This is really a lovely book. Ashlyn is a rare book dealer and in a box of books from an estate, she comes across an oddity: a bound book with no author, no publisher, no end pages, none of the usual stuff. Only a title – Regretting Belle – an inscription:

How, Belle? After everything…how could you do it?

Intriguing! The book is the story of a long-ago love affair, from a man’s perspective and Ashlyn is completely sucked in to the story. It becomes even more intriguing when she is presented with a second book. Same binding, same lack of identifying information, just its title – Forever, and Other Lies – and an answering inscription:

How??? After everything — you can ask that of me?

What follows is the story of Belle and Hemi – not their real names – and their love affair in the days leading up to America’s entry into WWII. Belle is an heiress, unwillingly engaged to a man chosen by her father, but smart and driven and not easily settling into the yoke of family responsibility. Hemi (short for Hemingway) is a writer, shacking up with a notorious female newspaper tycoon, who is smitten with Belle – and he is hiding secrets of his own. We know from the inscriptions that the story ends tragically, but we don’t know exactly how that happens.

Ashlyn eventually meets Ethan, the man who donated the books. They belonged to his father and Ethan was cleaning out the old man’s study. He is suspicious of Ashlyn’s interest but he, too, is eventually drawn into the mystery, going through family photos and records to help identify the heartbroken authors.

And it clear they are both heartbroken. The stories are filled with longing and regret, and Davis guides us through their long-lost love, switching back and forth between memoirs. It’s obvious the lovers do not recall events the same way and attach different meanings to many events, and they allude to an ending that they both know but we, the reader, do not.

It’s a great story, books within a book, romantic without being a romance, and an ultimately uplifting ending.

If you’re familiar with the book, you may notice that I have entirely skipped over one big plot point. Ashlyn has a gift – psychometry – that allows her to feel the “echoes” of strong emotions in old books. She’s had it since she was a child and the jolt of powerful emotion she feels when she touches Regretting Belle is part of what draws her into the stories. I did that on purpose. I don’t think it was necessary and I don’t think it added much to the book. I didn’t need a paranormal reason for Ashlyn to be entranced by the books. I would have been, and I don’t have any particular gifts! I didn’t mind the inclusion but for me, it was unnecessary.

My copy of The Echo of Old Books came from the shelves (an actual book with pages and everything!) of the Akron Public Library