Chas. Johnson & Sons, a venerated rare bookstore in urban Chicago, has been a family operation for three generations?grandfather, father and son. But when it comes time for Gabe Johnson to take the reins of the business, the world of books has changed, and the combination of the Internet and inner city rents forces the store to close. But instead of folding his hand, Gabe decides to risk everything he has and reopen the shop?and, in a sense restart his life?in a small town on the shores of Lake Michigan. Haunted his entire life by an obsession with a former lover, he finds her again only to be faced with yet another even more difficult challenge that threatens the well-being of the revival of the bookstore as well as the fate of his rekindled relationship. It is rare, indeed, to find fiction that is both passionate and erudite; and in his previous books, Robert Hellenga brought us tales of love, learning and of loss. But now, with Love, Death & Rare Books, he celebrates an industry that has brought us the written word and his novel is a paean to the independent bookseller.

Chas. Johnson & Sons has been a family operation for three generations?grandfather, father and son. But when it comes time for Gabe Johnson to take the reins of the business, the world of books has changed, and the combination of the internet and inner city rents forces the store to close. But instead of folding his hand, Gabe decides to risk everything he has and reopen the shop?and, in a sense restart his life?in a small town on the shores of Lake Michigan. Haunted his entire life by an obsession with a former lover, he finds her again only to be faced with yet another even more difficult challenge that threatens the well-being of the revival of the bookstore as well as the fate of his rekindled relationship.

“The beauty of this novel and, in fact, of all of Hellenga’s work, lies in the scrupulous attention he pays to those different shapes that life takes.”