'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)