'In April 1938 a small bookshop opened for business in Canberra, at a time when Australia’s federal capital was still a country town and Burley Griffin’s vision for its future had been defeated by years of war, depression and political indifference.
'In an era which was a golden age for books and booksellers, the bookshop, under its owner and manager Verity Hewitt, became a meeting place for booklovers as well as an art gallery and a library. Scientists, artists, diplomats, servicemen and women, public servants, writers, adventurers and immigrants all visited the shop during the war years.
'The bookshop was an important part of the city’s social and cultural history. It witnessed Canberra’s slow change, under the pressures of war, from a rural backwater to a reluctant and still unformed capital city.' (Publication summary)
'In essence, A Bookshop in Wartime is an eclectic collection of snapshots of people and events in Canberra against the backdrop of World War II, with the potential to resonate with readers familiar with the city. The bookshop of the title was run by Verity Hewitt and was at the heart of the city’s life during the 1930s and 1940s. While the blurb suggests it is a book about an entrepreneurial woman—and as a historian of businesswomen, my interest was piqued—it is better characterised as a work that seeks to capture the personalities and intellectual milieu of this particular time and place, using the bookshop as a linkage point.' (Introduction)
'In essence, A Bookshop in Wartime is an eclectic collection of snapshots of people and events in Canberra against the backdrop of World War II, with the potential to resonate with readers familiar with the city. The bookshop of the title was run by Verity Hewitt and was at the heart of the city’s life during the 1930s and 1940s. While the blurb suggests it is a book about an entrepreneurial woman—and as a historian of businesswomen, my interest was piqued—it is better characterised as a work that seeks to capture the personalities and intellectual milieu of this particular time and place, using the bookshop as a linkage point.' (Introduction)
