Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller
Quotes from the Book
Laziness. That’s what it was. He disapproved of that in other people.
the two had found solace in shared despondency. After a while
Step One: Dress to kill. Step Two: Bury the bodies.
What Gwendolyn failed to grasp about the nature of goblin fruit was intrinsically tied to the fact that she had never denied herself anything. As a creature of pure will, she always did exactly what she pleased, and thus any attempt to draw on her hidden desires was doomed to fail as a matter of technicality.
The tent belonged to Gwendolyn herself, and was adorned in rolls of a violently pink fabric so criminally flamboyant it punched the other colours out of your head and stole your wallet while your back was turned.
Removing a mandrake from the soil is cautioned against except in dire need, for their caterwauling is both tonally depraved (in the same musical tradition as a harpsichord) and lethal to the listener.
Sly enough to capture a bird, cruel enough to keep it in a cage, too stupid to know he would be the death of it.
About Oliver Darkshire
More by Oliver Darkshire
Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller
About the book
A hilarious and surprisingly moving cozy fantasy novel from the best-selling author of Once Upon a Tome.
This debut novel by beloved rare bookseller and memoirist Oliver Darkshire reimagines the Decameron heroine Isabella (with her creepy pot of basil) in a world of sentient animals, talking plants, and shape-shifting wizards.
In a tiny farm on the edge of the miserable village of East Grasby, Isabella Nagg is just trying to get on with her tiny, miserable existence. Dividing her time between tolerating a feckless husband, fending off snide neighbors, and cooking up “scrunge,” Isabella can’t help but think that there might be something more to life. When Mr. Nagg returns home with a spell book purloined from the local wizard, she thinks: What harm could a little magic do?
As Isabella embarks on a journey of self-discovery with a grouchy cat-like companion, Darkshire’s imaginatio
Book details
- First published
- 2025
- Author
- Oliver Darkshire
- Genre
- Fantasy
- Goodreads rating
- 3.61 (3k ratings)
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