The Bookshop

Words run riot when a free-spirited bookseller (Emily Mortimer) introduces a sleepy town to a host of provocative literature

The sleepy (fictional) town of Hardborough is shaken from its postwar complacency when recently widowed Florence (Mortimer) opens a bookshop promoting the latest in modernist fiction. As if her provocative championing of books like Nabokov's Lolita wasn't enough, Florence also manages to earn the censure of local bigwig and arts patron Mrs. Gamart (Patricia Clarkson). Before long the town will be awash with intrigue and Florence will have to rely on the support of her sole ally, reclusive bookworm Mr. Brundish (Bill Nighy).

Isabel Coixet's adaptation of Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel is on the surface a charming period drama, but as with all the best books there's more to the text than meets the eye. Coixet's tale is a timely reminder of the sanctity of truth and the power of the written word to change our worlds. And it's a film that's instilled with a genuine, admirable love of all things literary.