The Tempest by William Shakespeare serves as the backdrop for The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson, an entertaining novel set in the Silver Lake neighborhood of LA. The first-person protagonist is Miranda, who becomes heir to Uncle Billy’s iconic, yet unprofitable, Prospero Books, both names fromThe Tempest. Nothing is what it seems at Prospero Books, and Miranda is not who she thought she was when she returns to LA from Philadelphia to attend Uncle Billy’s funeral, where he is buried next to his former wife, whom Miranda did not know existed. The bookstore is full of clues that send Miranda on a scavenger hunt all over LA, leading her to temporarily cut off ties with her parents. Like the plot in Tempest, the book is about sibling rivalry, conflict, and forgiveness.
I thought there was too much time spent on clues found in books in Prospero, and Miranda’s detective work to track down people in Uncle Billy’s life. On the other hand, the character development is well-crafted and keeps the book interesting right up to the satisfying ending.