The Bookshop

19 Apr, 2026

A movie by Isabel Coixet, based on Penelope Fitzgerald's novel. (Spoiler free!)

When I watched The Bookshop some time ago (although it was released in 2017), I wasn't yet aware of Fitzgerald's original work. I recently discovered the book, which I read in March, and found out that the movie was actually based on it.

Emily Mortimer interprates a valiant woman, who dares to take the leap and offer a small town's community the chance to discover the world, beyond the marshes of Suffolk, through books. The film also features Bill Nighy as Edmund Brundish and Patricia Clarkson as Violet Gamart.

(Honestly, I could blindly trust almost anything Mortimer plays in, for her natural elegance brings up very cool results to the screen.)

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The story takes place in the late 50s and follows a widow named Florence Green, who decides to open a bookshop in the small English coastal town where she lives. She successfully secures a loan and chooses the following space for her project: the Old House—an abandoned property, neglected for years.
In the meantime, Violet Gamart, a high-class citizen with many relations and a strong influence, has her own vision for the Old House, wishing to transform it into an art centre. Thus, she tries to convince Florence to run her bookshop elsewhere, but her attempts turn out to be futile.
We follow the preparations of the widow's little business, its opening, and the challenges that she has to face, in a place where almost everyone seems stuck to what they are already familiar with. Although Florence is supported by her friends and acquaintances, this might not be sufficient to get through the struggles that corruption and people's economic power bring, when these are used to put down whoever is perceived as an obstacle.

As one might guess, this is not about a cute bookstore in an idyllic place, no matter how appealing such a description might sound. Nor does it follow the motif of a goal happily attained after some troubles. It's a societal critique that quietly depicts human insanity, when it comes to the perception of success and the way it can be attained.
Deviating from common, classic storytelling, the realistic aspect plays an important role in how the story unfolds, especially from an outsider's point of view. In the preface of Fitzgerald's book, Hermione Lee writes:

The people she [Penelope Fitzgerald] wrote about in her novels and biographies were outsiders, too: misfits, misunderstood lovers, orphans and oddities. She was drawn to unsettled characters who lived on the edges. She wrote about the vulnerable and the unpriviledged, children, women, trying to cope on their own, gentle, muddled, unsucessful men. She would say "I am drawn to people who seem to have been born defeated or even profoundly lost.".¹

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Although following the novel's primary plot, the movie develops slightly differently, presenting Coixet's ideas on how she imagined, or preferred, certain events to proceed. Her work won three Goya Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, while having been nominated for nine more categories.

Watch the official trailer here.

Note: No AI was used to write this post. Only my partner's valuable help to spot little mistakes.