The Book Shop of the Broken Hearted

Text Publishing, Melbourne, Australia, 2018. Good secondhand copy.

Tom Hope doesn't think he's much of a farmer, but he's doing his best. He can't have been much of a husband to Trudy, either, judging by her sudden departure. It's only when she returns, pregnant to someone else, that he discovers his surprising talent as a father. So when Trudy finds Jesus and takes little Peter away with her to join the holy rollers, Tom's heart breaks all over again.

Enter Hannah Babel, quixotic small town bookseller- the second Jew - and the most vivid person - Tom has ever met. He dares to believe they could make each other happy.

But it is 1968- twenty-four years since Hannah and her own little boy arrived at Auschwitz. Tom Hope is taking on a battle with heartbreak he can barely even begin to imagine.