New Voices: Deborah Meyler's 'The Bookstore'

THE BOOK:

The Bookstore
Gallery, 336 pp.

What it's about: A comic debut novel narrated by a witty 23-year-old woman from England who comes to New York to study art history, gets pregnant, and finds a job (and more) at a quirky used bookstore in Manhattan.

Why it's notable: It's sure to appeal to booksellers and readers who appreciate quirky bookstores staffed by well-read booksellers.

Memorable line: "But I am so dreadfully English. In times of stress I become highly agreeable."

THE AUTHOR:

Quick bio: Meyler, 45, was born and raised in Manchester, England, attended Oxford University and wrote her master's thesis at St. Andrews on Edith Wharton. Meyler lived in New York from 1995 to 2001, after her husband — they're now separated — got a job there. In New York, Meyler worked in two small bookstores. She now lives in Cambridge, England, with her three daughters, ages 12, 11 and 9, and works as a part-time church clerk.

How autobiographical is her novel? "The kernel of it is autobiographical, but when I started it, I had no idea where it was going."

On physical bookstores in a digital age: "What Amazon, with its 'If-you-like-that-you'll-like-this' algorithms, can't replace is the spontaneous serendipity of stumbling on a book in the stacks. That's the joy of a real bookstore."

On whether "people write for ego gratification, not money," as one of her characters says: "I write for the pleasure of it. Like a craftsman building a cabinet, it's the pleasure of the craft, the pleasure of doing it. I don't think that's ego gratification. It's gratitude. Full stop. Or, as you Americans would say, period."

What's next? A novel set in a small English church featuring a stained-glass artist and a hypocritical priest. "It's very, very English."