The shop’s customer demographic is a mixture of locals, long-distance tourists and those making the trip from nearby hubs such as Newcastle and Edinburgh. The school holidays are always a busy time. “We probably give a disproportionate amount of space to children’s books, compared to most book- shops, but I think it’s very important to do that,” de la Hey says. The shop also features a “book burrow”, a space where children can listen to audiobooks. “I’m deeply passionate about audiobooks, and really frustrated that we can’t sell them effectively. I really hope there is some sort of technological solution so that indies can sell them as audio. It’s a growing market and a gap that we can’t fill currently. It is a big frustration. It’s in every- one’s interest to make it happen.” Mainstreet regularly holds author events and makes use of the village hall, which can hold 240 people, for such evenings. Patrick Gale will be visiting in March, followed by Clare Hunter and Douglas Stuart, who will be at the hall on Easter Monday (18th April). “His new book is absolutely incredible, it broke my heart again,” says de la Hey, who has just placed “probably the largest single order of books I’ve ever put in” for Young Mungo (Picador), the Booker-winner’s forthcoming novel. “It’s such a relief it’s as brilliant as it is,” she adds.


Paperbacks that are selling well include


Mateo Askaripour’s Black Buck (Hodder & Stoughton) and Denise Mina’s Rizzio (Birlinn). “Slim, almost novella books are proving really popular at the moment,” de la Hey says. “I think people quite like a taste of someone’s gorgeous writing. My colleague Vivian absolutely loved Rizzio, and it’s selling really well on her recommendation.” Looking ahead, de la Hey will be geting


her pitch in to invite Maggie O’Farrell to the shop, as Tinder Press announced her new book earlier this week. “It’s hugely exciting news for September—she’s very popular here. I remember an adorable five-year-old telling me how much she loved Where Snow Angels Go [Walker Books], saying, ‘But I haven’t read Hamnet yet’.” Glorious.


Expected bestsellers


The Paper Palace Miranda Cowley Heller Penguin Books, 28th April


Sorrowand Bliss Megan Mason Orion, 28th April


Young Mungo Douglas Stuart Picador, 14th April


Case Study Graeme Macrae Burnet Saraband, 14th April


TheBookseller.com


Independent Bookshop Top 20 1 Love Marriage


Title 2 Open Water


3 Unsettled Ground 4 Light Perpetual 5 Piranesi


6 The Thursday Murder Club 7 The Locked Room


8 Where the Crawdads Sing 9 Ariadne 10 1979


11 To Paradise


12 The City of Tears, 13 Hamnet


14 Wivenhoe 15 A Year Unfolding


16 Conversations on Love 17 Loki: A Bad God’s Guide... 18 Small Pleasures 19 Otherlands


20 No One Is Talking About This Author


Imprint


Monica Ali Virago Caleb Azumah Nelson Viking Claire Fuller Fig Tree


Francis Spufford Faber & Faber Susanna Clarke Bloomsbury Richard Osman Penguin Elly Griffiths Quercus Delia Owens Corsair Jennifer Saint Wildfire Val McDermid Sphere Hanya Yanagihara Picador


ISBN (+978) ASP 0349015484


£18.96


0241448786 £8.94 0241457467 0571336494 1526622433 0241988268 1529409659 1472154668 1472273901 0751583076 1529077476


Kate Mosse Pan 1509806898 Maggie O’Farrell Tinder Press Samuel Fisher Corsair Angela Harding Sphere Natasha Lunn Viking Louie Stowell Walker Clare Chambers W&N Thomas Halliday Allen Lane Patricia Lockwood Bloomsbury


1472223821 1472156433 0751584332 0241448748 1406399752 1474613903 0241405741 1526629777


£8.92 £9.01 £8.97 £8.92


£19.35 £9.03 £8.84 £8.94


£20.00 £8.90 £8.84


£12.93 £19.94 £9.99 £7.93 £8.96


£19.83 £8.99


Week ending 12th February 2022. Unless otherwise stated, charts use data from Nielsen BookScan Total Consumer Market, representing print book sales through around 6,500 retailers. Any title discounted by more than 74.5% is ineligible for inclusion.


From the shop floor


‘Pioneer’ Paiba passes away, aged 87


“Pioneering” Helen Paiba, founder and former owner of The Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill, north London, has died at the age of 87 after battling with dementia. “[She] has left an incredibly rich legacy,” said Sanchita Basu De Sarkar, who now runs the shop.


Big Call as Bert’s Books to open Swindon premises


Bert’s Books, an online bookshop set up by W H Smith’s former head of books marketing Alex Call (pictured, above right) in 2019, is opening a physical store in Swindon this spring. The exact date of the physical premises’ opening is still to be confirmed.


Stanfords buys Bookharbour


Stanfords, the UK’s leading specialist retailer of maps and travel books, has bought nautical books specialist Bookharbour for an undis- closed sum, building on an existing relationship with the latter’s parent company.


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