The Bookery

Children’s Book of the Month: September 2019

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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

Crediton Big Read 2019

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Before the next equinox is upon us we thought we should look back to those long June days and celebrate Crediton’s first Big Read. Our aim was to inspire as many people as possible in the Crediton area to read and talk about the same books, and to promote reading as a shared pleasure. The idea of a Big Read was new to many people and Crediton embraced it enthusiastically. It was a genuinely community wide project which succeeded because … Read more

Quay Words

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Exeter’s Custom House was home to the Quay Words literary festival and its first writer-in-residence for six weeks from 29th June-3rd August. The festival was part of an initiative to explore the potential for the beautiful Custom House, built in 1680 at the height of Exeter’s woollen cloth industry, to become a hub for literature. The programme was put together by Literature Works on behalf of the Exeter Canal and Quay Trust, and with support from Arts Council England. We … Read more

Children’s Book of the Month: July 2019

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Set in WWII, our BOTM for July is Helen Peters’ moving and captivating novel Anna at War. Anna at War begins on Kristallnacht and in the aftermath, as life for German Jews becomes increasingly perilous, Anna’s parents put her on the Kindertransport leaving for England. But the war follows her to Kent, and soon Anna finds herself caught up in a web of betrayal and secrecy. How can she prove whose side she’s on when she can’t tell anyone the … Read more

Reading for Pleasure: Professional Development for Teachers

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For the past three years we’ve held a CPD event at the bookshop in conjunction with the University of Exeter to discuss the UKLA Book Awards – the only awards where teachers select books they want to share with pupils to inspire a love of books, reading for pleasure and a focus for discussion and extended study. Following the same format as the two previous years, local teachers joined PGCE student teachers, tutors and the CCB schools’ team for lively … Read more

Interview: Tim Pears

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Tim Pears is the author of ten novels, including In the Place of Fallen Leaves (winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Ruth Hadden Memorial Award), In a Land of Plenty (made into a ten-part BBC series), Landed, and most recently, The Horseman, The Wanderers and The Redeemed, which make up the much acclaimed West Country Trilogy. We are very excited that Tim will be at the shop on 27th June to talk about the West Country Trilogy and before … Read more

Children’s Book of the Month: June 2019

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Vita set her jaw, and nodded at New York City in greeting, as a boxer greets an opponent before a fight. Fresh off the boat from England, Vita Marlowe has a job to do. Her beloved grandfather Jack has been cheated out of his home and possessions by a notorious conman with Mafia connections. Seeing Jack’s spirit is broken, Vita is desperate to make him happy again, so she devises a plan to outwit his enemies and recover his home. … Read more

Interview: Lucy Diamond

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Lucy Diamond

Lucy Diamond is the author of bestselling novels such as The Secrets of Happiness, The Beach Café and On A Beautiful Day. Her new novel, Something To Tell You, is set in York and features the Mortimer family who all have a secret to tell. Before becoming an author she worked in publishing and at the BBC, and started her writing career in children’s books as Sue Mongredien (her real name) as well as writing many of the Rainbow Magic … Read more

Review: Time Song – Searching for Doggerland

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Doggerland is the name given to the land mass now submerged beneath the North Sea, which once connected Britain with continental Europe. For much of the past two million years Doggerland was a rich landscape populated by diverse flora and fauna including mammoths, aurochs, bison, bears and humans. As recently as 7,000 years ago a significant area was land above sea level. All her life, Julia Blackburn has been fascinated by the ancient remains she has collected from the shores … Read more

Interview: Ann Cleeves

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Ann Cleeves is the author of over thirty critically acclaimed novels and in 2017 was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger. She is the creator of popular detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez who can now be found on television in ITV’s Vera and BBC One’s Shetland. The TV series and the books they are based on have become international sensations, capturing the minds of millions worldwide. Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory … Read more