The Echo of Old Books: A Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains mentions and descriptions of mental illness, death by suicide, and antisemitic sentiments.

On July 21, 1954, an unnamed woman receives a package forwarded to her by her nephew, Dickey. An accompanying note mentions how Dickey was once trusted with delicate communication by his aunt, and the writer requests that Dickey similarly pass on the package to her. The package contains a book titled Regretting Belle, and the inscription reads, “How, Belle? After everything…how could you do it?” (3).

In September 1984, Ashlyn Greer, the owner of a rare books store, looks through a recent delivery of cartons in the backroom of a vintage boutique. Ashlyn has a special gift and can read the “echoes” left on books. She first discovered this when she was 12 and picked up a book in the bookstore she now owns, then run by Frank Atwater, only to feel an overwhelming sense of sadness. She later learned from Frank that the book had been donated by a woman whose nephew was killed in a car crash. After Ashlyn experiences this with other secondhand books, she finally confides in Frank, who suggests that books, like people, absorb things in the air around them, even feelings.