Event announcement
The Rachel Incident is the story of Rachel and James, two twenty-somethings who met at a bookshop, became best friends, and spent one unforgettable year screwing up and growing up.
We’re so lucky to be joined by the book’s author, Caroline O’Donoghue, to discuss it in our next fiction book club on Zoom on 16th July. You can join just for this session for £22.50 or become a member of our club for £15 a month, which includes the price of the book. An amazing array of writers have joined us as guests so far, including Caleb Azumah Nelson, Katherine Heiny, Michael Magee, Andrew O’Hagan and Julia Armfield.
Upcoming events
Join us from anywhere in the world: Subscribers to our Backstory magazine or our book subscriptions get free access to online livestreams of all events, including those that are sold out. For more information, check out our subscriptions or email us at books@backstory.london
ALICE WINN introduces YAEL VAN DER WOUDEN, The Safekeep — 28th June, 7.30pm
One of Backstory's favourite authors introduces a new favourite, Yael van der Wouden. Her debut novel, The Safekeep, is set in the conservative Dutch countryside in the early 1960s. A young woman still tends the family home — keeping rigorous inventories of all its contents — years after her mother has died and her siblings have moved out. She is left to keep standards, and her own company. Until, that is, one of her brothers is called away on business and he imposes his new girlfriend on the house. And so the stage is set for a beguiling, claustrophobic and very fresh summer read. Trust us, you’ll be wanting to talk about it when you put it down.
HENRY JEFFREYS, Vines in a Cold Climate — 10th July, 7.30pm
Summer is finally here and what better time to look at the remarkable rise and rise of the English wine scene. Henry Jeffreys will take us through the quirky characters behind what is now a multi-million-pound industry with quality to rival Champagne.
ANDREW O’HAGAN, Caledonian Road — 25th July, 7.30pm SOLD OUT
Backstory summer sessions — the return of our popular music nights at the bookshop. Book your £5 ticket now to secure your spot:
Non-fiction book club on Zoom, 25th June: Cara McGoogan, The Poison Line
Your summer reads
Download our 16-page guide, packed with suggestions for summer reading from literary fiction and thrillers to non-fiction and kids books
I JUST GOT CAUGHT in a thunderstorm in New York. And somehow even as the hot rain sploshed down my nose, even as my t-shirt stuck to my chest, even as I hurried back to my hotel past yellow cabs honking at pedestrians trying to out-jaywalk the clouds a block at a time, past an elderly but athletic-looking man in running shorts on the return leg from Central Park, I couldn’t help smiling.
Whether it’s hot out or wet out (or, as in this case, very much both), there’s something infectious about the city’s energy, about the sheer abundance and variety of life — loudly, aggressively, often downright rudely — being lived.
On the whole, I prefer London. I like its meandering streets, its pubs and parks, its passive aggression. But I do like a dose of New York every year or two, a supersize serving of pep and ambition.
So there was something special about coming back here to launch our very own books magazine on this side of the Pond. We had a launch party on Friday night and I kept having to remind myself before I got there that I shouldn’t use the speech, as is customary in Britain on such occasions, essentially to apologise for, and express bewilderment at, being there at all (“a sort-of launch”, “our little magazine”, “say a few words”…).
The thing is, though, it is bewildering. This whole weekend I’ve kept thinking how bonkers it is that two years ago, on my last visit here, I had just quit my job with a vague plan to open a bookshop. I came here to recce some of the beautiful indies, like the various branches of McNally Jackson, and to visit the Union Square HQ of Barnes & Noble, the world’s biggest bookshop chain. This time, not only is my bookshop up and running, but I’m here to launch the magazine it spawned in Barnes & Noble!
Boxes and boxes of the thing have been ever so slowly making their way across the Atlantic on a container ship for the last couple of months. Now they have finally landed in Atlanta, Georgia, and are winging their way to most of the store’s 600 branches all across America, where they’ll be on sale on newsstands in the next week or two. This is the same magazine that Megan, Amy, Darby and I put the finishing touches to, poring over proofs with our different coloured pencils, at the Backstory bar.
So yeah, bonkers.
Thanks to everyone who came on Friday night, from Barnes & Noble, from the worlds of journalism and publishing and, best of all, new friends made through this newsletter. (One of whom brought me a celebratory box of what are, I’m told, New York’s finest cookies. You don’t get that in London!)
Now, since the storm’s died down, I hope you’ll forgive me. I’m going out to raise a very large glass to Backstory — now available on both sides of the Atlantic!
Tom
Congratulations on your success!
My daughter and I are coming to London for a visit (her first) in the summer and I am looking forward to visiting the shop.
Fantastic news. My son uses your Balham bookshop and I have received your subscription gift, I wonder if you have ever considered recommending books in a video- Ann Patchett from her indie store in Nashville puts a broadcast on Facebook every week promoting new books , staff favourites and events?