Maher fills her story with quite a few of the “names” of the day - Gertrude Stein, Hemingway, Ezra Pound and especially Joyce. She captures the personalities and makes it easy to see these great names as real people. At first Sylvia is stymied by all the famous writers in Adrienne’s store, but she goes on to open her own store and befriend the most famous writers of her day without being self-conscious about it. What do you think enabled her to call Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and the others her friends?

The Paris Bookseller? - BookBrowse What do readers think of The Paris Bookseller? - BookBrowse

What seems like another lifetime ago, I was a professor of writing, and the founder of the award-winning literary journal YARN. I also have an MFA from Columbia University. Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their stores—a gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstore—become fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love. Many leading writers of the day, from Ernest Hemingway to Gertrude Stein, consider Shakespeare and Company a second home. Here some of the most profound literary friendships blossom – and none more so than between James Joyce and Sylvia herself.Recommend to fans of Paula McLean's The Paris Wife and anyone who enjoyed Hemingway's A Moveable Feast." - Booklist (starred review) With an abundance of historical facts and with renowned authors like Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound and Scott Fitzgerald, Sylvia’s bookstore becomes the epicentre of literature and a meeting place for these celebrated authors which lends a touch of magic to the story. In fact it is the story. A book for the bookshop lovers . . . an absorbing novel about the life changing nature of our favourite reads” Add to that a pretty accurate account of an amazing American woman’s life. Sylvia Beach finds a place for herself that wasn’t possible in 1920’s America. It’s about these writers, James Joyce in particular, as Sylvia Beach brilliantly and courageously takes on the challenges of publishing Ulysses when the obstacles in America were impossible at first to overcome. There are many layers here, but center of the story is the remarkable Sylvia Beach.

The Paris Bookseller | Penguin Random House Retail The Paris Bookseller | Penguin Random House Retail

Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over. It was an interesting part of history, when Sylvia Beach opened Shakespeare and Co in Paris. In 1922, she published Ulysses of James Joyce. This was a fun historical fiction for me. At first, while real life American Sylvia Beach was unmoored and not knowing what she really wanted to do with her life, I had trouble getting into the story. But once Sylvia opens her own Paris bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, in 1919, I was captivated by the writers and other creative people who made her store a meeting place. I googled most of the famous names and some I had never heard up, not because I needed more information to enjoy the story but because the story made me interested in the people. Where does creative freedom ends? Just about every creation has an artistic genesis. In a recent online debate, a Swedish newspaper was criticized for publishing a satirical graphic of a Chinese flag in which the red stars were replaced with virus icons, depicting China, geographically, as the origin of the virus. It offended Chinese people all over the world. The newspaper defended their right to free speech. The graphic replaced words in expressing an opinion of a historical event.I was keen to read this book – not because I am a James Joyce fan (I have never read ‘Ulysses’, and I doubt I ever will) – but because I was fascinated by the idea of a single American woman opening up an English language bookshop in Paris in the 1920s AND being the first person to publish such an influential book as ‘Ulysses’. Sylvia calls her shop Shakespeare and Company. Discuss the second part of that name, and Company, and the way it arises as a theme throughout the book. Kerri Maher has crafted a compelling, insightful look into the complexities of the Kennedy era and one of its most fascinating daughters. Expertly researched, this is a remarkable debut.” Joyce, like many artists, is temperamental, demanding and horrible with finances. Sylvia puts up with him, at a cost to her own health and purse. In the end, he uses her badly, forgetting that without her, the book would never have been published.

THE PARIS BOOKSELLER | Kirkus Reviews

In an overly enthusiastic gesture, Sylvia thrust out her hand, which Suzanne appeared amused to shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mademoiselle Beach." Sylvia Beach opened Shakespeare and Co., a bookstore in Paris devoted to selling and lending books written in English. When no American or English publisher would consider printing Ulysses, she undertook it, even though she had never published anything before. It almost led to her undoing, as Joyce continued to revise the manuscript even after it was being set for print. The book continues to be a thorn in her side, as bootleg copies undermine her ability to profit off the book. Así fue como la vida la llevó a conocer a su admirado James Joyce y se embarcó en la titánica tarea de publicar el manuscrito prohibido de Ulysses, libro que nadie más quería editar. Todo esto mientras llevaba el negocio en Shakespeare and Company, creaba una comunidad literaria con inmigrantes estadounidenses y amigos franceses que se reunían para hacer lecturas en voz alta y presentaciones de libros.Amid Shakespeare and Company’s ups and downs…Sylvia and Adrienne create a loving partnership in a time when queer relationships were far less accepted, even in Paris…With its insider’s view of the literary expat world of 1920s Paris.” No work of literature can be fully appreciated or understood without historical context. What may seem nonsensical or even offensive to contemporary sensibilities, might actually be interpreted in a completely different manner by considering the era it is from. Wholly immersive, a literary romp through Left Bank Paris…an enchanting glimpse of the storied lost generation through a female gaze.”

Book Marks reviews of The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher Book Marks reviews of The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

Hi! So great to see you on Goodreads - it's such an amazing place for readers and authors to connect. Kerri Maher’s enchanting historical novel follows American Sylvia Beach, founder of the storied Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company, as she opens her doors in 1919 and then courageously commits to publishing her friend James Joyce’s Ulysses, which had been banned in the United States.” Recommended to fans of Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife and anyone who enjoyed Hemingway's A Moveable Feast.” There's a Walt Whitman in you," her father told her every time she brought home another high mark on a school essay. "I just know it." United States v. One Book Called Ulysses was a 1933 case in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dealing with free speech. At issue was whether James Joyce's novel was obscene. In deciding it was not, Judge John M. Woolsey opened the door to importation and publication of serious works of literature, even when they used coarse language or involved sexual subjects. The decision was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit,on August 08, 1934, but it is Judge Woolsey's trial court opinion which is now often cited as an erudite and discerning affirmation of literary free speech.Silvia was also great friends with Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein so all these characters appear in the book also. Books, bookstores, fellow book lovers, writers, this book is a veritable feast for anyone who loves to read. It’s fabulous historical fiction that made me feel as if I had just opened up a time capsule of the fascinating times of 1920’s Paris ! Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce whose book Ulysses is a big part of this story, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others . I knew nothing about Sylvia until I read this book. She met James Joyce in 1920, and offered to publish his controversial and banned masterpiece, Ulysses. Sylvia struggled financially thanks to Joyce and his willingness to drain her dry with his demands for Sylvia's time and more money and eventually abandoning all that Sylvia did for him, when he signed on with another publisher. But it's very clear that Sylvia still thought that her sacrifices were worth it, that she thought her reputation and the success of Shakespeare and Company owed much to the work of James Joyce. Another thought: a current interpretation of Persuasion by Jane Austen, in a recent Netflix movie, rendered the original intent almost unrecognizable. Austen was hunched over her small writing desk in the village of Chawton during England’s Georgian era as she wrote Persuasion. The viewer, however, most likely will be lying in bed, watching the Netflix movie, interpreted by a totally different writer in another totally contextual era. The Lodge by Sue Watson, psychological thriller set in snow-blown Cornwall (Kynance Cove). #Audiobook Why do it, Fiona? Why...