Set against the backdrop of 1915 New York City during the Comstock raids, The Sisters of Book Row, Shelley Noble’s newest historical fiction novel, is a story of book-banning and the people who fought against it. I received an unproofed ARC of this book for review. All opinions are my own.
The Summary
1915: Manhattan’s Book Row, an eclectic jumble of forty bookshops along Fourth Avenue, is the mecca for rare book buyers from around the world, and the haunt of locals looking for a bargain. It is also the target of the most vicious censor in American history—Anthony Comstock.
And home to three sisters who vow to stop him.
For the three Applebaum sisters, the narrow, four-storied Arcadia Rare Bookshop is the only home they’ve ever known. Olivia, the oldest, is an expert in restoring rare manuscripts. Daphne, the outgoing middle sister, oversees the retail shop and is a favorite with their customers. Celia, the youngest, is left to dust and catalogue, but often sneaks out to do heaven knows what. Little do her sisters know, Celia has joined a group of young people who secretly print and distribute articles on women’s health by hiding them within the pages of ordinary cookbooks, household hints, and sewing patterns, despite the personal risk.
Meanwhile, the Comstock Laws threaten anybody who owns or circulates “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” publications. Even classic literature or fine art could send a person to jail. In the face of such oppression, Celia and the booksellers of Book Row band together. But secrets and a mysterious stranger mean the fate of the famed Book Row is anything but secure.
My Review
Many of us probably learned about Anthony Comstock and the Comstock Laws in school, but The Sisters of Book Row gives context to them through their impact not only on the Applebaum sisters, but on other Book Row businesses, as well.
The Comstock Laws, named for Anthony Comstock, were created to uphold Christian morality by preventing the distribution of lewd and lascivious material. For his part, Comstock served as both the United States Postal Inspector, where he saw to it that no immoral content was sent through the mail, and the Secretary of the New York Society of the Suppression of Vice. Both roles afforded him the freedom to act as he saw fit.
It wasn’t just books that he found offensive, either. He was also opposed to artists like Michaelangelo whose work portrayed nude subjects.
Unsurprisingly, Comstock did not take well to Margaret Sanger coming along and challenging his laws while promoting birth control and family planning, either. When she wrote columns about things “every girl should know,” Comstock confiscated copies of the paper, deeming them unfit for the mail.
Anthony Comstock burned books, destroyed art, and kept an eagle eye on anyone whom he suspected of possessing or distributing immoral content.
This is the New York in which our story unfolds.
After their father’s death, the three Applebaum sisters are running their father’s bookstore on Book Row—a stretch of Fourth Ave. that ran from Astor Place to Union Square and was home to many rare and secondhand bookshops.
As the oldest daughter, Olivia is the only one responsible for making sales of rare and antique books, as well as for all repairs and restorations, which is something she did while working at the Met before their father died.
Daphne reads romance novels all day and dreams of a more glamorous life than the one she’s got. She envies her school friends and the shop girls who stop in for books and continue on to their social lives.
Youngest sister Celia is living a double-life, wanting to contribute to a cause that’s bigger than she is. For their own safety, her sisters can’t know. She sneaks off to clandestine meetings and works with a neighboring business to print pamphlets and materials for distribution. And all the while, she worries she will attract Anthony Comstock’s attention.
The sisters watch as raids happen around them. They work to make sure nothing on their sales floor could be considered pornographic by Comstock’s standards.
But during the melee accompanying a raid one day, a mysterious package ends up in their throwaway box outside. This box is where people donate books they no longer want, but it’s also how Celia does her mission-based volunteer work. She thinks the package might be something from Margaret Sanger.
Instead, it turns out to be an incredibly old book that has perhaps never been known to anyone.
They are certain that it’s stolen. They aren’t sure why they have it, but they’re also not sure what to do with it to ensure they’re not reprimanded for having it.
Olivia is consumed with translating it, trying to verify its authenticity.
The only problem is, someone knows the book is there. Someone wants it back. Someone is watching the sisters.
Suddenly, things start happening, and while Olivia and Daphne believe that the book is the reason why, Celia worries that her secret work, which has already possibly caused one raid, is what is drawing attention.
There will be a raid. A sister will be arrested. All of them will have to come clean about the secrets they’ve been keeping.
The Sisters of Book Row shows us a through line when it comes to banned books. Many of Comstock’s complaints were the same reasons people give today for banning books. Like Comstock, they rarely read or give any nuance to the material. They simply catch a whiff of something and go on a crusade.
Although you could sense the tension among the local merchants, I appreciated the setting for the book and could so easily visualize it. Despite the summer heat, you could imagine losing a whole day wandering down Book Row, popping into the cozy shops with their shop cats, everything smelling of dust and leather.
The topic piqued my interest so much that I sought out more information on Book Row, learning that The Strand is the only store from those days on Book Row that survives, although it moved from its Fourth Ave. location to its current spot at Broadway and 12th Street in 1957. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Book Row slowly disappeared.
The Sisters of Book Row had so much of what I love in historical fiction novels: strong women as main characters, a dash of old New York, and historical context for modern day issues (we are still banning books and trying to suppress women’s healthcare, after all).
I recommend this one to anyone who will always read banned books.
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- Review: The Sisters of Book Row by Shelley Noble - March 4, 2026
- Review: Bodies to Die For by Lori Brand - June 19, 2024