The Echo of Old Books: A Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains mentions and descriptions of mental illness, death by suicide, and antisemitic sentiments.

Ashlyn Greer is one of the main characters of the story. She is the proprietor of a rare books store and is gifted with psychometric abilities that allow her to read the vibrations of old books and sense their previous owners’ feelings. She chances upon Hemi’s book, Regretting Belle, and is intrigued by its vibrations and its story.

Ashlyn is an only child, and she has no close living family members. Her life has featured one tragic event after another. When she was young, her mother died of cancer and her father died by suicide, while her ex-husband, Daniel—who was toxic and unfaithful—died after intentionally stepping in front of a bus. Traumatized, these events leave Ashlyn with a sense of wariness about love and trust. In her experience, all the people who were supposed to love her left her in some way, making her believe she is unworthy of love.

Books and the bookstore have been a refuge for Ashlyn since childhood, and the original owner of the bookstore, Frank Atwater, and his wife eventually came to be like surrogate family to Ashlyn.