
Based on Penelope Fitzgerald's novel of the same name; The Bookshop is set in 1959, Florence Green (Emily Mortimer), a free-spirited widow, puts grief behind her and risks everything to open up a bookshop - the first such shop in the sleepy seaside town of Hardborough, England. Fighting damp, cold and considerable local apathy she struggles to establish herself but soon her fortunes change for the better.
By exposing the narrow-minded local townsfolk to the best literature of the day including Nabokov's scandalising Lolita and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, she opens their eyes thereby causing a cultural awakening in a town which has not changed for centuries.
Her activities bring her a kindred spirit and ally in the figure of Mr. Brundish (Bill Nighy) who is himself sick of the town's stale atmosphere. But this mini social revolution soon brings her fierce enemies: she invites the hostility of the town's less prosperous shopkeepers and also crosses Mrs. Gamart (Patricia Clarkson), Hardborough's vengeful, embittered alpha female who is herself a wannabe doyenne of the local arts scene.
When Florence refuses to bend to Gamart's will, they begin a struggle not just for the bookshop but for the very heart and soul of the town.
The Bookshop is released on DVD 22nd October 2018 from Universal Pictures (UK).
- The Making of The Bookshop: Interviews with Cast and Crew
Please note - Disc special features are subject to change, may differ from format to format and/or may differ from region to region.
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Review07/09/2022
Peep Show: Series 1
Review14/06/2023
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
Features07/09/2022