The Bookery 
Now into its sixth year, the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards are the only book awards with a shortlist curated by booksellers, and winners voted for by readers. We are really excited by this year’s selection, which reflects some of the best and most popular titles published this year.
Female ambition and empowerment wrapped up in a 12th Century tale of nuns, by the hit author of Fates And Furies. “Omnia Bene!” (translation: “All is well!”) At 17, Marie is sent to a decrepit abbey (having been banished from court by mighty Queen Eleanor) to become a nun and devote herself to God. She rails against her fate but cannot escape and then, despite her anger and frustration, she understands she can make a difference. She organises, cajoles … Read more
As any booklover will tell you, independent bookshops strive to be at the foundation of our communities. And within the category of indie bookshops there’s another very special category: those that are non-profit and collectively-owned. Sales from our bookshop and website help to fund the provision of pioneering programmes supporting literacy, community well-being and access to cultural opportunities for all; it’s a win-win – ‘buy books, grow community’. Crediton Bookshop became community owned in 2013 when more than 300 shareholders … Read more
If you’d like to arrange a time when you can come and browse the shop without other customers present, please drop us an email to: [email protected] We’ll be back in touch as soon as we can. Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you.
Aya, her mum and baby brother Moosa have recently arrived in Manchester having fled the bombs of Aleppo, and having been separated from Aya’s father during the long, dangerous journey. Now Aya has to take charge, acting as translator and carer for her mother, and as a second mother to Moosa. But one day as Aya and her family sit waiting to see their caseworker, Aya discovers a ballet class in the room upstairs, a find which changes the course … Read more
Phoebe, sad and lonely in Griselda Bone’s Home for Strays, is afraid her Miracle Day will never come. Her friends have been adopted one by one until one snowy Christmas eve Phoebe the wordsmith, and her little dancing dog Herb are the only two remaining inmates of the rancid orphanage where ‘daydreaming is banned, skipping is forbidden and hide-and-seek is out of the question’. But just when things are looking as bleak as they could be, a magical snow dragon … Read more
As Autumn draws in, the staff here at the bookshop start looking forward to curling up with a good book, and reading an Agatha Christie whodunnit from cover to cover can be a great way to stay warm while the temperatures drop outside. Part of the joy of her novels for us, as a bookshop based in Devon, is spotting the Devonian locations that feature regularly in her books, and taking pilgrimages to visit those places can be a great … Read more
Somerset 1616, a place of suspicion, witches and tooth-pullers, where brave heroine Fortune Sharpe loves the sea almost as much as she loves her family. So she is the first to notice that the sea looks strange… Almost as if it is disappearing into the sky. Fortune is forced to leave her home and find work disguised as a boy, the life she has known and loved is turned upside down by the need to live on her wits and … Read more
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of National Poetry Day on 3rd October the Booksellers Association and Forward Arts Foundation have announced Poetry Booksellers Love, 25 favourite poetry books from the last 25 years which were nominated and voted for by booksellers in the UK and Ireland. The list includes anthologies and single-author collections which cater for all palates and ages, and we hope it will help keep poetry sales booming for the next 25 years. A passion for politics, … Read more
Who thinks it’s exciting that rats have come to live in the ground floor flat? The young bunnies do, but the other residents of Pickle Rye aren’t so sure that they want dirty, smelly rats as neighbours: rats are messy, rats steal food, rats are thieves and chew through walls. But once the occupants of flats 2-7 have hopped and trotted and padded and clattered down to meet the new arrivals they find kind, friendly, tidy rats offering…cake. This is … Read more
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