The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted

Farmer Tom Hope, 33, knows he is a “sad sack” – the sort to whom folk say, “Give us a smile.” Yet when unfathomable wife Trudy – of one year and 10 months – takes flight, returning pregnant by another man, Tom cannot stop smiling. He and Peter – the son fickle Trudy does not want – roll well together; Tom realising he may not be the best farmer, but he could be a good dad. He is put to the test when Trudy goes to join a Jesus Church, leaving Peter behind. A reliable guardian, Tom teaches his charge to fish, tinker on the Ute, old Heeler Beau watching over Petey when Tom is in the fields. But when Trudy comes to take sobbing Peter away, we are torn apart. If two misfits were to meet, shy Tom, and vivacious Hannah Babel, 45 – who has opened a bookshop in town – are a surprising pair.

But, “Tom grasped she was suffering.” Hannah’s husband and son perished in Auschwitz, although she cannot talk about the boy. We know this immense and mutually vital relationship is in grave danger, when abused Peter runs away from the pastor, turns up on Tom’s doorstep and memories come flooding back to “Han”.