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Chapter 8
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Last Bookshop in London, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Power of Books
Knowledge vs. Fear
Found Family
Bravery and Leadership
Summary
Analysis
While growing despondent at the idea of having to leave her job at the bookshop, Grace finishes reading The Count of Monte Cristo and moves on to Emma by Jane Austen. Viv then reveals that she’s changed her mind after all: she’s decided to join the women in the Auxiliary Territorial Service because she wants to do her part to contribute to ending the war. When Viv encourages Grace to consider joining the ATS, too, Grace waves her off, saying that she can’t leave Mrs. Weatherford alone and that she isn’t brave like Viv. Envisioning life without Viv, Grace realizes that she truly wants to keep her job at the bookshop and must convince Mr. Evans.
As Grace claims that she isn’t brave like Viv is, readers get a better sense of how deeply Grace’s past has marred her self-confidence. In particular, the time she spent working for Uncle Horace has made her to feel like an incompetent person. This scene also shows how books play a role in mitigating those bad feelings, giving her an outlet of escape, even if at this point she isn’t yet ready or able to confront whether her low self-esteem might be unfounded. In addition, Grace’s realization that she wants to continue working at the bookshop suggests that she’s found a sense of purpose—and that her way of helping others may simply look different from Viv’s.
Active
Themes
The next morning, Grace mentions to Mr. Evans that there’s only one week left of her employment, and to her disappointment, he responds that he’s working on her letter of recommendation. Mr. Evans then shows Grace that he’s been collecting books that Hitler banned, including ones by Albert Einstein, other Jewish authors, and writers whose ideas go against his. As Grace regards Mr. Evans’ safe of books, she realizes she isn’t doing enough and suddenly says that she plans to join the ATS. Mr. Evans suggests that Grace join the Air Raid Precautions team as a warden instead, and Mrs. Nesbitt suddenly arrives and interrupts their conversation to accuse Grace of stealing her shop’s method of organization. Dismissing Mrs. Nesbitt, Mr. Evans asks Grace to not join the ATS and stay at his bookshop instead.
