Yesterday after Mass I popped into my old place of work, a secondhand and antiquarian bookshop, with my sister to visit my cousin who is still working there. I was able to get some great new ideas for my bookshop series of novels and have a chuckle over some book-selling memories. Now I am excited to get to work finishing book six in my series of novels set in a secondhand bookshop in Sussex, England. It's amusing, eccentric and fun with likable characters, story lines, intrigue, romance, gossip and classic British humour.
Before we went into the bookshop, we visited the antique shop next door, which used to be a souvenir shop when I was working in the town. It is now a fantastic bazaar with endless floors and rooms crammed full of amazing, crazy items. For a writer this was very inspiring and the ideas started popping.
The rickety staircases at odd angles led into different sized room, crammed full of objects, while pictures and paintings filled the walls, suitcases were piled up on landings and the floors creaked and cracked so loudly they sounded like bullets.
The smell was musty and ancient, some parts of the floors had gaps in so you could see into the rooms below and in some areas, plaster work was crumbling and there were holes. There was so much to see and so many stories that each item obviously could tell. We explored the shop for about twenty minutes, discovering objects that would work in our film production company for props and in sets or for our film characters to use, carry or hold.
I know I have to include this shop in my next fiction book and I have some great ideas as to how. When it was a souvenir shop I would often pop in and chat to the owner. At the time, I kept a doll's house for a hobby. Jackie used to stock a whole wall of doll's house furniture and I would occasionally buy something. When the doll's house suppliers sent her a miniature celebration ceramic plate, she kindly gave it to me. The upstairs of the shop wasn't open when it was a souvenir shop so I had no idea how it could be transformed into such a treasure trove until I saw it yesterday. It's enormous Here are some photographs or discoveries about the shop:
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| A view from the top floor into the second floor landing. Rooms branch off in many directions. |
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| Lamp |
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| Part of a collection of slides with a box full of more and a machine on the table beneath. |
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| A very early computer! |
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| A pair of bookends. |
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| Oscar Wilde |
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| Oscar Wilde in an arm chair |
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| Strange bottles |
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| An unusual object |
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| An Art Deco doll's house |
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| Part of a collection of Harry Potter boxes |
After the visit to the antique shop, we arrived at the bookshop where our cousin was serving a few customers. The customers were commenting on a book displayed on the counter: 'Essays on Punctuation'. When they had gone he removed it with a bitter grin because every single customer, literally every single one, had commented upon it and it was driving him mad. Ah, the memories of working in the bookshop. We had a chat for an hour and a half, laughing over memories, accumulating new and old stories and events to incorporate in my latest novels. I was delighted with the material which I can't wait to include.
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| A display of children's books |
We went for a little rummage around the shop after discovering a new bookcase had arrived. It's a glass case in the front of the shop with doors on it for displaying interesting and rare books.
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| A new glass book display case |
As well as selling books, the bookshop does a good trade in greeting cards. Here is one that has never sold and I can see why!
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| Daddy???? |
I shall now be working on book six in my secondhand bookworm series of novels The Secondhand Bookworm, which are available now through Amazon. Start the series today!
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