A witty woman who loves and lives by books, doesn't mind people but is most comfortable on her own and who works in a bookstore is Nina Hill in Abbi Waxman's latest novel, and her world is about to be turned upside down.
Nina's mother, a globe-trotting famous photographer, had a brief fling and her daughter came along. When Mum found out the fellow was married, she kicked him to the curb and had him agree never to contact their child. He complied. But now he's dead. It turns out he was a wealthy, famous entertainment lawyer, married three times. And now Nina has a gaggle of step-siblings and a rather large family tree. Good thing the first relative she meets is an anthropology professor who helps her map out the kinships and who is so similar-minded to Nina that they immediately hit it off as family who are also friends.
Now, if only the others turn out the same way. That may not work out, since the father she didn't know existed included her in his will and not all of her new relatives are kindred spirits.
Also, if only Nina can forget about that interesting looking man who captains a trivia team that actually bested her own crew.
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill appears to be a romp or a romance. There are elements of both in the same way Jane Austen novels have them. OK. It's totally inspired by Pride and Prejudice, with bits of Bridget Jones’s Diary thrown in (which is totally appropriate since Helen Fielding was inspired by Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice to write Bridget Jones and thus invent the genre of chick lit). To wit:
She sat there a second, considering her goals.
OK, brain, keep it simple. She wanted to drink less wine and more water. Nina wrote that down, then refilled her wineglass. Baby steps.
Although this is the general tone of the novel, The Bookish Life also has thoughtful asides that show an Austenesque level of discernment. For instance, one of Nina's regular responsibilities at the bookstore is an elementary school level book club. It's one of her favorite things in life:
Nina had developed a special fondness for these kids, because she knew the world would soon begin telling them other things were more important than the contents of their heads.
Oh, is Nina ever right about this. And a few other things.
One of the other noteworthy things about The Bookish Life is the way Waxman describes Nina's panic attacks. Nina can feel them coming, tries to fight them off and is usually not able to do so. She tries to keep her life organized because surprises throw her badly. The realism here does not weigh down the story, but it does add a sturdy reason as to why our heroine might prefer books and a routine she knows to a large, argumentative family and a possible suitor.
The anxiety also provides the opportunity for family members to find kinship. And finding kinship is a big part of the story underpinning the plot here. Nina reaches a turning point about this while reading, which is fitting, and Saroyan is the author whose words help:
"I'm lonely ... and I don't know what I'm lonely for."
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is entertaining. Just reading about a cast of characters who all can think and talk wittily and with cultural references from Kafka and microscopic life to Game of Thrones and The Simpsons is a treat in itself. That many of these characters are characters worth knowing is a bonus.