Nothing like starting off the new year with a five star read. I will admit I was hoping for this outcome when I picked it for my first book of the year. Cat Sebastian is increasingly becoming known for atmospheric, historically rich, community-focused, and quietly revolutionary little books. I wanted a lovely time full of lovely people that would take me away to a time in history that reflects pieces of our own Current Times while still being an escape hatch from reality. You don’t pick up her books for an exciting romp, you pick them up so as to feel like you have been wrapped in a warm blanket and someone is petting your hair. And maybe you just had a good cry, but you feel better now.
This particular blanket takes place in 1968 at a New York bookshop run by Patrick, a queer man, formerly down on his luck, who was taken in by Mrs. Kaplan, the owner of the bookshop. While not running the bookshop and tracking down rare editions of books to sell or restore, he spends his time helping her with her “strays”, people who like he once was, who are down on their luck and need a fresh start. Mrs. Kaplan owns the entire building the bookshop resides in, including several apartments. Patrick lives in one, the Valdez’s live in another, and there is a revolving door of strays who occupy the last apartment.
The “plot”, as it were*, starts up after not only Nathaniel, but Patrick’s lifelong friend and sister-in-law Susan shows up on his doorstep with a week-old baby, and a telegram saying that Patrick’s brother Michael has been killed in Vietnam. The Vietnam War and the cultural reaction to it shadows this whole book, which is basically about doing the best you can amidst some really hard shit, and the way that community can help deal with grief, even if the thing you’re grieving never stops being missed.
*You don’t come to Cat Sebastian for plot. See above.
I actually have quite a lot of Cat Sebastian books to catch up on, since I haven’t been reading romance in the last year. I’m still not in the best place for it, but her books are exceptions for me, because they always feel so grounded and lived in, and the characters and their interactions with each other never feel fake, and always have a core of something real holding up them up.
Fun note: both the title of the bookstore and the title of my review are nods to Walt Whitman, who is the secret underhero of this book.
Buzzword Challenge 2026: before & after
