves. Despite the concrete-gray day outside, the waiting room feels cloyingly, oppressively hot.

The receptionist drums her nails on the desk. "Can I help you?"

Tilly stumbles forward, holding the phone away from her face as she tells the receptionist her name.

"That will be sixty-five pounds please." Tilly fumbles for her card and hands it wordlessly over as the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Berkley Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2026
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 13: 9798217186990
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 352
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: BERKLEY; https://www.penguin.com/?s=BERKLEY; ; Unit 2 Limavady Business Park; Limavady; County Londonderry; BT49 0HR; Vereinigtes Königreich
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar