Finders, Keepers: The Secret Life of Second-hand Books

by Nicholas Royle

Finders, Keepers tells the stories that hide between the lines of the second-hand books that fill the shelves of charity shops and second-hand bookshops up and down the country. The author collects books. He collects books that contain bookmarks in the form of maps – he will read the book while walking the streets depicted on the map, provided he doesn't have to get on a plane to get there. He collects books given as Christmas presents. He collects books that have the same title as other books – he'll read both books and compare them. He might wonder – he might even ask – which one has the greater claim on the title. He collects books that he finds with business cards in them – instead of reading the book, he sends it to the individual named on the business card and asks them to read it instead. He collects ex-library books. He collects free books. Well, he looks at the books that people leave out on their garden wall in the rain and photographs then and mostly leaves them where they are.

Genres: Books About Books, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published April 14, 2026

About the author

Nicholas Royle is an English writer. He is the author of seven novels, two novellas and a short story collection. He has edited sixteen anthologies of short stories. A senior lecturer in creative writing at the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University, he also runs Nightjar Press, publishing original short stories as signed, limited-edition chapbooks. He works as a fiction reviewer for The Independent and the Warwick Review and as an editor for Salt Publishing.

Reviews

[Bookthesp1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fabulous volume from Nicholas Royle. His book obsessions continue to fascinate whether it be business cards found in books; maps found in books and occasionally photographs alongside the usual travel tickets and the like. The chapter on Christmas inscriptions was rather moving .
Royle is a dedicated and driven investigator of all things related to the shadow lines ( see volume 2 of what is already a loose trilogy) that indicate that something has been left in the book visible to the naked eye whilst browsing the shelves.
Royle might retrace the journey as marked on a map; check the locations for any landmarks indicated; dial numbers on business cards and the like whilst buying books with these inclusions. Other interesting diversions include buying books that happen to have the same title and continuing to look for or notice white spine titles ( see volume 1) to keep his Picador white spines up to date.
A lovely book which I greatly enjoyed. Recommended to bibliophiles and shadow line beginners !!

[Raakel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the idea of this book and it was funny reading about the author visiting various charity shops and free little libraries in South Manchester for books as this is what I do on my days off in South Manchester.

However… This book was super rambly and exhausting to read. He keeps going off on a tangent and name dropping almost non-stop.

I love that he goes on all these bookish adventures and missions, but this book is just too hard to follow.

[Karen Mace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun and entertaining book in the 'book series' as we follow the author on his journeys around the country visiting various second hand bookshops to see what stories the books he picks up can tell!

And this time he's picking up books that contain the memories of previous owners - the train tickets and maps used as bookmarks, even photographs, allowing them to take him on that journey as he follows the trips to different locations, alongside his own memories of the books he's picked up and read, and the different shops he visits along the way that bring back stories from his own travels in the past!

I just wish the second hand books I pick up had the interesting things in them like he found! I'll definitely be looking through more books in the future at second hand shops to see if I can find my own glimpses into the previous life of the books I buy!