Reviews

Mall Moll

Kris Rothstein

Molly of the Mall: Literary Lass and Purveyor of Fine Footwear (NeWest Press) is a book written by a book nerd (Heidi L.M. Jacobs, a librarian), for book nerds about a book nerd. The bookish heroine is Molly, born into an academic family and named for the novel her father was teaching at the time of her birth, Moll Flanders. She is an aspiring writer and enthusiastic university student who wonders how her own life will stack up against the tumultuous adventures of her namesake. Much of the novel takes place in 1995 in the West Edmonton Mall, where Molly spends the summer selling shoes and reporting on store politics and gossip in a diary-like format. Molly of the Mall is a loving satire in the vein of Molly’s beloved Jane Austen, and indeed, it is Austen’s books that shape Molly’s world and the lens through which she attempts to understand romance, family and personal ambition.

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