My next – and to date only other – foray was The Beginning of Spring, a book of an altogether different order of magnitude than The Bookshop, and one which I remember with great fondness, even though I’m quite sure I didn’t really understand it. But I’d rather have a mysterious, imaginative, brilliantly written book than a run-of-the-mill piece of lit fic.

My favorites are At Freddie’s (beautiful ending) and The Gate of Angels. The Blue Flower contained lovely writing, like all her books, but it bothered me. I think Fitzgerald’s style was always just on the edge of being too ephemeral (if that makes sense?). As if you could wave your hand and scatter all the words, because there wasn’t enough substance to hold them together. That was the case with The Blue Flower – the plot was subordinate to the language.

I haven’t read The Bookshop yet, but it appears more grounded than her other books. The same with Offshore, which will probably be my next Fitzgerald novel.

I’m not sure if you remember, but I bought Offshore one day after asking if you had any recommendations for books similar to A Month in the Country. I had picked Offshore off the bookstore shelf and thought, I wonder if Kevin has responded. I looked it up, and sure enough you recommended Offshore, the book I was holding. I’m not sure if I would have bought it that day or not without that final push. Thanks!