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Receipts from the Bookshop: A Bookseller's Year in an English Seaside Town
“An utterly delightful peek into the real life of an English village bookshop, as told to us by the owner herself. A must-read for everyone who’s ever felt most at home in a bookstore.” - Julia Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of Bridgerton
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....
A valentine for book lovers everywhere.Cozy armchair travel for anyone who loves England.Reminds readers why bookstores are our happy place.The perfect story of a small family business built on love and commitment.A warm, funny look at community in a small seaside town.
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....
A valentine for book lovers everywhere.Cozy armchair travel for anyone who loves England.Reminds readers why bookstores are our happy place.The perfect story of a small family business built on love and commitment.A warm, funny look at community in a small seaside town.
Audible Audio
First published September 8, 2026
About the author
Katie Clapham
7 books63 followersKatie 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 347 reviews
September 23, 2026
This book was a total delight. I almost called it an unexpected delight, but after reading the author’s Substack over the last year, I knew I was in for a treat. So, it’s a totally expected delight!
If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a bookshop, you must pick this up. Our author, an owner of a small bookshop by the sea in the UK, chronicles her year in the shop. From her eccentric customers to the pedestrians she overhears outside, I dare you not to be totally transported. She somehow manages to make even the most mundane (breaking down all that cardboard from book deliveries!) entertaining. If you’re looking for something slow and cozy (both complimentary! We all need to slow down!), pick this up.
This is nonfiction but feels like fiction. That’s how charming and entertaining everything is!
Best paired with a black tea with a splash of milk! To Brits, this is normal. To my very American self, it’s exotic! I’ve never put milk in tea before!
If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a bookshop, you must pick this up. Our author, an owner of a small bookshop by the sea in the UK, chronicles her year in the shop. From her eccentric customers to the pedestrians she overhears outside, I dare you not to be totally transported. She somehow manages to make even the most mundane (breaking down all that cardboard from book deliveries!) entertaining. If you’re looking for something slow and cozy (both complimentary! We all need to slow down!), pick this up.
This is nonfiction but feels like fiction. That’s how charming and entertaining everything is!
Best paired with a black tea with a splash of milk! To Brits, this is normal. To my very American self, it’s exotic! I’ve never put milk in tea before!
September 8, 2026
Thoroughly enjoyable book--a journal style telling of a year in the life of a bookseller. Fun, entertaining, and added to my TBR!
I really enjoy Katie Clapham's Substack (same name) because she gives readers a glimpse into what it's really like to own and run a bookshop in England (but probably everywhere honestly.) This book is a somewhat stream-of-consciousness recounting of days, events, overheard conversations, all of the the joys and concerns of being an indie bookseller.
I listened to the audiobook, and it made me feel as if I were right next to her throughout the year, as she tells me anecdotes in a humorous way. If you're a book lover, this one is for you! You will certainly get a kick out of everything that happens in this seaside town. And you will never walk by an indie bookshop again without at least coming in and browsing, and hopefully making a purchase as well.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
I really enjoy Katie Clapham's Substack (same name) because she gives readers a glimpse into what it's really like to own and run a bookshop in England (but probably everywhere honestly.) This book is a somewhat stream-of-consciousness recounting of days, events, overheard conversations, all of the the joys and concerns of being an indie bookseller.
I listened to the audiobook, and it made me feel as if I were right next to her throughout the year, as she tells me anecdotes in a humorous way. If you're a book lover, this one is for you! You will certainly get a kick out of everything that happens in this seaside town. And you will never walk by an indie bookshop again without at least coming in and browsing, and hopefully making a purchase as well.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
June 17, 2026
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.
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.
July 20, 2026
(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.]
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.]
September 12, 2026
This BOOK. This charming, funny, heart-string-pulling book. You know how booksellers and librarians are always like: this job is not about sitting around and reading all day! (rightfully so, I’d imagine it’s not.) but Katie Clapham has taken our bookstore dreams and sold them right back to us - reading all day in a sweet little shop with a cast of small town characters and many cups of tea, all wrapped up in the most delightful British-isms and yes, the important reminder that bookstores only exist if we continue to patronize them. I adored it. This is one I’ll comfort reread again and again and again. My thanks to the publisher for a copy to read and review!
September 28, 2026
This book was an absolute delight. As someone who managed a bookstore in college and then worked at a Barnes & Noble for a short while, I have lots of anecdotes about customers, book shipments, and everything in between. But Katie Clapham has me beat hands down!
“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. After all, a town without a bookshop is a tragedy.”
Katie and her mother have been running Storytellers, Inc., an independent bookshop in Lytham St. Annes, an English seaside town, for more than 14 years. The business requires a lot of attention and it’s not always profitable, but there’s a magic in owning a bookshop, particularly when you love to read.
“…if you stumble in on a Friday, you might find me behind the till, drinking a never-ending cup of coffee, ordering books that are mostly for myself and writing down the goings-on that make up the book you’re about to read.”
The book is comprised of Katie’s reflections on a year of bookselling. She touches on her amazingly loyal customers, who often help keep the shop afloat during tough times, as well as those who stumble into the shop and are compelled to make a purchase. She also shares comments from the many who pass by the bookshop on the way to something else. And she relays the enthusiasm of young children (and dogs) who come into the shop.
Katie’s voice is so humorous and warm. I almost felt as if she was sitting near me sharing her anecdotes. If you’ve worked in a bookstore for any appreciable amount of time, you’ll recognize some of her stories. This was really a wonderful read!
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.
“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. After all, a town without a bookshop is a tragedy.”
Katie and her mother have been running Storytellers, Inc., an independent bookshop in Lytham St. Annes, an English seaside town, for more than 14 years. The business requires a lot of attention and it’s not always profitable, but there’s a magic in owning a bookshop, particularly when you love to read.
“…if you stumble in on a Friday, you might find me behind the till, drinking a never-ending cup of coffee, ordering books that are mostly for myself and writing down the goings-on that make up the book you’re about to read.”
The book is comprised of Katie’s reflections on a year of bookselling. She touches on her amazingly loyal customers, who often help keep the shop afloat during tough times, as well as those who stumble into the shop and are compelled to make a purchase. She also shares comments from the many who pass by the bookshop on the way to something else. And she relays the enthusiasm of young children (and dogs) who come into the shop.
Katie’s voice is so humorous and warm. I almost felt as if she was sitting near me sharing her anecdotes. If you’ve worked in a bookstore for any appreciable amount of time, you’ll recognize some of her stories. This was really a wonderful read!
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.
June 14, 2026
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.
June 14, 2026
This book made me miss working in a bookshop
October 29, 2026
Thoroughly enjoyed this - a book of Instagram-like excerpts from a bookseller's year. (I just found the author's Insta account and 'Followed'.) Funny, warm and utterly delightful. I've been a bookseller a few times and the little titbits made me laugh. They are totally what every bookseller hears and gets told/asked (you know, the series that was out when I was younger, with a blue cover, and I want book six, do you have it?). Hilariously, randomly accurate. And all the odd bod comments from passers by. Still, all done with a warm appreciation of books and bookish things, and an absolute love of reading, and a love for those who also love reading. I would love to visit this bookshop.
Read
September 4, 2026haven't been this stressed about daily takins and loading book tokens in years - fair to say it took me back
September 23, 2026
Set in the seaside town of Lytham St Annes, this book follows a full year in the life of an independent bookstore run by Katie and her mother. We get a look at the joys and challenges of running a small bookstore, along with some of the eccentric customers who come through the door.
This was a comforting listen when I needed a break from high-stress fiction and heavier nonfiction. I enjoyed getting a peek into Katie’s love of books, how she sometimes orders books simply because they interest her, and how much she wants people to come into the shop, browse, and hopefully leave with the perfect novel. There really is nothing more magical than finding exactly the right book.
I really enjoyed the narrator’s performance, especially the way she brought Katie’s emotions to life. I could hear her excitement, anxiety, frustration, and that almost desperate hope that more people would come into the shop looking for books. The narrator really made Katie feel genuine and relatable, and honestly, her narration was the main reason I kept listening.
My biggest issue is that the material originally came from a series of Substack posts and shop journal entries. Because of that, the story can feel fragmented. There isn’t really one big storyline. Instead, we get little snippets about life at the bookstore, from messy delivery boxes that were accidentally cut open to customers asking questions about videos, pastries, and all sorts of random things. I found some of it amusing, but there were also times when my attention started to drift. I kept drifting because there just wasn’t enough of a continuous storyline to keep me fully engaged. Without the narrator’s performance, I’m not sure I would have finished the audiobook.
That said, if you work in a library or bookstore, or simply love books, small businesses, community, and family, you may really enjoy this. It’s the kind of book you can sit back with, sip your favorite beverage, and relax with for a while. I enjoyed the bookstore setting, Katie’s love of books, and the simple idea of helping someone find the perfect read.
I want to thank NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for providing me with an advanced audio copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
This was a comforting listen when I needed a break from high-stress fiction and heavier nonfiction. I enjoyed getting a peek into Katie’s love of books, how she sometimes orders books simply because they interest her, and how much she wants people to come into the shop, browse, and hopefully leave with the perfect novel. There really is nothing more magical than finding exactly the right book.
I really enjoyed the narrator’s performance, especially the way she brought Katie’s emotions to life. I could hear her excitement, anxiety, frustration, and that almost desperate hope that more people would come into the shop looking for books. The narrator really made Katie feel genuine and relatable, and honestly, her narration was the main reason I kept listening.
My biggest issue is that the material originally came from a series of Substack posts and shop journal entries. Because of that, the story can feel fragmented. There isn’t really one big storyline. Instead, we get little snippets about life at the bookstore, from messy delivery boxes that were accidentally cut open to customers asking questions about videos, pastries, and all sorts of random things. I found some of it amusing, but there were also times when my attention started to drift. I kept drifting because there just wasn’t enough of a continuous storyline to keep me fully engaged. Without the narrator’s performance, I’m not sure I would have finished the audiobook.
That said, if you work in a library or bookstore, or simply love books, small businesses, community, and family, you may really enjoy this. It’s the kind of book you can sit back with, sip your favorite beverage, and relax with for a while. I enjoyed the bookstore setting, Katie’s love of books, and the simple idea of helping someone find the perfect read.
I want to thank NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for providing me with an advanced audio copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
September 28, 2026
This was the perfect audio antidote to two heavy, literary science novels ~ those in print, this in my ears in between. I read Katie's newsletter for quite awhile so this was familiar material to me, but with the delightful narration, I didn't mind that. Just blissful mundanity in a dreamy location ~ a bookshop in a small English town.
Source: Spotify audio
Source: Spotify audio
October 17, 2026
Katie Clapham is a treasure. A gem of a book. Would recommend to all book lovers. I paired it with homemade sourdough maple pecan scones and was delighted on both accounts.
October 28, 2026
Igenkänningen som bokhandlare är stor!! Skattade högt många gånger!
September 20, 2026
So I guess I have to buy a book any time I stop in an independent bookstore ever for the rest of eternity.
July 22, 2026
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.
Charming, warm, funny and eye opening to the struggles of the independent booksellers in the UK.
Really lovely to read through the year.
June 14, 2026
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!
Review of advance copy
The format is very choppy with brief antidotes of sometimes only a few lines. Everything is from the same day but there’s no story line or plot development. Her husband and daughter are barely mentioned. I really wanted to like this one but just couldn’t.
June 15, 2026
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.
September 22, 2026
I adored this novel. My copy is a digital edition, and I promptly have placed an order for the hardcover. I didn't expect to be so thoroughly enamored with this novel and charmed so by Katie Clapham.
Set during the course of year in the cutest sounding bookshop in St Annes on Sea, the reader is treated to the seasons both literally and metaphorically in the life of a bookseller. The year is chronicled in a series of anecdotes in terms of customers, passersby of the store, local crime, the weather, bookstore viability, and so so many more. A few that struck me were about a crying man asking Clapham where he can find a priest.... and she seems him walking by the store later with a lady and a beer. Another being a man outside who sneezes and tells himself to "F*ck off" -she quietly offers him a Bless You. The customer who places large monthly orders for books. World Book Day. Just so many gorgeous snippets of humanity and life.
Ultimately, the "why" I became so enamored with this book was I strangely found it to be so grounding. I would be having a stressful day, a trying day, a heavy day, a worrisome day, (pick one) and the readability of this book allowed for me to pick it up and escape into the foibles or charms depending on the day/anecdote and I'd find myself calming. I'd find myself smiling or at the very least, not feeling as heavy as I felt when I started the book. Perhaps like Clapham's customers, I needed to pop into the bookshop to find a bit of soothing in the stories it houses. Katie Clapham offers an escape into a world of possibility; because you truly will never know what you can encounter in bookshop!
My many thanks to William Morrow and Netgalley for so kindly allowing me to read this novel in exchange for my honest review. It was truly a pleasure.
Set during the course of year in the cutest sounding bookshop in St Annes on Sea, the reader is treated to the seasons both literally and metaphorically in the life of a bookseller. The year is chronicled in a series of anecdotes in terms of customers, passersby of the store, local crime, the weather, bookstore viability, and so so many more. A few that struck me were about a crying man asking Clapham where he can find a priest.... and she seems him walking by the store later with a lady and a beer. Another being a man outside who sneezes and tells himself to "F*ck off" -she quietly offers him a Bless You. The customer who places large monthly orders for books. World Book Day. Just so many gorgeous snippets of humanity and life.
Ultimately, the "why" I became so enamored with this book was I strangely found it to be so grounding. I would be having a stressful day, a trying day, a heavy day, a worrisome day, (pick one) and the readability of this book allowed for me to pick it up and escape into the foibles or charms depending on the day/anecdote and I'd find myself calming. I'd find myself smiling or at the very least, not feeling as heavy as I felt when I started the book. Perhaps like Clapham's customers, I needed to pop into the bookshop to find a bit of soothing in the stories it houses. Katie Clapham offers an escape into a world of possibility; because you truly will never know what you can encounter in bookshop!
My many thanks to William Morrow and Netgalley for so kindly allowing me to read this novel in exchange for my honest review. It was truly a pleasure.
September 16, 2026
✨ Gifted by the publisher—thank you so much for the copy! ✨
Receipts From a Bookshop by Katie Clapham 📚☕️🌊
I absolutely loved every minute of this book and it took me all of five minutes before I messaged my bookseller friend telling her she must read this book😂📖
Told through these little vignettes spanning a year…Katie gives us a peek behind the counter of the independent family owned bookshop she runs with her mother in an English seaside town. We get the customers…the book deliveries…the cardboard boxes…the unexpected conversations…the dogs…the children and all the wonderfully quirky moments that make up life in a bookshop.
I listened to this one on audio but the physical copy is SO fun and really lends itself to the vignette format🎧📚 I giggled more than once and I loved getting this little glimpse into the everyday realities of running an independent bookstore…the good…the chaotic and the wonderfully strange.
And if you’re looking for something you can pick up for little bite sized pieces of reading here and there…this is such a good one for that. Each vignette is its own little moment…making it easy to read a few pages whenever you have a spare minute.
Apparently…this was the bookish little joy I didn’t know I needed in my life💛
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Lyon.brit.A...
Receipts From a Bookshop by Katie Clapham 📚☕️🌊
I absolutely loved every minute of this book and it took me all of five minutes before I messaged my bookseller friend telling her she must read this book😂📖
Told through these little vignettes spanning a year…Katie gives us a peek behind the counter of the independent family owned bookshop she runs with her mother in an English seaside town. We get the customers…the book deliveries…the cardboard boxes…the unexpected conversations…the dogs…the children and all the wonderfully quirky moments that make up life in a bookshop.
I listened to this one on audio but the physical copy is SO fun and really lends itself to the vignette format🎧📚 I giggled more than once and I loved getting this little glimpse into the everyday realities of running an independent bookstore…the good…the chaotic and the wonderfully strange.
And if you’re looking for something you can pick up for little bite sized pieces of reading here and there…this is such a good one for that. Each vignette is its own little moment…making it easy to read a few pages whenever you have a spare minute.
Apparently…this was the bookish little joy I didn’t know I needed in my life💛
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Lyon.brit.A...
September 8, 2026
What avid reader hasn’t thought about having their own book store? Now I know there is a lot more to it than simply sitting behind the counter and breathing in the aroma. We can get a peek through the front window with Receipts From the Bookshop: A Bookseller’s Year in an English Seaside Town.” Author Katie Clapham has given us an inside look by documenting the events and customer connections which happened one year in her book store. I listened on audio to a sweet English accent giving month by month happenings in a shop found in a small town in England. It is a quaint look at having a small business, its ups and downs, seasons and sales, with a way of coloring it all so at we may participate in it. How could a bookstore owner include all this information in such a compact way? Clapham basically made a diary of both personal and business connections as if we are sitting in the shop with her, day to day, morning to evening. With quirky British phrases (some which I had to look up) she walks us through the employee, customers, and even the shops around hers. It is a fun listen for book lovers and maybe even a cozy listen for business lovers. Thank you to Netgalley for giving me a chance to listen to the audiobook in return for my honest review.
September 13, 2026
Funny, entertaining! It’s a comforting memoir about the author chronicling her life as a bookseller over one year. One year! but i managed to finish in just 2 days it made me feel like know the place so damn well and wanna make a visit (God yes pls someday..someday..). Her shop is in a seaside town where there are only two bookshops in the whole town. This book, to some extent, reminded me of Helene Hanff’s witty humor.
Theres something so charming about this book. Not gonna spoil but the December one has warmed my heart! It had me imagining myself owning a little bookshop someday surrounded by books, meeting eccentric people and chatting with them, living a happy little life. Someday! Someday⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Theres something so charming about this book. Not gonna spoil but the December one has warmed my heart! It had me imagining myself owning a little bookshop someday surrounded by books, meeting eccentric people and chatting with them, living a happy little life. Someday! Someday⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
September 2, 2026
🎧3.5⭐️ This was cute and gave great cozy vibes, and was surprisingly short. It was a good palette cleanser book, but I think it may be better in book form than it was on audio. The narrator was fantastic, but since this book is a series of observations, statements and stories of daily life it came off a bit disjointed in audio form since it wasn’t always clear where one statement/story ended and the next began.
I received an advanced listener copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
I received an advanced listener copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
October 20, 2026
Special thanks to Harper Audio Adult and NetGalley for early access to this audiobook. I thought this book was so cute and pleasant! As someone who has worked in retail (and has also idolized book sellers/librarians/etc) this book gave me a big chuckle! I think anyone who likes witty humor would love this cozy book. I loved listening to the author read her own writing, I feel it made the book even funnier!
October 31, 2026
I didn’t think I would enjoy this nearly as much as I did. This is one of those rare books that might be better as an audiobook too.
There is absolutely no plot in the book. None. It’s purely a “slice of life” treat.
HOWEVER, listening to it was so cozy. It’s a great book in the way your favorite podcast is a great podcast. It felt very comforting and I am really sad it is over.
I feel inspired to narrate my own daily work life in the same way the author did. ++ I’m EXTREMELY tempted to go book shopping after reading.
There is absolutely no plot in the book. None. It’s purely a “slice of life” treat.
HOWEVER, listening to it was so cozy. It’s a great book in the way your favorite podcast is a great podcast. It felt very comforting and I am really sad it is over.
I feel inspired to narrate my own daily work life in the same way the author did. ++ I’m EXTREMELY tempted to go book shopping after reading.
September 29, 2026
A lovely, easy read that I read from start to finish over a few hours. Sweet anecdotes and insights on running a bookstore in an English town. ‘A town without a bookshop is a tragedy’, the author says— and I have to agree.
October 1, 2026
Loved this SO MUCH.
October 19, 2026
what a delight
October 28, 2026
Absolutely lovely in every way. This book left me in tears, with a piece of my heart still in St Anne’s! A reminder of the magic in the everyday and above all, in reading.
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