The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London takes place in alternative London of 1983; alternative, because magic and magical beings exist, and because post-war Britain has seen greater advancement in women’s rights than the actual Britain, though the only evidence of that is an earlier woman prime minister and a woman detective at the Met.

Susan Arkshaw has turned eighteen and is about to start in an art school in London in the fall. She has the summer to experience the big city after growing up in a farm outside Bath, and find her father that her mother never talks about. The first clue leads her to a man that turns out to be not only a criminal, but not even a human.

This brings her to the attention of an organisation of booksellers, both left and right-handed, that exists to keep the Old World and its creatures in check. But the Old World is curiously interested in Susan, which makes the booksellers suspect that her father might not be a human either. Unfortunately for Susan, it has been the policy of the booksellers to kill such children outright.

Not all booksellers are so old-fashioned though. Helping her are Merlin, a left-handed bookseller and a charming man—most of the time—of nineteen, and his sister Vivian, a right-handed bookseller. Together, they journey through England to find the truth about Susan’s father. Action, adventure and a rather high body count follow.

This was a great book. Susan was a levelheaded young woman who took her new circumstances in a stride. For an art student, however, she was curiously uninterested in expressing herself with art. Only her encyclopedic knowledge of everything from old grandfather clocks to architecture and weapons revealed her hobby, and even then, it might be the narrator’s knowledge. Merlin was a delightful character with his interest in clothes, both men’s and women’s, and he made a good love interest. The booksellers were a fun bunch with their eccentricities and love for books.

Narration was from the third person omniscient point of view, which gave the book a somewhat old-fashioned feel. It also led to some abrupt changes in point of view, but for the most part it worked well. I’m definitely interested in reading more.