Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric Uncle Billy’s bookstore, solving the peculiar scavenger hunts he would create just for her. But on her twelfth birthday, Billy disappears from Miranda’s life—until sixteen years later, when she receives the ?unexpected news that Billy ?has die?d ?and left her Prospero Books, now teetering on bankruptcy. But no one has spoken to Uncle Billy in ?years?, not since his mysterious falling out with Miranda’s mother.

Miranda returns home and to Prospero Books—now as its owner—where she finds clues that Billy has hidden for her: inside novels on the store’s shelves, in locked drawers of his apartment upstairs, in the name of the store itself. Miranda becomes determined to save Prospero Books and solve Billy’s final scavenger hunt. She soon finds herself drawn into a journey to meet people from Billy’s past, people whose stories reveal a history that Miranda’s mother has kept hidden—and the terrible secret that tore her family apart.


Big-hearted and trenchantly observant, The Bookshop of Yesterdays is a lyrical story of family, love, and the healing power of community. It’s a love letter to reading and bookstores, and a testament to how our histories shape who we become.