Enticing reads for 2021. Image: Ryan McEachern/Penguin If 2020 showed us anything, it was how much we need our independent booksellers. As the country locked down, these community hubs and beloved book shops adapted in the most trying of times to keep us stocked up with reading material.
It’s a new year, and we’re still in lockdown, but independent bookshops are still delivering us with brilliant new books . Up and down the country, we asked those who run them which titles they’re most looking to selling in 2021.
Molly at The Portobello Bookshop, Edinburgh
Checkout 19 Claire-Louise Bennett
In Pond - a collection of short stories linked in their eccentricities - Bennett's writing proved itself to be fresh and inventive, and Checkout 19 , about a young female writer and exploring similar themes of class and artistic freedom, will appeal to readers of Deborah Levy and Rachel Cusk.
theportobellobookshop.com
Emma at The Hungerford Bookshop, Hungerford
William at Stillwater Books, Felixstowe
Sheridan at Aardvark Books, Bucknell
A New History of Britain Philip Parker
We have organised a number of really large antique map shows here over the last decade and maps are really important to us. This looks like a really new and original take on history.
Three Summers Margarita Liberaki
Liberaki is not an author that any of us have come across before but this looked really intriguing – sort of in the Elena Ferrante wheelhouse, and just at the moment anything set in Greece seems appealing.
aardvark-books.com
Isobel and Caitlin at City Books, Hove
Malibu Rising Taylor Jenkins Reid
I've read previous titles by Taylor Jenkins Reid that I really enjoyed so Malibu Rising is one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. I read a proof a couple of months ago and think it will really appeal to our customers.
city-books.co.uk
Louise at Reads Bookshop, Holmfirth
