First Impressions
A Novel
'With The Bookman's Tale, Charlie Lovett tells us a terrific story — there's mystery and suspense, murder and seduction — but more importantly, he shows us how it's all connected, all of this: the reading and the keeping and the sharing of books. It forms a chain long and strange enough to tie a heartbroken young scholar from North Carolina back to the Bard himself, who might or might not have been William Shakespeare. Every link along the way is a bookman's tale all its own, and Lovett tells them all, except the very last, of course: because that's you, about to read this book right now.' Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
PRH, PRH
'A gripping literary mystery that is compulsively readable until the thrilling end.' Library Journal on The Bookman's Tale
PRH, PRH
'For bibliophiles everywhere, this is a joyous mystery from the present day to Victorian England and back to Shakespearean England. Charlie Lovett's The Bookman's Tale is about the thrill of the chase, obsession, love, passion and the joy of discovery.' Hoopla 'Fans of mysteries, of love stories, and of rare books will all find moments in Lovett's novel to treasure.' Booklist on The Bookman's Tale
PRH, PRH
'This book has it all: antiquarian books, deceit, love, murder, passion, Shakespeare, death...and (spoiler alert) a secret passage. What more could you ask for?' Herald Sun on The Bookman's Tale
PRH, PRH
'The Bookman's Tale is a homage to antiquarian book collectors, a journey in grief, a whodunnit and more rolled into one.' Courier Mail
PRH, PRH
'Author Charlie Lovett, a former antiquarian bookseller himself, dives effortlessly between centuries and characters as he tells the story of the portrait, and though this novel has a love story at its heart, it develops into an extremely well-plotted thriller. Highly recommended.' Weekend Herald on The Bookman's Tale
PRH, PRH
'The world of the antiquarian bookseller is rife with passions and obsessions, and Charlie Lovett, himself a former antiquarian book dealer, is well placed to put together a detailed plot that stretches all the way back through an elaborate tale of 19th-century forgery to the 16th century and life of Shakespeare...an intriguing tale.' Sydney Morning Herald/Age on The Bookman's Tale
PRH, PRH
