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Learn why Harriet Constable is joining us
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Hello,
We hope this email finds you well!
This email is a little bit different in style, as we wanted to write something a bit more personal for this- directly from us- as we have an event that you simply can’t miss.
All the way back in April, when we were still very much fresh-faced new bookshop owners, we were invited to our first industry event. It was with our main suppliers, and sponsored by leading publisher Bloomsbury. They provided some absolutely incredible canapés and lovely wine, that tasted all the better because it was free! If we ever had any doubts about taking over a bookshop, they were put to bed very quickly- very much like the exquisite pigs in blankets.
I digress, because Bloomsbury brought something even better than free drinks and finger food. They brought authors, with free reading copies of their new books in tow. There were a couple of well known names, including a celebrity chef and an author who is now a newly elected MP, but there was one debut author who nobody had really heard of. She wore this incredible white jumpsuit and carried herself with a level of poise that really made her stand out amongst the hundred strong crowd.
On perhaps our 6th canapé run, we happened to bump into her at the table. We got talking and she was lovely, but also deeply impressive. She spoke so well that it came as quite a shock when she said she was rather nervous about speaking in front of us all- the authors were each about to talk about their books and the journey of writing it. We wished her luck, she thanked us and then headed over to the stage to prepare.
Two authors went before her and spoke for a while. The crowd got rather shifty- it had been at least 30 minutes since anyone had last consumed a pig in a blanket. There was then an introduction, announcing our next speaker as a debut author and that this was her first event speaking about the book- you could almost hear the groan from the crowd, desperate to return to the canapés. The woman we met at the table stepped up to the stage though, catching Ben’s eye as she did, who inexplicably gave her a little nod as if she was the inexperienced one who needed encouraging.
From the second she began speaking, to the moment she stopped, the crowd was mesmerised. The group comprised of seasoned booksellers and bookshop owners from across the North West; during the previous speakers, there were murmurings and bits of conversation going on but now you could hear a pin drop. The author literally transported us into her story, detailing her research into 18th century Venice as her book charts the true story of a girl who grew up in a Venetian orphanage in the 1700s and received music tutelage from Antonio Vivaldi. As she spoke you could almost see the canals of Venice forming around us, the sound of violins serenading us in the background.
Then, she finished speaking. The crowd was silent for that split second, that thing that happens only very rarely when something is just that good, and then we all erupted into rapturous applause. There were even whoops. Jess leaned over to Ben and whispered ‘I want to be her when I grow up’, and he replied ‘me, too’. She walked down off stage, shaking hands with a few people, before getting swept into the crowd who were now all eager to talk to her.
You might have noticed that we haven’t used her name here, and that’s deliberate. It mirrors the story of the girl who the book is about, whose name has rarely been spoken because it was hardly remembered- until now.
That girl’s name is Anna Maria, and her story is told by the captivating Harriet Constable.
Hear both their stories next week, at what we guarantee will be one of our best events of the year- you really don’t want to miss it, we promise you.
-Karen, Ben and Jess
This event is genuinely going to be one of our best of the year. The team have invested so much energy into producing this one, that the result is going to be off the scale. We have a genuinely fantastic guest in Harriet, presenting her debut novel that she speaks so eloquently about. Before this she was a filmmaker and journalist, for publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and the Financial Times; she also produced for BBC News at Six and Ten during the pandemic.
The book itself is so good- all three of us, and much of the team, have been lucky enough to read it already. Impeccably researched and exceptionally well written, it is already a Sunday Times Bestseller and has featured in the Top 10 sales lists for independent bookshops, like us, since publication.
The story follows Anna Maria, who grows up in an orphanage in Venice in the 1700s, and studies the violin under the orphanage's music director- who just so happens to be the one and only Antonine Vivaldi. Her skills grow and she is eventually one of the world’s best violin players, perhaps better than her tutor himself- who composed many of his concertos specifically for her. However, due to her being a woman, her story has never been told- until now.
Not only that, we will have live violin playing throughout the evening to really bring the book and its time period to life. Our fantastic violinist for the evening Helen Chan will be playing a range of pieces- including one composed by Anna Maria herself.
It’s going to be absolutely stunning- make sure you don’t miss out, as tickets are limited!
Now, in case you are wondering how the night finished, we spent almost every remaining minute begging Harriet to come to the shop to do an event with us. Even when she agreed, we continued asking just to be doubly sure while polishing off the remaining canapés. By the time we looked up, there was almost no one left. We were offered the leftover bottles of wine on our way out, and decided we quite liked this bookselling lark!
