Someone on my blog mentioned this book, Receipts from the Bookshop by Katie Clapham, but I couldn’t find the post, so I don’t know who to thank. The subtitle is what actually attracted me, “A Bookseller’s Year in an English Seaside Town”. It’s an enjoyable collection of short notes set in one year in the bookstore, Storytellers, Inc. in Lytham St Annes on the Fylde Coast in northwest England. Clapham, a children’s and YA author, grew up there, where she married her husband, an old schoolmate, had a daughter, and opened a bookstore with her mother, know as BM, Business Mom, in the book.

Katie normally tends the bookstore on Fridays, while BM works there on the other days, except when she’s on holiday. The entries relate the funny or unusual events that occur on those Fridays from January through December, with a few other days thrown in. I admit I was a little bemused in that Clapham didn’t tell the name of the bookshop, Storytellers, Inc., until page forty-two. She did mention they had been on a newspaper list of favorite bookstores, but never identified it. Was it because she is no longer in love with the bookstore’s name, after changing the bookstore focus several times? And, she admits that name doesn’t really identify it as a bookstore.

I wasn’t as enamored with this book as I hoped to be. Storytellers, Inc. has been in business for almost fifteen years. Although they seem to be struggling, and Clapham talks about trying to beat the month’s total a year earlier, fifteen years seems successful to me. Clapham has little complaints that continue throughout the year. I know they’re meant to be funny, and meant to show that the little troubles are always there, but I grew a little tired of “Keep the door open or closed?”, “I’m freezing in this bookstore”, and “We’re out of milk for tea.” I’ll admit she only works on Fridays, but you would think she’d remember to bring milk. I know. She’s a creative, and they don’t seem to remember all the time. But, I didn’t find the need for milk to be funny after a year of it.

I’m going to admit her sense of humor definitely isn’t mine, so that’s my issue, not hers. I did enjoy some of the regulars at the bookstore, especially “Mrs. Lemon Cake” who brings them cake and buys books. The last chapter of the book, along with the Acknowledgements, were my favorite parts of the book. December was a book-buying month, so much of the content was about books, many unfamiliar as an American reader. That didn’t matter. I enjoyed those parts of the book marked by the passion for books and sharing them.

See? I knew all along owning a bookstore wasn’t as glamorous as it appears in novels.

Katie Clapham writes regularly about Storytellers, Inc. in her Substack column, https://katieclapham.substack.com/

Receipts from the Bookshop: A Bookseller’s Year in an English Seaside Town by Katie Clapham. William Morrow, 2026. 304p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I bought a copy of the book.