Book Review: The Bookshop Of The Broken Hearted By Robert Hillman

Robert Hillman has written a beautiful book which would be enjoyed by many types of reader. The reader is swept up into the lives of Tom the Australian farmer, his son Peter, and Hannah, a survivor of Auschwitz. Set in the 1960’s in country Australia and harking back to the Second World War and the plight of the Jews, this book portrays the different struggles of two bereft people. Tom’s first love has left him with a baby boy to raise alone on the farm. He grows to love this boy and they develop a strong bond, only to have the boy’s mother return to claim him. The boy, Peter, hates his new life within a religious group in Melbourne, but Tom is powerless to help him. Hannah’s story is deeply moving. A small town Bookseller, Hannah is exuberant and has a love for life that people around her marvel at. Having lost her son and husband to the gas chambers in Auschwitz, she is a survivor with her own horrors to live with. When Tom gets to know Hannah, he starts to believe they could make each other happy, but the hurt and pain of their very different lives cannot be easily forgotten. Hillman’s prose is such a pleasure to read, readers will have no trouble falling in love with his characters.

Text Publishing $29.99