The Storied Life of AJ Fikry

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, 270 pages.

Our book group choice for November. A. J. Fikry is busy running his bookstore on Alice Island, Island Books, and drinking himself to death. Opening the bookstore had been his wife's idea, but since she died in a traffic accident the joy of it all has gone out of A. J.'s life. As the book begins, A. J. yells at a publisher's rep and his treasured copy of Poe's Tamerlane is stolen.  Everything is going down the drain. He is saved when a small child is left in his care, and when he is given a chance to apologize to and reconnect with the publisher's rep.
This is a sweet and wonderful sort of book, reminiscent of A Man Called Ove, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and others showing a live saved by unexpected love. The Police Chief's book group and the character of  the local chief Lambiase, are great, as is the series of chapter-beginning book reviews. And the characters of Maya and Amelia add a lot to this enjoyable book. Some twists and turns and more deaths than expected.