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Sharply funny and a little unhinged

Cape Argus

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May 05, 2025

IF YOU’VE ever spent time on a bookish Facebook group or even trawled on the one star reviews on Goodreads, this book will hit uncomfortably close to home and then make you laugh out loud.

- LIESL VAN DER SCHYFF

Sharply funny and a little unhinged

In Book People, local author Paige Nick blends satire, chaos and crime into a laugh-out-loud takedown of literary egos and internet outrage. It is the kind of book that reminds you just how messy and entertaining the world of books and readers can be.

Norma Jacobs is in her early forties and stuck in a dead-end job. She quietly runs a Facebook group for book lovers. On a whim she quits everything and takes an internship at a London publishing house. It is a bit of a midlife restart and it might have worked, if not for Harry Shields.

Shields is a mid-list crime author convinced he is a misunderstood genius.

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