The Bookseller

A Novel

By: Cynthia Swanson

Narrated by: Kathe Mazur

“What if? These words tantalize and haunt us. . . .Cynthia Swanson takes us on a startling journey where a woman is thrust into the alternative world that might have been, had she made different choices.” — Randy Susan Meyers, author of Accidents of Marriage

A provocative and hauntingly powerful debut novel reminiscent of Sliding Doors, The Bookseller follows a woman in the 1960s who must reconcile her reality with the tantalizing alternate world of her dreams..

Denver, 1962: Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life. She loves the bookshop she runs with her best friend, Frieda, and enjoys complete control over her day-to-day existence. She can come and go as she pleases, answering to no one. There was a man once, a doctor named Kevin, but it didn’t quite work out the way Kitty had hoped.

Then the dreams begin.

Denver, 1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They have beautiful children, an elegant home, and good friends. It’s everything Kitty Miller once believed she wanted—but it only exists when she sleeps.

Convinced that these dreams are simply due to her overactive imagination, Kitty enjoys her nighttime forays into this alternate world. But with each visit, the more irresistibly real Katharyn’s life becomes. Can she choose which life she wants? If so, what is the cost of staying Kitty, or becoming Katharyn?

As the lines between her worlds begin to blur, Kitty must figure out what is real and what is imagined. And how do we know where that boundary lies in our own lives?

split timelines

I don't think she got what she really wanted even though she seemed like she found her happiness. maybe she was relying to figure out if she made the right?

Woke nonsense

I thought this would be a “Sliding Doors” story, and maybe it was in the smallest standpoint. But the main point is wokeness. The focal storyline is about Autism and then wokeness shoved into the 1960s ….and then the eye rolling ending revelation is the most absurd thing.
And Asif that’s not enough… the way the narrator pronounces Kath-er-ine the entire time was enough to make me want to claw my eyes out.
I can’t believe i suffered to the end.
If you don’t mind extreme wokeness placed in a time where it makes no sense AND you want to read about Autism.., this is for you. If you’re looking for a “sliding doors” story… this isn’t it.