Chapter 35 Summary, Analysis, and Study Notes
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
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Summary
The chapter opens in the aftermath of a prolonged bombing raid. When the all-clear finally sounds, Emma and her neighbours emerge to find a lingering smell of smoke in the night air, though no fires are visible nearby. The next day's newspapers report that bombs fell across England, with some landing harmlessly in the countryside but others causing damage and casualties. One story in particular haunts Emma: a little boy in Nottingham was killed, and his mother was left inconsolable. Emma cannot stop thinking about the boy's mother, and the news confirms for her that the Battle of Britain has truly begun.
Emma's thoughts turn to her daughter, Olivia. She has already given Olivia detailed instructions for what to do during an air raid — grab Tubby the dog on his lead and rush to the caves with a tote to hide him inside — but Emma worries that the caves might be too far, and that a shoddily built shelter near their house would be better than nothing. Facing the truth she has been dreading, Emma concludes that Olivia must go to the countryside with Arthur's parents, where she will be safe.
Olivia has already arrived safely in Chester at Arthur's parents' farm, and a telegram confirms her arrival. The flat feels unnaturally quiet without her — a lifeless kind of quiet that comes when the heartbeat of a home is stilled by the absence of its dearest occupant. Emma packs a suitcase on loan from Irene, and Miss Bainbridge, upon learning that Olivia is being sent away, quickly secures a place for Emma at the Aldgate branch of the Booklover's Library in London. Margaret will accompany her, so Emma will not be alone.
As Emma finishes packing, a sharp ring sounds from the tenement's main door. Margaret has arrived to collect her, but a comedic scene unfolds downstairs: Margaret is smartly dressed in a red coat and a chic matching hat, but Tubby the dog is relentlessly trying to lick her legs. Mrs. Pickering struggles to restrain the dog, and it becomes clear why — Margaret has slathered her legs in gravy as a substitute for stockings, since the local Windly & Co Hosiery factory has stopped making stockings due to the war effort. Margaret explains that the liquid stocking makeup she tried came out orange, so she resorted to gravy. Mrs. Pickering, exasperated but amused, pushes Tubby into her flat and closes the door.
Before leaving, Emma anxiously reminds Mrs. Pickering to telephone her the moment any letter or telegram arrives from Olivia or her grandparents. Mrs. Pickering reassures her, patient as ever. Emma has already heard from Olivia, who is pretending to be Anne on the farm at Green Gables and has begun reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder — a personal favourite of Emma's. Emma hopes Olivia will not experience the coldness she herself felt from her own grandparents, and that her daughter will not end up disappointed and hurt.
Margaret patches her gravy-stained legs as best she can, and the two women set off for the bus stop to begin their long journey to London.
In London, Emma and Margaret are given their first day to themselves. Margaret immediately heads for cosmetics shops, but Emma soon tires of looking at lipstick shades and makes her way toward the book district. She passes Paternoster Row, an area lined with printers, booksellers, and warehouses piled high with books. Along the way, she notices the war's mark on the city: diagonal strips of scrim tape on shop windows and posters everywhere encouraging people to do one thing or another.
A misstep in her directions leads Emma down a narrow street, where she discovers a small bookshop nestled between two larger buildings. The shop, Primrose Hill Books, has a weathered black-and-yellow façade and a white sign with old bookish looping script. Tape is carefully x-ed over the windows, with a patch left in the middle to reveal an autumnal display of paper leaves tumbling from the ceiling onto a display of books. Emma feels something twist in her chest — this is precisely the kind of place she would have gone to with her father in search of rare items for their collection. She has found solace among fellow readers at the Booklover's Library, but she has not yet entered a bookshop on her own. This, she realises, will be part of her path to healing after her father's death.
Inside, a little bell chimes, just like at Tower Bookshop. The shop is filled with rows and rows of books, neat pasteboard signs marking genres, and tidy tables. Emma breathes in the scent of thousands of books — new and old, dust settled into cracks, leather bindings holding a million adventures. The knot in her chest loosens, and she knows with certainty that this is exactly the kind of place where she belongs.
A young woman with blond hair and large brown eyes approaches and offers to help. Emma says she would just like to look. The woman, Miss Bennett, points to the history section and says she will be right over there if needed. Emma notices a table with several copies of Nancy Mitford's new book, Pigeon Pie, with a sign declaring it was written while Chamberlain was still prime minister. Emma chuckles at the book's timing — it pokes fun at the phoney war but was released just before France fell to the Nazis.
A gruff voice interrupts: a man with white hair and bushy eyebrows, holding a ledger, asks Miss Bennett what a certain entry says. She reads it — something about Charles Dickens for a Christmas display — and the man, Mr. Evans, grumbles about being prepared in advance. Miss Bennett suggests he was being prepared, and he retorts that she likely put the idea in his head. There is a glint of mirth in his eyes, and Emma notices the easy banter between them.
Emma explores the shop and finds a brass placard on a rear door reading,