June Andersen has built a successful career as a New York banker, specializing in foreclosing small businesses that fail to pay their bills. But when her great-aunt Ruby dies and leaves June the children's bookstore she owned in Seattle, June must return home and face her grief and her painful past.
Sifting through Ruby's papers as she prepares to sell the store, June unearths a stack of correspondence between her aunt and children's book author Margaret Wise Brown. Could Ruby and her bookstore have inspired "Brownie" to write her best-known work, Goodnight Moon? With the help of the handsome restaurant owner next door, June dives into a literary scavenger hunt that forces her to confront her troubled family history. As she explores Ruby's past, June finds herself unwilling to let the store go, but she will need to raise a hefty sum--and quickly--to pay its debts.
Jio (Morning Glory; The Violets of March) imagines a close-knit Seattle neighborhood of small businesses, perfectly suited for Ruby's charming bookstore. The theme of sisterhood runs strongly through the novel, as Ruby, Margaret and June each struggle to make peace with their sisters, despite deep-seated differences. Readers may predict both the main plot twist and the ending, but the journey toward both is satisfyingly complex and wonderfully literary.
Evoking You've Got Mail with its bookish setting and sprinkled with references to Brown's "great green room," Goodnight June is a treat for lovers of enthralling stories, classic children's books and second chances. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams