Just lately bookshops seem to have been invaded by a host of titles about . . . bookshops. Many of these novels are Japanese but some originate closer to home, such as Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop (1978) and Shaun Bythell’s Diary of a Bookseller (2017). However a hundred years before that, in 1917, Christopher Morley published his take on the subject, Parnassus on Wheels. This delightful story is told by Helen McGill, who runs a farm in New England with her brother, Andrew. Unfortunately for Helen her brother has taken to writing about rural life, and even worse his first book has been a huge success. Andrew is now busy writing while Helen does his share of the farmwork on top of looking after him, cleaning the farmhouse, and cooking three meals a day.
One day, when Andrew has gone to the store and Helen is preparing apple sauce and roast pork for dinner, a strange-looking wagon arrives drawn by a fat white horse. This is Parnassus on Wheels, an ingeniously kitted-out bookshop owned by R. Mifflin, bookseller extraordinaire. Mr Mifflin has arrived in the hope of selling his travelling bookstore to Andrew so that he can retire to Brooklyn – and write a book of his own. Helen, however, has other ideas. She never gets away from the farm. Why shouldn’t she have a holiday? And give Andrew an idea of how much work she has to do. Noticing one of his magazines lying on the table with ‘The Revolt of Womanhood’ printed across it in red letters, she quickly packs a few belongings and writes a cheque for $400 (from the egg money which she has been saving for a Ford). Taking Mr R. Mifflin with her as far as the nearest station, she sets off on her adventures. And then . . .
This entertaining novella can be read at a sitting, and I highly recommend it.
[We have a copy of Parnassus on Wheels in the library]
