When her mother dies, all Rosemary knows and expects of life is turned upside down. In no time she finds herself half a world away from the Tasmanian milliner's shop she grew up in, living in tiny hotel room in New York and working with a variety of odd people in the fabled Arcade, a treasure trove of rare and used books run by the strict and abrupt Mr Pike.
Rosemary is decorously pursued by albino store manager Walter Geist, but is half in love with Oscar, despite his unmistakable rejection of a personal relationship, and despite being warned off by motherly pre-op transsexual Pearl, the Arcade's cashier. When Walter, who is steadily losing his eye-sight, asks Rosemary to read him a letter, she becomes embroiled in a search for a lost novel by Herman Melville - the unpublished The Isle of the Cross.
There was just too much, and too little, for me in this novel. Every single character was quirky or odd or had a unique story that had to be told. At the same time I found the overall story arc uninviting and uninteresting. And this surprised me - after all, I love books, bookshops and writing. But for some reason, perhaps the Literary aspects of the writing, I wasn't drawn in. On the other hand, one more Melville reference (after last month's Confidence Woman) and I'll start seeing it as a Sign, though for what I have no idea. - Alex
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