“Of course, there are ghosts in all libraries. Everyone knows that ghosts like to read”

Sally Page’s “Keeper of Stories” is a charming novel filled with both humor and thoughtful reflection. Janice, a Cambridge library cleaner, lives a seemingly unremarkable and routine life. While some employers may not notice her, she possesses a rare gift – she listens.

Day after day, she adds to her growing collection of stories, often returning to them when she needs comfort. When she works at the house of eccentric old Mrs. B., she discovers someone wants to hear her story.

Janice suggests she is merely a storyteller, with nothing of interest to say about herself. However, Mrs. B.

knows this is a deception. Janice holds more than she reveals. What is she hiding?

We all – including Janice – have our own stories. Read the excerpt! A family narrative “Naturally, ghosts live in all libraries.

Everyone knows that ghosts like to read.” Sally Page, “Keeper of Stories.” A young man walking down the library steps explains this with sincere earnestness to his approximately twenty-five-year-old companion. Janice wishes she had time to go to them, to hear their conversation, and to learn more about the ghosts. The man appears entirely confident, as if speaking to his companion about birds flying in the air and clouds racing across the sky.

Janice offers the thought of living ghosts in the library as interesting, and she considers whether she should meet some of them today. She frequently enters the library during the afternoon to exchange a new book for an old one and to eat her sandwich at the table in the library’s back corner. Today, there are no ghosts, but just two sisters – because surely these two librarians must be sisters.

They both have a rare tone of reddish-brown hair – some with vase-like strands of reddish-blonde mixed in. One sister’s hair reaches her shoulders and curls inwards, while the other has a slight parting cut across her head. This reminds Janice of a little girl, although this sister is clearly nearing her fifties.

Janice likes the hairstyle on the woman and likes the way she has it tucked into her colorful scarf. She doesn’t know them much besides the fact that they are truly sisters and that there are four sisters in the family. The younger sister once told her: “Mother had us four pieces.

Father didn’t even have sons.” The older sister had emphasized: “Let’s imagine four! Poor man. The whole house is full of women.” The younger sister then explained that they were all very close and made eye contact.

The older sister had emphasized: “Of course, we are all very different.” The sister nodded. “Yes, and we have named ourselves Tabby, Beauty, Commander, and Honey.” Then they both giggled. “This is such a family joke,” said the older sister.

“Yes, such an internal family joke,” repeated the other sister, smiling. Janice then thought about her own sister and tried to imagine how they would work together and sort books in Cambridge. She knows that all this is only a thought – they are separated by thousands of miles and memories they have never spoken about – but it sometimes evokes in her the same feeling as choosing stories to return to.

The sisters have no idea that she also has a sister, and they know that she loves books, and they talk to her about her favorite books. The sisters don’t think that silence is necessarily mandatory in the library. “Of course, you want people who love books to talk about them,” said the younger sister once.

Janice has been trying to figure out which sister is older and which is younger, but she hasn’t wanted to ask, because she might have made a mistake. She has thought that the younger sister must be Beauty and the older one Tabby or perhaps Commander. She has seen how he empties the library in less than two minutes when closing time approaches.

Today they greet her with a voice. “Janice, your book is here.” Janice is currently reading old favorites and has ordered Stella Gibbons’ “The Unwilling Farmhouse” for her. She accepts the book’s dedication, but then she asks herself: “Don’t you ever think that maybe there should be ghosts living in this library?” Asking this makes her feel rather silly, and she thinks how that young man could have taken such a straightforward statement.

The older sister slightly nods over the counter. “Well, it’s strange that you ask. You are the second person today who tells us that there is a ghost in the library.” Aha, the same young man.

“And how is that possible, that everyone knows it, but I don’t? Or do you just hear him say it – interrupts the young women with their playful giggles, who need the attention of their elders. Janice takes her thoughts, “The Unwilling Farmhouse” and her sandwich to the quiet corner of the library, to the table in the back corner, hidden behind a shelf.

She sits there with the book open and her sandwich for a while, pondering whether people’s stories are defined by their position in their families. If so, where is she herself? She doesn’t really want to think about this further and instead imagines how some ghost might wander around after closing time.

She finds this prospect more soothing than worrying – a ghost who likes books cannot be bad. And such peace brings relief. Actually, Janice is a worrier.

The list of things she worries about seems to grow with each day – the condition of the oceans, plastic bags, climate change, refugees, political uprisings, far-right and far-left movements, as well as those who have to feed their children by taking food from food banks.

Topics: #ghosts #janice #course