The Haunted Bookshop

by Christopher Morley

Overview

"When you sell a man a book," says Roger Mifflin, protagonist of these classic bookselling novels, "you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue — you sell him a whole new life." The new life the itinerant bookman delivers to Helen McGill, the narrator of Parnassus on Wheels, provides the romantic comedy that drives the novel. Published in 1917, Morley's first love letter to the traffic in books remains a transporting entertainment. Its sequel, The Haunted Bookshop, finds Mifflin and McGill, now married, ensconced in Brooklyn. The novel's rollicking plot provides ample doses of diversion, while allowing more room for Mifflin (and Morley) to expound on the intricacy of the bookseller's art. Introduction by James Mustich, Jr.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780008295
Publisher:	Copyright Group
Publication date:	10/11/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
File size:	198 KB

About the Author

Christopher Morley (1890-1957) was an American journalist, poet, and novelist. Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, he was the son of mathematics professor Frank Morley and violinist Lillian Janet Bird. In 1900, Christopher moved with his parents to Baltimore, returning to Pennsylvania in 1906 to attend Haverford College. Upon graduating as valedictorian in 1910, he went to Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship to study modern history. While in England, he published The Eighth Sin (1912), a volume of poems. After three years, he moved to New York, found work as a publicist and publisher’s reader at Doubleday, and married Helen Booth Fairchild. After moving his family to Philadelphia, Morley worked as an editor for Ladies’ Home Journal and then as a reporter for the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger. In 1920, Morley moved one final time to Roslyn Estates in Nassau County, Long Island, commuting to the city for work as an editor of the Saturday Review of Literature. A gifted humorist, poet, and storyteller, Morley wrote over one hundred novels and collections of essays and poetry in his lifetime. Kitty Foyle (1939), a controversial novel exploring the intersection of class and marriage, was adapted into a 1940 film starring Ginger Rogers, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role.

Read an Excerpt

Christopher Morley was born on May 5th 1890. At first glance you’d be forgiven to think 'The Haunted Bookshop' was a novel of supernatural events but it refers to ‘The ghosts of literature’ those ghosts that haunt all bookstores. Its well worth sampling.

Editorial Reviews

Morley's 1919 charmer about a Brooklyn bookstore with unearthly tenants is here offered in a modestly illustrated hardcover for $8.99. Beat that! Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal