THE BOOK FAIR

Review:   2016

Gemma Hardy resides in Iceland with her parents until three years old.  After the tragic death of her parents, she is taken in by her mother’s brother, who resides in Scotland with his wife and three children.

 

Sheltered by her uncle’s love, who also passes to her, his the love of books, Gemma is nine years old when her uncle dies unexpectedly.  Gemma’s aunt having little regard for her quickly sends her off to a boarding school where she joins the rank of working girls who are treated like slaves.

 

Gemma endures the cruelties of the students, the lack of food, sleep, and the long, hard days of work to pay her way.  Her only salvation is study.  After several years, the school director announces the school’s closing.  Having no other choice, Gemma takes the job of nanny for the rebellious niece of one, Mr. Sinclair, who resides in the isolated area of Scotland, the Orkneys.

 

The novel is reminiscent of both the author’s childhood, and of Charlotte Bronte’s classic masterpiece, Jane Eyre.