When he finds a golden-haired little girl sitting at his hearth, his heart changes, and he transforms into a warm, loving man. The original novel is the story of a miser whose hoard of gold coins is stolen, leaving him nearly out of his mind with grief. Her book is, in turn, a reworking of George Eliot’s classic 19 th century novel, Silas Marner. Fikry is adapted from a novel of the same name by Gabrielle Zevin. Thanks to a child welfare officer who is either flexible or desperate, Fikry eventually gains custody and Maya Tamerlane Fikry is legally his daughter. Unwilling to leave Maya in the police station all weekend, Fikry takes her home – only to discover that he is becoming attached to her. But it’s a Friday night, snow is falling, and it will be early the next week before Child Services can send someone to Alice Island to deal with the problem. In a letter to “the owner of the bookstore”, the mother explains that she is incapable of raising two-year-old Maya and hopes that the little girl can grow up in an environment where books and education are valued. Walking into his store, he discovers a toddler sitting on the floor with a stuffed toy and a note from her mother.

Shortly after the theft, Fikry finds himself the recipient of an unexpected gift. When he awakens the next morning, Fikry discovers to his horror that his rarest and most valuable book has been stolen.

The widowed owner of the Alice Island bookshop has given up on dinner and is drowning his sorrows in a bottle of wine while he stares morosely at his treasured first edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tamerlane. Fikry (Kunal Nayyar) is depressed, angry and lonely.

The life of aj fikry