Page 53 of The Bookshop Ladies

‘No worries, I’m closing up for the night and I planned to make more tomorrow, enjoy!’

‘Nice guy,’ Lochlainn said.

‘Yes. That’s Ballycove for you though, isn’t it?’ she said and it was the truth. Wasn’t that why she had come here to lick her wounds after she found out about Luc? God, Luc. There hadn’t been so much as another word from him in weeks. Obviously, he wasn’t planning on spending his summer holidays in Patrick Street this year, but whatever he was up to, he wasn’t staying in their house in Dublin. She’d checked the security system. It was a relief really because the idea of Patrice sizing up her underwear drawer might just be the finish of her. Fern winced every time she reflected on the mess of her private life.

‘You okay?’ Lochlainn was looking at her now.

‘Me?’ She wanted to shrug it off, but she had a feeling that the only one she would be fooling was herself. ‘How long have you got?’

‘It turns out, I have all the time in the world,’ he said softly. With that, her phone vibrated in her pocket.

‘It’s getting late, I should probably get going.’ She stood up and some of the others took their cue from her too.

‘But I’ll see you at the reception?’ Lochlainn was watching her, waiting to confirm.

‘Of course, I’ll be there.’ It felt somehow as if they’d made some sort of arrangement to meet there and, with that, the idea of going didn’t feel quite so daunting.

35

It was three days since Joy had come acrossAlicein that dusty old box. At this point she’d combed backwards and forwards through Google to try and determine if it was what she dared to dream it might be. She still hadn’t told Robyn the whole truth of what the old book could mean; actually, she still wasn’t sure herself what it meant.

She picked it up again, holding it to the light. Inspecting it, as if the book would give away some secret that she had no way of gleaning from it.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland– the most expensive first edition ever sold. That was what she’d read online. Only a handful of that first printing had survived because the illustrator had been unhappy with the quality of the prints. So, apart from a small few, gifted by Lewis Carroll to family and friends, they had all been pulped by the publisher.

It would be life-changing, really, that’s what had struck Joy the moment she’d found it. That’s why she’d kept her thoughts to herself because, the truth was, she wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it for the best.

She could just put it back on a shelf and pretend she’d never known its potential. That’s what her whole instinct was leaning towards now, that or burying it deep in Albie’s bookshelves so one day, maybe, it could be found again.

Her initial reaction had been to get rid of it entirely. But what right had she to do that, really? And, when all was said and done, even after a few restless nights thinking of the ways it could change everything, she knew she couldn’t bring herself to destroy something so very lovely.

Wasthis one of the rarest books in existence? Joy sighed, placed it on the table again. She had a friend, well, an acquaintance in Paris, Sandrine Fournier, an expert in antiquarian books. Or at least, Sandrine knew enough about rare and old books to make a substantial living and buy some of the most expensive art that Yves had sold over the last few years. So, Joy supposed, she was as good a place to start as any.

‘Ma chérie.’ Sandrine was one of the mostFrenchFrench women that Joy had ever met. ‘How have you been? We’ve all been so worried about you, no one has seen you for weeks?’

‘I’m in Ireland.’

‘In Ireland? What on earth brought you there?De rien, it doesn’t matter, how are you? Silly question, of course, you are still going to be getting over the shock, but we are all here, in Paris, waiting for you to come back,’ she soothed and of course she meant it, but people like Sandrine were so busy, they rarely had time for much more than coffee and maybe a phone call every other month if you were lucky.

‘That’s so nice, thank you,’ Joy said, because it was good to hear that life hadn’t just forgotten her back in Paris. ‘Listen, I’m looking for a favour, it’s about a book.’

‘Anything, what can I do?’

‘I think, well, it’s not my area of expertise, but I think a friend of mine has come across something very special in her bookshop.’ And she went on to explain about the copy ofAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

‘Oh,mon Dieu, Joie, have you any idea? If this is the real thing, this is huge.’ She stopped because maybe she, more than anyone, realised that the enormity of finding something so precious had to be tempered with the reality of it having the potential to completely change everything. People like Sandrine were wise enough to know, this was not always a good thing.

‘Well now, I only said it might be,’ Joy said, because part of her hoped she was wrong – it wasn’t what she suspected at all, after all, what were the chances? She breathed a little wish:don’t let this change anything. Not one thing.

‘Can you send me a photo?’ Sandrine was still talking on the other end of the line and Joy had to shake herself out to keep up with her words. She switched the phone over to loudspeaker, snapped the book with her camera and sent it across on a messaging app. Within seconds it had arrived in Paris. ‘And it was just in a box? I mean, what are the chances?’ Sandrine’s voice was suddenly high-pitched. ‘OH MY GOD!’ she cried in the most un-Parisian show of excitement Joy had ever witnessed from her. ‘I think…’ she paused, obviously examining the photograph that had pinged across. ‘Of course, it’s too early to say, but,’ she waited a beat. ‘I’d need to get a really good look at it. I could come over, to examine it properly,’ she said softly.

‘That won’t be necessary, not yet. I can photograph more of the pages for you, send them on. The woman who owns the book has a lot on for the next few days, after that, who knows, she might even take it to you for a valuation?’

‘Oh, that would be wonderful.’ Sandrine clapped her hands. Like most of their friends the idea of leaving Paris even for a short stay was always considered far more trouble than it was worth.

When Joy ended the call to Sandrine, she knew she should probably tell Robyn that she may have a very valuable book on her hands. Still, the sensible part of her knew, there was no point raising her hopes. After all, there was a far greater chance that this was just another copy that had come from a reprint of thousands of copies after the main event.

Instead, she decided to keep the news to herself, until Sandrine came back with either a maybe yes, or a definitely no. It would be either one or the other and Sandrine had promised she’d let her know in the next day or two.

---