Listen free for 30 days

  • The Bookshop on the Shore

  • By: Jenny Colgan
  • Narrated by: Eilidh Beaton
  • Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (379 ratings)

Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
The Bookshop on the Shore cover art

The Bookshop on the Shore

By: Jenny Colgan
Narrated by: Eilidh Beaton
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £19.99

Buy Now for £19.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

In the Scottish Highlands, a tiny bookshop perches on the edge of a loch.

Zoe is a single mother, sinking beneath the waves trying to cope by herself in London. Hari, her gorgeous little boy is perfect in every way - except for the fact that he just doesn't speak, at all. When her landlord raises the rent on her flat, Zoe doesn't know where to turn. 

Then Hari's aunt suggests Zoe could move to Scotland to help run a bookshop. Going from the lonely city to a small village in the Highlands could be the change Zoe and Hari desperately need. 

Faced with an unwelcoming boss, a moody, distant bookseller named Ramsay Urquart, and a band of unruly children, Zoe wonders if she's made the right decision. But Hari has found his very first real friend, and no one could resist the beauty of the loch glinting in the summer sun. If only Ramsay would just be a little more approachable...

Dreams start here...

©2019 Jenny Colgan (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK

Critic reviews

"A total joy." (Sophie Kinsella)

"Nobody does cosy, get-away-from-it-all romance like Jenny Colgan." (Sunday Express)

What listeners say about The Bookshop on the Shore

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    270
  • 4 Stars
    69
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    263
  • 4 Stars
    53
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    231
  • 4 Stars
    71
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A wonderful story

I ABSOLUTELY loved this book. Read the past sentence in a Scottish accent ., you will find out why !
It's funny and moving and magical throughout. I think Jenny Colgans books are a delight , but this is her best in my opinion. Made me cry and that's fine as it felt as if I had known all the characters for years.
The reader was so easy to listen to , I just didnt want it to end.
If you love the wildness of Scotland , and you love a good story with a main character that is so down to earth : you will really enjoy this book.

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Took awhile

Great book however did take a while to get into the story. Glad I continued with it

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

loved it - eventually

I nearly sent this one back to Audible at first. Took a good while to get going but then I really enjoyed it. Loved the reader. However there were glaring inconsistencies in the story for example : When Zoe first arrived at The Beeches after a long day with Ari on coach and was shown to their bedroom she obviously didn't need the bathroom !! In the morning she didn't know where it was. Also when the children were lost on the loch the helicopter could not assist because of the weather but then suddenly it was there! many other silly and annoying similar mistakes. Also why should a good reader who makes it obvious who is speaking have to keep saying "she said" ad infinitum ...........

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

bookshop on the shore

this book grabbed me more than I expected. it got to the stage where I couldn't stop listening. not normal romance but with plenty of twists and turns.

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Beautiful story and lovely narration

I really needed a peaceful read to take my kind away from lockdown and this was it. A lovely story set in Scotland. The reading was very good and really brought the characters alive. I would have given 5 stars for story but I felt that there was a lot of build up and the story ended as it was just getting going. Really enjoyable though.

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I struggled to finish this one. This is a real shame as I had previously really enjoyed the 'Mure' books and hoped that this story would offer a detailed description of the landscape and atmosphere of the Highlands. The reality was that the story was a bit silly and unbelievable. Unfortunately, the narrator sounded like a rather over excited schoolgirl that made listening very difficult.
Not my favourite Jenny Colgan.

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fluffy and light

Travel to Scotland, where there are secrets, skeletons, trials and Romance with Jenny Colgan

Perfect Summer read or pick me up.

Narrator is brilliant

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book

I'm rather sad to have finished this book. I was completely drawn in to the characters and the story. A real treat!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful story

Loved the new book, beautiful tale set around Loch Ness, with new characters Zoe & her son Hari bringing their own story and old characters from "The Little Shop of Happy Ever After" mingling together. With delightful dialogue and the bonny scenery depicted so evocatively of the Highlands, Jenny has done it again and written a book I could not stop reading and didn't want to end.

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not the best

I stopped listening to this a fair few times but I hate leaving books unread so persevered. Lots of flaws with this one, the main one being the editing - lots of sentences repeated, many sudden changes in tone, as if the narrator was in a different room or too far from the microphone. Once the wrong name was read. Nina suddenly had a brummie accent - she didn’t in the first of the series, and seems like a totally different personality! The final thing is the use of the word ‘blinked’, nobody blinks that much lol. The storyline is ok, and I really enjoyed Patrick and Hari’s characters!.

I do think that had this been my first Jenny Colgan book, it would be the last - mostly due to the editing and the use of the word ‘blinked’ aaargh!!!!

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Linda Byrne
  • Linda Byrne
  • 11-05-20

A disappointment

I really wanted to like this book, but I found the main character very unlike able and the situations she found herself in very irritating. It just didn’t add up.

The narration of the main male characters voice was terrible.

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for S. A. MASSEY
  • S. A. MASSEY
  • 25-06-19

Oh botha'

I couldn't get through the first chapter, forced to listen to all the personal outlooks on life before getting to the story, and then, by then, having to try to see the point to the story through the shrill voice of the narrator, and navigate back and forth from the juvenile baby voice / role playing and whatever the supposedly, explanation parts that would suggest what the story might be about. My mind is still reeling from the bad story telling, that only a room of toddlers could enjoy (not needing to understand). I had to quickly turn it off.

Maybe if i listen to the written form through my kindle bot, it may take on a closer form of adult reading and i can see the writers intentions for the reader. Even better, they may publish it with another narrator, that can appeal to more adult readers.

Audible is has so many great new writers, I truly wouldn't let one bad experience, or loss of credit, turn me away, but i have learned from this to look out for repeat listings of certain narrators, and try hard not to judge the books by them