The Library Thief

 

By- Kuchenga Shenie

    I found this book while scrolling through new books on the Goodreads website. I read the reviews and found a mystery involving a library, a young women, and suspicious death. I am not one to read mysteries however, the title alone peaked my interest and I requested it at my local library.  

    The story is based on Victorian England and a young woman named Florence. Florence is a part of the working class and the daughter to a book binder who taught her everything he knows. After she is caught up in a scandal her father throws her out of his house but she is clever.

    Florence intercepts a letter meant for her father from a Lord Belfield who is trying to hire him to restore books from his sizable library. Florence decides to go to the Lord's house and tell him she was sent by her father and hope he believes her. Belfield denies her request and service, however after some convincing he decides to hire her for less money than he offered to her father and in a shorter time frame. Florence sets to the task of restoring the large quantity of books that are only a small part of the sizeable collection. During her spare time she learns that Belfield is recently widowed and his wife drown in the night at the river on the property. There are many questions unanswered about what happened and during her down time Florence decides to investigate. With secrets around every turn it is hard to know if it was indeed an accident or in fact a murder. Belfield's brother visits and he turns out to be a less than honorable man. The vulgar man, Chester, attacks Florence in the night and has his way with her, others in the house intervene to save her. Nevertheless, there are lasting effect besides phycological, she becomes pregnant. Her world is turned upside down and her options to get out of this predicament are becoming less. 

    I found this book did not meet my expectations, when I started the book I thought the library would be a bigger part of the story. However, the library and the restorations of expensive books was overshadowed by the secrets of the people of the Belfield family and employment. The book had more to do with the future of Florence, her unborn child, the mysterious death of Belfield's wife. The author did do a nice job with twist and turns that I did not expect, such as the main character learning of her African heritage.

    Overall, I can not say that I recommend this book to others, not only was it much different than I expected but the ending was also poor. At the end of the story when the mysteries are solved and Florence sails off into the sunset, I was disappointed. The answers to many of the questions were underwhelming, the build up in the story made for anticipation that was not satisfied. The main character got her happy ending, but could of been a more exciting ending.