The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay

This is one for the real bibliophile. When 18 year old Rosemary’s mother dies, she is given the chance to leave her small town in Tasmania and begin a new life in New York City. Excited and utterly alone she stumbles into a job at a huge used bookstore (think Powell’s) operated by a group of very odd characters (think Powell’s). As lonely as she feels, she is the bright spot in the life of most of her co-workers. Her life is complicated by an apparent attempt to procure a rare lost manuscript by Herman Melville. Rosemary’s coming of age story is a tribute to our ability to survive and reinvent ourselves until we finally discover who we really are.