The Left-Handed Booksellers of London is the first book in Garth Nix's Booksellers series. Nix is the Sydney author of the Old Kingdom books, and here he builds a magical, slightly altered version of 1983 London.
Susan Arkshaw has just turned eighteen and comes to London to find the father she has never met. Instead she runs into Merlin, a young left-handed bookseller, right after a crime boss is turned to dust in front of her. The booksellers, it turns out, are a large magical family: the left-handed ones fight, the right-handed ones read and reason, and together they keep the old myths of England from spilling into the modern world. Susan is pulled into it, partly because of who her father might be.
Young adult fantasy for readers around 14 and up, and one adults enjoy just as much. It reads perfectly well on its own, with more adventures in Book 2. Winner of the 2021 ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children.
For readers of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.
'A warm, whimsical delight, a witty, clever adventure in an exquisitely detailed world.' Veronica Roth