The Little Shop of Found Things: A Novel

Xanthe Westlake has always been able to hear antiques sing. They tell her their stories, which comes in handy for her mother, who is an antique dealer. After they have both suffered hardships, Xanthe and her mother, Flora, move to Marlborough, Wiltshire where they begin anew. Together, they work to set up Flora's new antique shop. While attending an estate auction, Xanthe picks up on the singing of one special item: a silver chatelaine with some missing pieces. But the chatelaine sings differently, giving Xanthe visions and whispers. When she brings the chatelaine back to the shop, she discovers that it holds a connection to a little building in the backyard, which transports her to 1605.

The next time Xanthe time-travels, she can see and communicate with the ghost she had felt haunting the shop: Mistress Merton. She demands that Xanthe save her daughter, Alice, from being hanged since she is unable to do so. With the help of friends in the past and present, Xanthe races against time to find the missing pieces of the chatelaine, that Alice is accused of stealing, in order to prevent Alice's death.

As the dates are revealed intermittently, The Gunpowder Plot is not the focus but the setting in which this story is told. It is used to explain the motivations of various characters and to show the vast contrast of people's way of living compared to Xanthe's time, the 21st century. The story is very much about people and their relationships, with the ones in 1605 being dependent upon their station.

Xanthe is so busy with helping her mother at the shop and worrying about saving Alice, that I was not expecting there to be a romance between her and another individual. Brackston developed it slowly, which helped in hiding it from my detection. I was pleasantly surprised to see another storyline unfold amid the main adventure.

If you love a slow-burning romance, solving a mystery with a ticking clock and long to be transported to a new time, this book is for you! Although I took issue with how certain characters interacted with others, Brackston provides an excellent balance of history, time travel and romance. The main story has a satisfactory ending, but leaves a cliff-hanger, which makes me want to read the next book in the series.

For a longer, spoiler-filled review, check out my blog: https://redwolfsroom.blogspot.com/2021/02/finding-myself-in-little-shop-of-found.html