An utterly charming novel about the owner of a unique small-town bookstore and how books keep him connected to his past, whether he wants them to or not…

When Vivian arrives in the village to open a secondhand bookstore, no one suspects what has driven him there. For Vivian isn’t the talkative type. Nor is he easygoing. And he certainly doesn’t seem stressed about selling huge amounts of books quickly.

He can’t tolerate books anymore because he feels they have betrayed him. Besides, don’t ask him for advice on what to read; you might be disappointed. And don’t try to make sense of how his books are organized on the shelves. They aren’t.

But little by little, Vivian will develop relationships with his customers and neighbors despite himself. He becomes unwittingly seduced by the charms of this quiet village life as he reflects on his childhood and the influence his mother had on him as a young reader.

But Vivian is determined to see his project to completion unless the village and its inhabitants manage to bring him back, despite himself, to the story he thought he had closed for good.

Kevin Lecathelinais has been a bookseller for 15 years at BD Flash in Rambouillet. On social media, where he chronicles his daily life under the handle ©lelibrairesecache, he is followed by more than 350,000 book lovers. Diary of a Bookseller Who No Longer Believed in Stories is his first novel.