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The Bookshop Book
- Author
- Mark Lawrence
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 22 October 2026
- Run Time
- 10 hours 14 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
An epic fantasy adventure through cosy, cluttered bookshops, set in the world of Sunday Times bestseller Mark Lawrence's groundbreaking The Library Trilogy.
Bookshops have always been places where worlds collide. Places where ideas make war, where cultures meet and mate.
Frederick 'Red' Archer is hanging on at the edge of society, in the care of the state, when he wanders into the bookshop that will change his life.
Rose Penrose is watching the world from the other side of the page, exiled by an act of awful violence, and is now fleeing from story to story whilst searching for her own.
The Great Smith has had a hand in both their pasts and an eye on their future. They are tools that he has fashioned for a greater purpose. Tools to be used up and discarded.
All that is certain is that a story has them all in its jaws. And that it is about to bite.
Praise for The Bookshop Book:
‘Fans of that series will enjoy how it fits, while new readers will find this ode to books, bookshops, and libraries a delightful novel that can be read on its own’ Library Journal
Praise for Mark Lawrence:
'An excellent writer' George R.R. Martin
'The Library Trilogy should place Mark Lawrence’s name in the same breath as other twenty-first century masters of speculative fiction' John Mauro
‘Mark Lawrence gets better with every book' Fantasy Book Review
Critics Review
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‘Fans of that series will enjoy how it fits, while new readers will find this ode to books, bookshops, and libraries a delightful novel that can be read on its own’
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Library Journal
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Praise for Mark Lawrence
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‘An excellent writer’
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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George R.R. Martin, #1 SUNDAY and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of GAME OF THRONES
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‘Dark and relentless…A two in the morning page turner. Jaw-dropping’
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Robin Hobb, the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of THE ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE
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‘Excellent – on par with George R.R. Martin’
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Conn Iggulden, author of GENGHIS
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'The Library Trilogy is one of the most profound and wholly original works of fiction that I’ve read in the past two decades. The Library Trilogy should place Mark Lawrence’s name in the same breath as other twenty-first century masters of speculative fiction'
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John Mauro
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‘Mark Lawrence gets better with every book. It has a drive to it, a pulse, a gearshift that kicks higher and higher.’
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Fantasy Book Review
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‘This tale of knowledge and its cost flies by thanks to the gripping mystery and beautiful worldbuilding…readers will be desperate for more.’
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Publishers Weekly
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‘Lawrence works with many threads here, but none feels misused or insufficiently explored. Rather, the author unspools them masterfully, leaving behind a tightly woven tapestry that readers will ache to see finished even if they can predict one or two of the tale’s myriad twists and turns. Gripping, earnest, and impeccably plotted.’
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Kirkus
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Details
- Author
- Mark Lawrence
- Narrator
- Jessica Whittaker, Joseph Adelakun
- Duration
- 10 hours 14 minutes
- Release Date
- 22 October 2026
- ISBN
- 9780008800437
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Epic fantasy / high fantasy, Fantasy: cosy / cozy, Urban fantasy, Metaphysical / philosophical fiction, Adventure / action fiction, Narrative theme: coming of age, Narrative theme: books and the world of books
Synopsis
An epic fantasy adventure through cosy, cluttered bookshops, set in the world of Sunday Times bestseller Mark Lawrence's groundbreaking The Library Trilogy. Bookshops have always been places where worlds collide. Places where ideas make war, where cultures meet and mate. Frederick 'Red' Archer is hanging on at the edge of society, in the care of the state, when he wanders into the bookshop that will change his life. Rose Penrose is watching the world from the other side of the page, exiled by an act of awful violence, and is now fleeing from story to story whilst searching for her own. The Great Smith has had a hand in both their pasts and an eye on their future. They are tools that he has fashioned for a greater purpose. Tools to be used up and discarded. All that is certain is that a story has them all in its jaws. And that it is about to bite. Praise for The Bookshop Book: ‘Fans of that series will enjoy how it fits, while new readers will find this ode to books, bookshops, and libraries a delightful novel that can be read on its own’ Library Journal Praise for Mark Lawrence: 'An excellent writer' George R.R. Martin 'The Library Trilogy should place Mark Lawrence’s name in the same breath as other twenty-first century masters of speculative fiction' John Mauro ‘Mark Lawrence gets better with every book' Fantasy Book Review
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