The Universe Listened

My sister-in-law is a Cassandra Clare fan. I like to say I am too, but she has actually read all of her main books and most of the novellas (whereas I still have some catching up on my reading to do).

My sister-in-law is also the kind of person who's not afraid to have mismatched sets of books -- whenever she finds a book she wants in a used bookstore, she'll purchase it if it's a hardback even if the rest of the set she owns is in paperback form (and vice versa).

In January, she had expressed to me that she was missing two books from The Infernal Devices trilogy -- Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess, the second and third book in this trilogy. She had read these books before, but she had borrowed them the first time around. Now, she was doing a thorough reread of all of Cassandra's works (I think to prepare for the release of her new book in March, Chain of Iron), and she desired to have her own copy of each book.

We started the search at Chapters (Canada's equivalent of Barnes and Noble) ... but hit a bump in the road pretty quickly, as they only sold the books as a trilogy book set. (There was no point buying the full set when she already owned the first book, right?) Fortunately, there was a used bookstore in the area, so that was our next stop. She ended up finding one of the novella anthologies she didn't have yet ... but no luck on finding the two main books she was searching for.

Over the next couple of months, I'd ask her from time to time if she found them; she had checked out a couple other used bookstores in town with her husband, and managed to find the second of the trilogy, Clockwork Prince. Now, it was just a matter of finding that third and final book.

My Mom has been (slowly) purging some of her belongings -- she's in the processing of wanting to buy a bigger house, and doesn't want to move with all of the stuff she owns now. One of the things that HAS to go (unfortunately) is her book collection; my Mom has arthritis, and holding physical copies of books is painful for her thumbs. We found a bookstore in town that accepts used books for cash (some places are credit only), so early March I came along with her to this bookstore, to help carry in a few of her boxes of books. As the cashier asked if there would be anything else for us that day, I had a sudden thought: "Do you have a copy of Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare?" I was then led to the young adult section of the bookstore ... AND OMG THEY DID! I was so ecstatic! I purchased it instantly, before even consulting with my sister-in-law. I was seeing her for dinner that night, and I thought, "If she already has it, I know Mom and I are making another trip to the bookstore tomorrow, I'll just return the book for a partial refund -- no harm done". (... I also just really enjoy surprising people; phoning her would've ruined the surprise.)

I remember being so excited (and slightly nervous) to give this book to her. I only had to wait a couple hours from the time I found the book to the time we were meeting for dinner, but to me it felt like days. When the time finally came, I began to reach into my bag and I said something along the lines of "I don't know if you already found it, but I saw this today and ... here you go!" ... She looked confused for a minute, then gasped as she realized what I was holding. Her response: "I don't have it yet! Where did you find it?" I told her the name of the bookstore, and she said she had actually been there a couple times over the past two months, with no luck.

I like to believe the Universe listened to me. You see, this is a woman who is a mother of two young boys -- one turning 4 in July, the other turning 1 in May -- and who has been off work for a year due to maternity leave (+ pandemic). Her and hubby just bought their first home together, moving in a month after their youngest was born ... so deep down, I really didn't want her to find the book. Could she have afforded it? Oh yeah! I know she would've found the money for it ... but I didn't think she had to. She does so much for her boys, and she personally has always made me feel welcome and like part of the family ... this book was meant to be found and purchased as a gift, as a thank you to her.

In February, I had gifted her a Chapters gift card for her birthday, in the hopes that MAYBE the books would suddenly become available as single purchase options (not just full sets of the trilogy). Instead, she was able to use the card to buy the newest Cassandra book. I got a text from my sister-in-law the day after giving her Clockwork Princess ... it was a photo of her newly purchased Chain of Iron! My heart was so happy.