Chapter 35Ruth set down her pen and massaged her right hand with her left as the last two people in line, an older couple from Pimlico, thanked her for her autograph and ambled off. Carlisle Books, with its small but distinguished inventory and succession of cozy rooms, flowing front to back through a series of slim, coved doorways, was no Waterstones or Hatchards, which was exactly why she preferred the place to its famed, full-scale counterparts.
The worn wood-plank floorboards creaked beneath Ruth’s feet as she stood behind the table and dropped the dog-eared, read-from copy of her latest novel into her satchel and pulled her long wool coat over her charcoal maxi skirt and kaftan blouse. At the door, she blew a kiss to Himani, the statuesque Bombay-born store manager, and slipped out i
