Content Warning: This section contains brief mentions of domestic abuse and death by suicide.



A boy walks into Opaline’s Bookshop, and a woman welcomes him. He asks what Opaline means and the woman says it’s a name but not her name. Her name is Martha. Martha offers to tell Opaline’s story.

In 1921, Opaline Carlisle is 21 years old, and her mother and brother have decided that she needs to marry. Her family needs money, and Lyndon, her brother, who is 18 years her senior, has arranged for her to marry a wealthy acquaintance. Lyndon was deeply scarred during World War I. He returned from the war changed, and Opaline fears him now. However, because their father is dead, Lyndon manages the family now and expects total obedience.

However, Opaline has no intention of marrying. She wants to experience the modern world. Women can vote and work now, so she doesn’t need to marry. She has even cut her hair short. Her father, who instilled a deep love of books and reading in her, gifted her some valuable first-edition books. So, to escape the arranged marriage, she sells her beloved first-edition copy of

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