The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted is a tremendous new novel by Robert Hillman that acknowledges that sometimes we have no control over history but we do have some control over how we live.

It is the story of Tom Hope, a farmer, and Hannah Babel, a quixotic, small-town bookseller who is the second Jewish person – and the most vivid person – Tom has ever met. He dares to believe they could make each other happy; Tom Hope is taking on a battle with heartbreak he can barely even begin to imagine.