On bookishness, and A BOOKSHOP SUMMER.

Occasional extra bit, #2

In 2015, I set out to write a novel about a woman who liked books more than people. A woman who had built a careful life to protect herself. It was inspired by a postcard* I found in a second-hand book; by the idea of a childhood gone wrong; by wondering what it would be like to be called Loveday if the idea of love was, to you, impossible and complicated. That novel was ‘Lost For Words’, and it was published in 2017. I had previously had 2 memoirs (about my dance with cancer) and two novels published, but Loveday’s story was the book that allowed me to become a novelist, rather than someone who wrote books, in airport lounges and hotel rooms, in between doing their APJ**. But that was later.

I wasn’t sure that ‘Lost for Words’ would be published at all. I wrote it out of contract - that is to say, no-one was waiting for it, or had paid for it - and thought I was doing a Jane-Austen-about-Emma-Woodhouse, in that I was creating a heroine ‘who no-one but myself would much like’. Like Jane Austen about Emma, I was wrong about Loveday. Because it turns out that pretty much every reader has an inner Loveday: someone who would like everyone to just be quiet and go away because she has a book to read. And then another one.

I was so, so happy when I realised how ‘Lost For Words’*** was connecting with people. It was translated into a dozen languages. I got emails from readers upon readers, telling me how much they loved the book, how strongly they felt for Loveday, how they only really felt at home and safe among books and bookish people.

(There was also much correspondence along the lines of How could you do that to Archie? To which the answer is: writers have hearts of flint. We might have cute book-themed accessories but we will wreak merry havoc for the sake of a page-turn.)

And in a prime example of Why Authors Need Agents And Editors, because they are absolutely clueless about everything outside their own head, I thought, I am glad ‘Lost For Words’ has gone so well, because obviously I will only ever get to write one bookish book.

After ‘Lost For Words’ came ‘The Curious Heart Of Ailsa Rae’ and ‘The Woman In The Photograph’, and I loved writing them. I loved learning to dance, and revisiting analogue photography. I immersed myself in research about life after transplant (Ailsa) and the feminist movement (Vee, Leonie and Erica). I wrote about flirting, and heartbreak, and Edinburgh, and Greenham Common, and friendship, and aging, and exhibitions.

Then the pandemic came, and my then editor, Eli, got in touch and asked if I would be prepared to write a novel set in lockdown, in the world of ‘Lost for Words’. She said she thought it would be important, afterwards, that there would be novels to help us process what we were going through. I thought she was wrong - I didn’t think any of us would need or want to think about the pandemic ever again - but I trusted her and I liked the idea, so I immersed myself in thinking and writing. And when ‘Found In A Bookshop’ came out, it felt as though everyone who loved ‘Lost For Words’ grabbed it with both hands.

It was only then that I thought, maybe I could get away with writing another bookish book.

My now-editor, Marion, agreed, and along came ‘The Second Chance Book Club’, in which September inherits a house, and a book group.

I secretly felt as though I was cheating, or milking things, or exploiting - something non-specific. I was unclear, but I was uncomfortable. A bit…squirmy, somehow.

And then, about halfway through writing September’s story, I realised I had been an absolute fool to think I was only able, or allowed, to write one bookish book. Because my entire life has been bookishness, as far back as I can remember. Reading and writing and buying and smelling and thinking and talking about books is as much a part of my identity as being from Northumberland, or having no sense of direction and a weirdly specific memory for useless things.****

Books have shown me how to be a good human, given me empathy and the ability to look beyond my own desires. Books have kept me company and helped me come to terms with losses, disappointments and failures. Books have made me laugh and enriched my life. Going back to books I have read before have been the best and only comfort on long, dark nights.

And while ‘write what you know’ may be terrible advice***** in many ways, being bookish is something I know right through to my soul. Cut me and I bleed ‘Mansfield Park’.

So, let me present to you A BOOKSHOP SUMMER******, coming next year. It’s unapologetically bookish, and written by an author who has realised at last that she can be unapologetically bookish herself.

‘A Bookshop Summer’ is out in ebook in February and paperback in May. You can pre-order from Amazon in the UK here and the US here, and there’s an ebook link for Bookshop.org users here. Your local indie will also be delighted to pre-order the paperback for you.

I wrote this novel before, during and after a devastating bereavement, and it taught me something else about books: that they might not be able to fix everything, but they can help you to hold a space in yourself for healing and for hope.

‘A Bookshop Summer’ is the story of a group of people who meet at the Lost For Words Bookshop in York in order to read aloud. If you have read my previous novels you will recognise some of the characters. (Trixie, Madison, Loveday, Kit, anyone?) If you haven’t read previous novels - come right on in. Like any bookshop, it doesn’t matter if this is the first time you’ve walked through the door. You are so welcome. Come be bookish with me.

Love,

Stephanie x

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*I used to take the postcard to events, and then I lost it. Hey ho.

**Actual Proper Job. I was a trainer, and it was a great job.

***Other titles considered: Loveday, Between Strike And Flame, The Bookseller’s Secret, and approximately 3,000 others - I even have printed proofs with a different name!

****Explain to me again why north is not always uphill, because I still don’t get it. And if I can remember an occasion or event, I can tell you what I was wearing.

*****Let’s put in a pin in this. It’s more than a footnote.

******Also, we will be returning to the sheer deliciousness of this cover.