The Little Shop of Found Things (2018)
Written by: Paula Brackston
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Pages: 307 (Hardcover)
Series: Found Things
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Why I Chose It: When you work at a bookstore you see a lot of titles, and often you end up giving them a peek. This one sounded interesting, kind of chill, kind of cute, a bit of fun, and just something nice overall that I might read and enjoy. I’d read one of Paula Brackston’s books before, but that one dealt with witchpower — not time travel. That made me even more curious.
The Premise:
Xanthe and her mother Flora leave London behind for a fresh start, taking over an antique shop in the historic town of Marlborough. Xanthe has always had an affinity with some of the antiques she finds. When she touches them, she can sense something of the past they come from and the stories they hold. So when she has an intense connection to a beautiful silver chatelaine she has to know more.
It’s while she’s examining the chatelaine that she’s transported back to the seventeenth century. And shortly after, she’s confronted by a ghost who reveals that this is where the antique has its origins. The ghost tasks Xanthe with putting right the injustice in its story to save an innocent girl’s life, or else it’ll cost her Flora’s.
While Xanthe fights to save her amid the turbulent days of 1605, she meets architect Samuel Appleby. He may be the person who can help her succeed. He may also be the reason she can’t bring herself to leave.
No spoilers.
Discussion: I actually debated a little bit before reading this one. I’d read Paula Brackston’s The Winter Witch a few years before, and while ultimately a decent book, had a very slow pace to it. I wondered if this one would be the same way, or if it would be different somehow due to the time-traveling aspect. All of Brackston’s books up to this one now all deal with witches. So I went in hoping for the best while knowing that it ultimately might be a slow-ish read.
Lucky for me, it wasn’t as slowly paced as The Winter Witch, though despite the ghost’s urgency, The Little Shop of Found Things still feels like it takes its time to get places. Xanthe is a solid character who does her best to try and figure out what exactly is going on. Though she does accept that objects gently speak to her, none have ever done anything so dramatic, and she’s certainly never bumped into any ghosts. So when she first travels back in time, she’s understandably confused and concerned. Once she finally grasps what is going on, and the fact that she can’t control it, she does her best to puzzle her way through things, from figuring out just when she is returning to, and how to insert herself into the family house in order to obtain clues and help out the ghost.
It’s quickly made clear that the ghost is the mother of the girl in trouble. The girl, Alice, was once a maid in the house Xanthe is transported to. The problem is that the chatelaine has gone missing and naturally the woman of the house believes the maid has taken it. Xanthe manages to obtain a job as a maid herself so she can seek out clues and figure out who took it, why, and just how to save Alice in order to make the ghost happy. She knows it’s a dangerous job being in the 17th century, and her status isn’t going to do her any favors, but luckily her knowledge of history gives her a leg up on the average person chucked back in time.
The sciencey part of my brain did attempt to quibble with time and changes in the past, etc. But as long as you remind yourself that time is a big ball of wibbly-wobbly stuff, you can let it go and just enjoy the concept for what it is. Xanthe is bright and brave — and sassy when she wants to be — but knows when to back down at the right moments. After all, she is well back in time — 1605 — and that is not when you can continue to be your brash, bold, female self (unfortunately), or it will seriously ruin your day.
I got a fairly strong Pride & Prejudice vibe with the interactions between Xanthe and Samuel. He starts off as a “harumph” kind of guy who isn’t into dancing at social gatherings, and doesn’t join in with a good ribbing. At first Xanthe thinks maybe he’s not so great before coming to realize she’s misjudged him (surprise). When Xanthe discovers Samuel is working on some kind of “screen” (I’ll be honest, I was never 100% sure what this thing was supposed to be since the word “screen” doesn’t click in my brain when it’s made out of wood), she mentions that she’s seen it — in her time, naturally. Since Samuel is trying to mimic the same thing for his client, he wants to know every detail about it. Of course the two grow close, and as the summary says, he may very well have the kind of clout she needs to get her job done and return to her time.
And therein lies the final hurdle for Xanthe. Will she return? Should she return? I liked the final choice and think that Xanthe was smart about it, though I did wonder if there would be a second book addressing the lingering “But…what if?” thoughts readers will likely have.
In Conclusion: It’s a solid read, doesn’t take too long to complete, features good description, and feels very much like the author has done way more research than I ever will (I had to look up “chatelaine” multiple times because it’s such a foreign object to me that I found it hard to envision — even now while writing this review!). It’s the perfect book to read while wrapped up in a cozy blanket with a cup of hot chocolate or other warm beverage of your choice. And the cover is quite beguiling. For anyone who does pick this book up, there will be a second book coming out sometime in October called Secrets of the Chocolate House. Will I be reading it? Yes, I think I will be.
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