Receipts from the Bookshop: A Bookseller's Year in an English Seaside Town

by Katie Clapham

Based on the popular Substack that Julia Quinn calls “delightful” and India Knight describes as “absolute heaven,” a quirky and gossipy insider glimpse at a year in the life of a family-owned bookstore in a seaside English town—as told by the store’s owner.

One summer not long ago, bookseller Katie Clapham began chronicling life at the small independent bookstore she runs with her mother in the English seaside town of Lytham St Annes. Her cozy bookshop diaries detail the romance and frustration of running your own bookstore - from the loyal customers to the feisty passers-by, and the deliveries filled with tempting new stock to the never-ending aftermath of cardboard boxes. Katie faithfully records the change of seasons from sad January to exhausting December, punctuated with visits from inquisitive dogs, adorable children, and people just looking for a good place to get an omelette around here.

Tender, funny, and thoughtful, Receipts from the Bookshop is a love letter to everything we hold small towns, family, book chat, hot cups of tea, and just the right snack at 11 AM....

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Biography Memoir, Biography, Adult, Memoir

304 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication September 8, 2026

About the author

Katie graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London with a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing and an MA in Poetic Practice.

After spending three years working in editorial production for an orthopaedic research journal, Katie left London to do some soul searching on the Isle of Skye in the depths of winter. When she came back she opened a bookshop with her mum in her home town of Lytham St. Annes (Storytellers, Inc., December 2010). Named a Bookseller Rising Star in 2011 and Young Bookseller of the Year in 2012, Storytellers, Inc. has been nominated for Bookseller Industry Awards seven times over four years. Katie sits on the executive committees of the BA Children’s Book Group and for World Book Day, and reviews books every month for Booktrust and BBC Radio Lancashire. Through Storytellers, Inc., Katie produces an annual calendar of picture book illustration, and a companion KS1 project that is delivered to classrooms across the country in collaboration with other bookshops.

She is also a freelance copy-editor and proof-reader and much prefers working on children’s books to research papers about hip replacement surgery.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny. Charming. Delightful. I read this in less than a day because every anecdote was better than the last. If you have worked in a bookstore, if you like shopping at bookstores, if you like books, if you like humor, then this book is for you.

If I’m ever feeling down, this is the book I will pick up and randomly open and know, without doubt, that it will make me feel better.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) Despite the one-year journal format, this leans a little more towards Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops than The Diary of a Bookseller. I'd never heard of the seaside town of Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, let alone Storytellers, Inc. Clapham is a children's author (I unknowingly read a picture book by her, The Tour at School, last month because it was the runner-up for the Queen's Knickers Prize) who co-owns the bookshop with her mother and works there on Fridays and as cover when her mother is away. (That sounds like just the right workload to me!) She reports on sales, customer interactions and happenings out on the street, including all the many people she hears make adulatory remarks about the shop before walking right past.

A sample extract, from the 19 January entry, exemplifies the wry sense of humour: "It's cold but not icy, so there's no real reason why we shouldn't be flooded with customers today, other than the death of the high street, the devaluation of books, the cost-of-living crisis and the town's general ennui." Ditto this odd comment from a would-be customer: "'I'm not being rude, but do you make money here?' I mean, barely, but we have a nice time." They do seem to sell more accessories (finger puppets, wooden toys, Advent calendars) in the shop than actual books. Which is a real shame because Clapham knows a lot about books - loads of the ones she orders in are actually for her to read - and makes some great recommendations. Overall, the shop made a loss during the year this covers, with January a particularly poor month for sales and December a standout for the pre-Christmas gift-buying flurry.

Beyond the underlying existential worry about the viability, most of the dramas are minor - along the lines of running out of milk, or it going off, so she can't have the endless cups of tea that English people run on. Amusing; I enjoyed reading this a bit at a time over a few weeks and got a fair number of chuckles out of it.

[The title is a little misleading as, unlike Bythell, Clapham mostly doesn't report till totals. And her calling her mother "BM" for Business Mum was off-putting to me as that's what my mother politely called poos (bowel movements). How crazy that her mum's name is Carolyn, which was my mother's name but is a pretty rare one in the UK.]

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Receipts from the Bookshop provides you with an insider’s life to running a local bookstore near a pastry shop. The chapters are separated by months and each paragraph is a different blurb, thought, or witty one-liner. I thought it was cute and provides the true reality of owning your own store. The problem is because the paragraphs aren’t necessarily cohesive, it was easy to stop reading and do something else. I found myself distracted and maybe in a bit of slump because of this.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me miss working in a bookshop

[ghostly_bookish · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really witty, honest look at independent bookselling in the UK.
Charming, warm, funny and eye opening to the struggles of the independent booksellers in the UK.
Really lovely to read through the year.

[Verity W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Receipts from the Bookshop is a year in the life of Katie Clapham's real life actual bookshop in St Annes on Sea, which is in Lancashire and near Lytham and also the (probably) better known Blackpool. It's based on her Substack of the same name which I used to read faithfully until substack changed the way they send their emails (or I changed something in my settings on substack who can tell) and then got a bit behind. But that's ok because now there is a book! And the fact that I didn't remember reading much of it before suggests that that substack change happened longer ago than I thought - or that I was less faithful than I thought!

If you're a book person - and I assume from the fact that you're reading this that you are - then this is a wonderful insight into what it's like to own your own bookshop and as a bonus it will also give you plenty of ideas for books to read. I concluded (and told Him Indoors this) that I could not own a bookshop because I would buy myself too many books and/or crack the spines in the stock and turn them into secondhand books before they'd even been first hand. It's a delightful soothing read with plenty of regular characters popping in and out of the shop through the year. Personally I would like to emulate the person who has a list of their required books (new hardbacks) on a personalised piece of stationery. That's the sort of vibes that I would like to have. I mean I don't - because although I love hardbacks I am bad at reading them because they're not as portable as my other options.

Anyway, this is delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it on the commute and it would make a lovely gift for the bookish person in your life. And you can even buy it straight from Katie's shop Booksellers Inc via Bookshop.org or by emailing the shop direct if you want a signed one.

***Copy from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration. All opinions are my own.****

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve ever worked in a bookstore for many, many years like I have, you’ll see just how relatable this memoir is! I thought this was well written, the narrator was a joy to listen to and it was genuinely funny. The monologues and general day to day operations and interactions with customers were so accurate! Please read if you want an insight into the ins and outs of working in a small independent bookshop. I loved!

[Hylke · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 stars! A very wholesome, light read. Laughed out loud a few times as well. Perfect if you just want to relax with a cup of tea.

[Maja Scepanovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminded me why I went into bookselling in the first place. 💌

[Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks for the DRC on edelweiss! Quick and delightful read. I was swept away by Katie Clapham’s little bookshop by the sea. Read this in a day and it was wonderful.

Quotes that resonated with me:

✨ “Buying a book from a bookshop really is an act of resistance; a retro act of resilience and determination to maintain or regain some screen-free time, and a defiant stand against the big corps that assume people value an extra couple of quid over keeping retail afloat in their own home towns.
Yes, even if you only picked one up on the way to get your venti mocha, a single paperback is enough to make a difference to us, every damn day.” (February)

✨ “Buying the stock isn't an exact science. Big bookshops have all sorts of clever computing systems that calculate what will sell where, and how much of something a shop should order, but it's just me and BM here, so the stock is built a bit more personally: pre-ordering titles that I know I want to read, making sure we've got a backlist of titles in when a regular customer takes an interest in a specific author, topping up our translated Japanese fiction for the customers who can't get enough. You know, common sense. There are certainly trends in publishing, but they don't always trickle down to individual shops. Of course, we stock some general crowd-pleasers, but we're always likely to do better with a title that we have personally loved and want to champion.” (March)

✨People do love to spot a bookshop. It's like seeing a panda at the zoo: exotic and cute. But those who enjoy the wildlife of a bookshop do, on occasion, need a gentle reminder that, like the panda, the independent bookshop is an ancient species endangered by its own stubbornness, and that funding, protection and conservation (i.e. actually buying a book or two every now and again) is integral to their survival.” (June)

✨ “It's true that some days our sales are so pitiful it feels like we only come back and do it all again the next day out of spite. But perhaps spite is as useful as any emotion you may need to run a bookshop, because it is in some ways an act of defiance. A bookshop is a mausoleum to a product that refuses to die. Media consumption has evolved beyond recognition in such a short time, but physical books persist against the odds and so the bookshop comes to represent so much more than just another retail unit on the high street. Every day is another triumph against the vision of the town without us; a gap in the shelf of our high street.” (October)

✨ “It's true that in dark hours, books can offer some temporary comfort and solace, but when it seems that the bleakness is bedding in for a while, perhaps bookshops become small symbols of hope-every week we unbox peace, protest and progress. Our shelves are filled with the voices of people who dream of better, most evidently in our children's area, where the books are made with love and sensitivity to speak specifically to the young minds that will shape the world in the future. I am hopeful that today we will sell some books that will make the world a better place.” (November)

[Beneathathousandskies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Receipts from the Bookshop was a wee bit of an impulse buy the other week, but there was something about the cover in the display of books about books that caught my attention. Plus, I am a bookseller – and I find a strange joy in reading about the weird and wonderful happenings of other bookshops and being able to sit there and go ‘oh yes, I’ve had that happen’ – and in that sense this book did not disappoint. Clapham captures the quirks and challenges of running a small bookshop in a humorous and largely endearing way, from moments between regular customers, and new customers, to the comments about bookshops as people go sailing gaily past.

‘A lady approaches the desk. “My son’s reading a book, but I can’t remember what it’s called. Do you know how many books there are in the series?’

It was an easy read, broken down into almost-diary entries with little asides and quotes (usually of those people wandering by), and broken into months; and I loved seeing the seasonality of it, but also the community around the bookshop. No bookshop can be an island, and even if it was largely contained to the bookshop – we got to see local events, characters and I ended up incredibly jealous of the patisserie opening so close! (I say with a lovely bakers right next to my bookshop)

The one element that did sour the experience a little bit for me, was pointed mentions of self-publishing and self-published authors; and part of it was probably me being a bit sensitive on the issue. It was never I think deliberately dismissive, and from the economic view of running a small independent bookshop in the current economy on one level I do get it; and there is an awareness of the difference between local interest and authors, but it felt like it came up a little too often. And each time it pulled me out of my enjoyment. Like I said, I feel like that might be more on me, and others might not notice it as much, but it did stick with me even after I finished the book.

My annoyance with the attitude towards self-publishing aside, I really enjoyed this book. It was a lovely reminder of the joy of a bookshop, for all ages, and the weird and wonderful things that can go on around books and customers. Clapham has created a love letter to bookshops and books and reading and the connections they can create, but also does not hesitate to highlight just how challenging it is to run a bookshop in this economy, with places like Amazon available at the press of a mouse, to the rising costs (for customer and seller) and of course the more mundane day to day challenges of weather, doors…and sometimes just not being able to find the blasted book! An engaging and informative read, which offers an insight to bookselling for those outside that role, and will have booksellers nodding along.

[CPE · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been several books over the last few years, containing a year’s musings from booksellers. However, Katie Clapham’s new book, Receipts from the Bookshop: A Bookseller's Year, really resonated with me. There is, undoubtedly, something special about a bookshop. As the author states, “There is no shop I go to as regularly as some of my customers come to my bookshop” and she’s right. I visit my local independent bookshop even more than the local supermarket – and with much more joy. At least once a month, I call to pick up a book I’ve ordered. Once a week, I’ll go in to browse the latest stock, perhaps buying a newly published book on impulse. On other days, I will find myself passing the shop – and I’ll pop in, just to say hello.

Every page of this book echoed my experiences. Firstly, my local is staffed by ladies. Jane has taken over the management of it from her Mum, Anne, who is still heavily involved and seen behind the counter most weeks. Secondly, I often enter the bookshop to find boxes from the latest delivery stacked high with Jane or Deborah wondering how to delicately insert these books onto already groaning shelves and tables. Thirdly, I can sense the careful thought behind which books to order; and how many copies of each. You can empathise with Katie Clapham, when she has to tell a customer that she doesn’t have a book in stock today because she’s just sold the last copy and the customer says, “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll order it online and receive it tomorrow.” But an indie bookseller can also order a book for you today and have it waiting for you tomorrow. I know because my bookshop does it all the time.

Yes, of course, I could buy some books cheaper from that infamous omnipresent online retailer of everything, or even from a well-known high street stationery chain or supermarket. However, do note that it is **some** books, not **all** books. The smallest indie bookshop will typically offer a much wider selection than any of the above. There is one large UK high street bookshop chain where, again, you will find some books cheaper than a small indie bookshop. However, would you prefer the tiny profit made from the sale of a book to go to a local family with whom you or your children went to school and who support local schools, or to the American investment-management company that now own the large high street chain?

I’ve realised that I wrote “my bookshop” above – and I think that’s how all real book-lovers perceive their local bookshop. The shop is a friend and, like all friends, there should be reciprocal support. I buy books from my bookshop because I want to support them and to make sure they’ll still be around for me next year. In return, they order books that they think people like me will enjoy and want to take home. It would be easy to do as supermarkets do, to just stock 10-20 books by household names, regardless of literary merit, e.g. ghosted auto-biographies of people who are famous for being famous. However, you won’t find a well-researched book about your town in that supermarket; nor school textbooks; nor many, many, other books that prove to be hugely interesting when you pick them up and glance at a couple of pages. And that’s the huge disadvantage of that online retailer: you can’t pick up an unexpected book and admire the cover (both front and back); look at any bibliography or notes; and, bluntly, decide whether it will give you pleasure from a blind date. The online retailer sells you titles that you type into its search function. That is, it sells you books you already know you want. My bookshop offers me books I didn’t know I wanted until I picked them up.

Bookshops also used to get 30% of a book’s cover price (although I think that be less these days) but that online retailer demands 50-60%, thus leaving less for the publisher and far less for the author. A typical (non-household name) author works for far less than the minimum wage. That doesn’t encourage either authors or publishers to persist with what they do. If we want books in the future, we need to nurture all parts of the supply chain – and that means paying a fair price for books, not as little as we can get away with.

Katie Clapham captures the pain and the pleasure of that business beautifully in this book. The agony of committing scarce money by taking a risk and purchasing some copies of books by new, unknown authors; and the ecstasy of selling them, vindicating her decision. If you want to know what it’s really like to run a bookshop, buy this book – or take your local bookshop owner a bar of chocolate and talk to her. (Oh, and buy a book in return for her time!)

#ReceiptsFromtheBookshop #NetGalley

[Cheryl- Bookish Thoughts and Writing Plots · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an e-copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

If you’ve ever dreamed of running an independent bookshop in a small seaside English village, then read Receipts from The Bookshop by Katie Clapham. She’s also the author a Substack newsletter of the same name, which I’ve subscribed to for months. I’m glad to say the book, which is a collection of posts written over the course of a year, is just as delightful as her weekly newsletter.

Clapham invites the reader into her world of independent bookselling by employing a day-in-the-bookshop format. Her day is Friday, when she works in the shop, and writes about that day’s happenings (or lack thereof) in the bookshop or right outside her open front door. The affection she has for her customers, both long-term and pint-sized, comes through in her words. Her struggles with the milk in the shop’s fridge for her tea “going off,” the urge to buy way too many books, her delight with Mrs. Lemon Cake’s baked goodies, and descriptions of life happenings on the sidewalk and street outside her door are some of the topics she writes about, with humor, wit and sometimes puzzlement. Her family is also integrated into her writings as they are as much of the bookstore as Clapham.

The book covers a year’s worth of bookstore and community goings-on, and with any luck, maybe there will be books covering more years to come. If you love bookstores, books, reading about bookstores and books, then Receipts From The Bookshop is for you.

[Katie Bogdan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

Every reader has dreamed about what owning their own bookshop would be like. Told through a series of observational journal entries, Katie Clapham's Receipts from the Bookshop introduces readers to the realities of that life - the small moments of joy with other readers, the creeping despair of being a small business owner in the age of Amazon, and the daily human comedy of observing the high street.

The biggest strength of this book is the singular British charm with which Clapham narrates the year - there are days when the biggest problem is the lack of milk for tea, the baking and exchange of scones and shortbread is a time-honored tradition, and the "Keep Calm and Carry On" attitude of being a small business owner is fully on display. The book is also an absolute breeze to read with its sparse storytelling - ideally, you would be cuddled up in a cozy chair with a hot beverage while reading. Personally, I would have appreciated some more moments of backstory about how the bookstore came to be and some reflections on the past years and the future to round out the tale; however, I still had a wonderful time dropping into the vibrant life of Storytellers, Inc.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a surprisingly delightful day to day diary of a year in an English seaside village as experienced by a bookseller. My initial reaction upon starting to read was to wonder why anyone would want to read these daily snippets, but by the time I got to page two I was hooked. This is a warm, mildly humorous view of a village and its inhabitants; the ones who come into her shop and those who make comments as they pass by her open door. One of her customers called Katie Chapman a gentle soul which is certainly revealed in this book. She obviously loves this village and I am envious of her life. I visited Wales some twenty years ago and fell in love with it. I have frequently considered immigrating to Wales, particularly after my husband died, but, alas, I have waited too long and am now too old for such an adventure. Ms. Clapham's village reminds me of the lovely villages and warm, friendly people I met in Wales. This book is a warm hug. You should read it...really you should. Buy several, one for yourself and some for friends so they can enjoy reading this warm hug, particularly in winter before a warm fire and a cup of tea.

[LP · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this book.

This was not what I was expecting. It's in diary form, each chapter one month of the year, then broken down into various days. I didn't like the writing style at all. I found it confusing since each paragraph is a standalone thought; there is no cohesiveness within the chapter. I found myself skimming way too much, and the parts I did read were kind of boring. Having spent a good deal of my early adult years working in bookshops, and despite the title, there really wasn't a lot of details about actually working in a bookshop. And perhaps that's because it's set in a small village without a lot of foot traffic to the store, as opposed to a busier town or city. I recently read two other books (fiction, though) set in village bookshops and they both captivated me in a way this did not. A very quick but disappointing read.

[Doloreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC provided via NetGalley.

This book follows a year in the life of a bookseller at a local shop in St. Annes. I picked up this book with my first thought being, “I would love to own a bookshop.” After following the antics, stories, and predicaments I wouldn’t have expected, I may have changed my mind more times than I care to admit.

But truly, what a beautiful and compelling view into the magical world of a bookshop being such an integral part of the community and providing such a valuable resource. Everyone should read this hilarious and touching book.

“So it is not surprising that many of our customers keep us updated on their lives beyond their bookshelves. We are, after all, a place of stories, and sometimes people just need to tell theirs.”

“Ultimately, a town decides if they want a bookshop or not, and for now, we’re grateful that ours still does.”

[Shelly Fabian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book via a Goodreads Giveaway.

This book is about daily life in owning an independent book store. It is clips from experiences with customers and struggles being a business owner. It is not a traditional story.

“A book is a kindness! A book is a gesture! A book is an invitation! It’s the most perfect gift of all!”

“I’m torn between two books today. I’m going to do the first-page test and see which one I can’t be parted from.”

“the mark-up on books is really not that much”

“People say you should gift a purse with a coin inside; I think you should gift a bag with a book in it.”

“if you shell out for a hardback, you can read it before you gift it to someone else”

“A book is a beautiful present for almost any person in your life because it is a promise of an experience.”

[Maureen Stapleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did this book make me dream of owning my own bookshop? Yes.
Did this book also show me that maybe that dream wouldn't be what I thought? Also yes.
Did this book make me laugh? Absolutely yes.

This book is a year in a bookshop, based on the riotously funny Substack of the same name by Katie Clapham. Full disclosure: I've been a subscriber to the Substack since the beginning, and I love it. My Fridays are incomplete until I can read how the day has gone at this charming independent bookshop in the North of England.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who loves books, reading, and most importantly, bookshops, the most magical of places.

[Rhonda Lomazow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katie Clapham has written the most charming put a smile on my on your face about the bookshop she and her mom own.If you love books ,bookstores have ever dreamt of owning a book store you will love this book.The author in diary form shares a year in her bookstore the people who come in the books she read and recommends.I wish I lived near this bookstore so I could drop in visit and of course buy a book.I am now following Katie on line so I can continue to hear tales from her bookshop.thanks #edelweiss for my advanced copy .

[Chris L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katie Clapham's 'Receipts from the Bookshop' is such a wonderful read. Clapham gives anecdotes from her life as an independent bookshop owner and the difficulties and triumphs involved. As a lover of the book shopping experience, I found Clapham's book a treat to read because she offers a look at the bookshop experience from an insider's perspective. She provides information about the financial realities, and also how customers behave in shops. I thought it was highly engrossing and I definitely recommend it.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of diary entries. There really isn’t a plot, nor is it character driven. It is an account of a woman who helps her mother run a small independent bookstore. I read the book in one evening and while I felt the writing was fine I can’t actually say I remember much of the story. This book was not for me but I’m sure others will enjoy it. 2.5 stars rounding up to 3, I should have paid more attention to the book description before I read it.

[dervla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't realise this book hadn't been published yet! I got it from the library and it made such a nice change from other things I've read recently. This book has reminded me of the importance of local bookshops and their impact on the local community.
How lucky are we to be able to go and peruse their shelves before finding the only book of its kind in the shop, making it feel like it was meant to be found by you.
Get me to a bookshop now!!!

[Nijntje Pluis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I did this on audio and the narrator was great. I don't know if I would have liked this as much on paper. It's kind of a series of snippets about a bookseller's life, and while there were some fun moments here and there, it became a little bit repetitive after a while. It also stayed a bit more on the surface than I would have liked. But it's not very long and it was nice to listen to while doing some cooking and gardening.

[Lacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think reading a bookshop owners journal might be almost as good as owning a bookshop ( and isn’t that the dream.) In the spirit of Oliver Darkshire, author of Once Upon a Tomb, this book is a delightful romp through the day to day happenings of a little British bookshop. Fun, cozy and a much more affordable way to live ( vicariously) the dream of owning a bookstore!

[Gillian Smart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this book up at an independent bookstore while in Melbourne Australia and read most of it on the plane home to the US. Easy, fun read for summer downtime! Laughed out loud at places and it brought me home to my home country and reminder of small town life in the UK. Do I want to own a bookstore one day....? Definitely maybe....

[Riley Shelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

NETGALLEY ARC REVIEW: Receipts from the Bookshop gives you the inside scoop on what it’s like to run a family owned bookstore. It was cute, insightful, and a quick read. It let me live out my fantasy of running a bookstore without having to clock in and stock shelves.

[Hope Schulz · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like books, bookshops, or books about bookshops, this is for you. A warm, comforting, and funny read that will leave you wanting to support independent bookshops, and maybe even planning a trip to Lytham St Anne’s and Storytellers Inc. What a joy!

[Kristina Bulovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a bookseller, or in particular a bookshop owner, please read this book. It's hysterical and so relatable. If you work in any retail you'll probably like it. But it is niche to books...

I was able to empathize with their struggles and simultaneously cheer for their successes.

4.25

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this on a whim during a trip to England and Im so happy I did, it was delightful. I love humorous books about jobs and about books/bookshops and this was a great combination of the things I look for in non-fiction. A truly enjoyable read the whole way through