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A beautiful love story for fans of Jandy Nelson and Nicola Yoon: two teens find their way back to each other in a bookstore full of secrets and crushes, grief and hope—and letters hidden between the pages.
Years ago, Rachel had a crush on Henry Jones. The day before she moved away, she tucked a love letter into his favorite book in his family’s bookshop. She waited. But Henry never came.
Now Rachel has returned to the city—and to the bookshop—to work alongside the boy she’d rather not see, if at all possible, for the rest of her life. But Rachel needs the distraction. Her brother drowned months ago, and she can’t feel anything anymore.
As Henry and Rachel work side by side—surrounded by books, watching love stories unfold, exchanging letters between the pages—they find hope in each other. Because life may be uncontrollable, even unbearable sometimes. But it’s possible that words, and love, and second chances are enough.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 6, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781524709563
- File size: 195730 KB
- Duration: 06:47:46
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 730
- Text Difficulty: 3
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Reviews
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April 10, 2017
Eighteen-year-old Rachel, still traumatized by the death of her brother, wants to be far from the ocean where he drowned; she decides to move back to suburban Melbourne, where she grew up, to live with her aunt. Meanwhile, Henry, Rachel’s former best friend in Gracetown, is also confronting loss: his girlfriend just broke up with him, and his parents have decided to sell their bookstore, his place of refuge. In this novel set in Australia, mostly at the bookstore, Crowley (Graffiti Moon) effectively conveys the complexities of love, death, time through Rachel and Henry’s alternating narratives, as well as letters and notes pulled from the pages of old books. It’s only after Rachel takes a job at the store that she begins to heal, coming to terms with her failures, Cal’s death, and her rekindled love for Henry, who is wrapped up getting his girlfriend back. Filled with soul searching and philosophical quips, this book is for thinkers and lovers of literature who, like Rachel and Henry, are passionate about ideas and searching for answers. Ages 14–up. Agent: Catherine Drayton, Inkwell Management. -
An achingly beautiful tale of love, loss, and literature from Australian author Cath Crowley is given an engrossing narration by Chelsea Bruland and Hamish R. Johnson. Rachel Sweetie's inconsolable grief over her younger brother's death opens a story that unfolds in multiple layers. Returning to the town where she grew up, Rachel reconnects with old friends, particularly Henry Jones, with whom she is secretly in love. Henry's family owns a unique secondhand bookshop featuring a letter library, where readers communicate by leaving notes in the pages of favorite old volumes. Bruland and Johnson employ varied inflections and cadences to distinguish old from young and to differentiate the notes left in the letter library from the narrative. While it may take a bit of time to settle into the rhythm of this audiobook, it's well worth the effort. S.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine -
July 5, 2016
Since her brother Cal drowned 10 months ago, Rachel has failed Year 12, lost all her friends and watched her mother become consumed by grief. Desperate to get away, she moves back to Melbourne, which she left three years ago. Back to Henry, her once best friend/unrequited love. Back to Howling Books, the used bookstore Henry’s family owns. Back to people who have no idea Cal is gone. Meanwhile, Henry’s girlfriend just broke up with him, his mother wants to sell the bookstore and the best friend he hasn’t heard from in three years just arrived back in town, acting like a different person. Set largely against the delightful and evocative background of a used bookstore, Words in Deep Blue is a beautiful examination of grief, love and the power of words. Told in a dual narrative and littered with excerpts from letters and notes left in books at the shop, Cath Crowley has created a sweeping story about self-discovery and growing up, filled with complicated and flawed characters. Highly recommended for fans of Trinity Doyle’s Pieces of Sky and Fiona Wood’s Cloudwish, this is a love letter to books and bookshops, to the ocean, to falling in love and finding your way. Meg Whelan is the children’s book buyer at the Hill of Content Bookshop in Melbourne
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