Grace Bennett is the central protagonist of this story. She moves to London on the eve of World War II, seeking out a new home and new opportunities. At the beginning of the novel, she is shy and still in mourning over the loss of her mother and her home. Rejected by the uncle whose business she transformed, Grace has nowhere to go but to her mother’s friend Mrs. Weatherford in London.

Grace is polite, kind, generous, and compassionate. She is not as outgoing as her friend Viv, who moves with her. Initially, Grace reluctantly settles for a job in Mr. Evans’s Primrose Hill Books, as she lacks a letter of recommendation for employment elsewhere. For both Mr. Evans and Grace, this arrangement is temporary: Grace is not a reader, and she clashes with Mr. Evans and dislikes his cantankerous attitude. Over time, however, Grace builds a deep and meaningful friendship with Mr. Evans and comes to understand The Power of Storytelling. She discovers a new world of reading thanks to the handsome George Anderson’s recommendation, and her newfound passion changes her worldview. She learns how

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