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Evie Woods, author portrait
Photo:Aveline L·CC BY 4.0·
Commons

Evie Woods

Irish
Evie Gaughan, who now writes under the pen-name Evie Woods, is an Irish novelist best known for The Lost Bookshop.
On LuvemBooks, we've reviewed 2 of Evie Woods's books, including The Lost Bookshop and The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris.
2
Books Reviewed

In Evie Woods' own words

Author Evie Woods joins The Gloss Book Club to discuss the inspiration, magical realism, and plot details behind The Lost Bookshop.

Uploaded by The Gloss Book Club, 2024 · Watch on YouTube ·

Inspiration behind The Story Collector

Woods explains that her novel was inspired by an early 1900s academic thesis by an American anthropologist studying the Irish 'fairy faith.' She wanted to write a believable narrative that respected and did justice to Irish folklore and culture.

Process for drafting dual timelines

Woods drafts dual timelines in sequential order to experience the pacing as a reader would. After finishing the initial draft, she pulls the two storylines completely apart to refine them individually before recombining them.

Also in this interview

On The Lost Bookshop

In order

Evie Woods books in order

6 books; 2 reviewed on LuvemBooks. Dates and covers from Amazon.

  1. Betwixt cover
    2015
    Betwixt
    Amazon ↗
  2. The Lost Bookshop cover
    2023
    The Lost Bookshop
    Our review →
  3. The Story Collector cover
    2024
    The Story Collector
    Amazon ↗
  4. The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris cover
    2025
    The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris
    Our review →
  5. The Violin Maker’s Secret cover
    2026
    The Violin Maker’s Secret
    Amazon ↗
  6. The Heirloom cover
    2027
    The HeirloomComing soon
    Amazon ↗
Cover of The Lost Bookshop
The Lost Bookshop

4.4/5

reader rating · 166,328 ratings

Evie Woods's The Lost Bookshop follows Opaline, Martha and Henry through a vanishing Dublin bookshop, across the 1920s and the present. One blogger found it immersive; others found the present-day strand weaker, the romance tiresome and the ending unclear.

Reviewed Apr 2, 2026

Cover of The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris
The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris

4.4/5

reader rating · 45,885 ratings

Evie Woods returns with a wistful, whimsical novel blending magical realism, historical fiction, and romance, following Edith as she escapes heartache in Ireland for a mysterious bakery in Compiègne, France — only to discover that some ghosts from the past are harder to outrun than others.

Reviewed Mar 22, 2026

Ask LuvemBooks about Evie Woods

Evie Woods (the pen name of Irish novelist Evie Gaughan) has two books reviewed on LuvemBooks, both drawing on a distinctive preoccupation with books and reading as plot engines — most fully realised in The Lost Bookshop, which uses a missing bookshop to stitch together storylines across different time periods. Both reviewed titles carry an Amazon reader rating of 4.4/5, each drawing tens of thousands of ratings, suggesting a broad and loyal readership.
Where should I start?
The Lost Bookshop is the natural starting point. It is her most widely read work by a significant margin — over 163,000 Amazon readers have rated it — and it showcases her signature approach most fully: a mystery built around a vanished bookshop, with narratives threading across different time periods. If you enjoy it, The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris offers a similar blend of setting-driven atmosphere and mystery, this time centred on Paris.
What's their writing style?
Evie Woods writes fiction in which a specific, evocative location — a lost bookshop, a Parisian bakery — functions almost as a character in itself, anchoring the mystery and the mood. Her stories tend to move between time periods or perspectives, using the setting as the thread that binds them. The tone is warm without being sentimental, and her books have connected with a very large general fiction readership, suggesting an accessible but not simplistic style.
Books we've reviewed
LuvemBooks has reviewed two Evie Woods titles. The Lost Bookshop is her standout title by readership scale — a multi-timeline mystery centred on a bookshop that has vanished from Dublin's streets, rated 4.4/5 by over 163,000 Amazon readers. The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris takes a similar atmospheric approach, relocating the mystery to Paris and a bakery at its heart, and carries an Amazon reader rating of 4.4/5 from nearly 46,000 ratings.
How do her books compare?
Both reviewed titles share a structural similarity: a specific, named place becomes the centre of a mystery that draws characters — and often different time periods — together. The Lost Bookshop is set largely in Dublin and has a notably larger readership footprint, while The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris shifts the setting to France. Readers who respond to one are very likely to enjoy the other, though The Lost Bookshop is the more substantial starting point by most measures.
What genre does she write?
Evie Woods writes general fiction, but with a consistent streak of mystery running through her work — specifically, mysteries in which a place (a bookshop, a bakery) holds secrets that characters must unravel, often across time. Her books are not crime fiction in the traditional sense; the mystery is softer and more atmospheric, sitting closer to what is sometimes called 'cosy' or literary mystery fiction.
What should I read after The Lost Bookshop?
If you've finished The Lost Bookshop and want to stay with Evie Woods, The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris is the natural next step — it shares the same setting-as-mystery structure and atmospheric tone, transposed to Paris. Both carry a 4.4/5 Amazon reader rating, so expectations are well-matched. Beyond her own work, LuvemBooks' broader fiction reviews may surface similar titles worth exploring.
Who is Evie Woods?

Who is Evie Woods?

Evie Woods is the pen name of Irish novelist Evie Gaughan, best known for The Lost Bookshop. She writes contemporary fiction with a strong sense of place and a recurring fondness for making books, bookshops, and the act of reading central to her stories — rather than merely incidental details. Her work has found a wide audience, with The Lost Bookshop alone accumulating over 160,000 Amazon ratings.

Follow up

What is her nationality and background?
Does she write under any other names?

Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review

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Authors Like Evie Woods
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A

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