Divine Indie bookstore on market

I came away from The Village Bookshop in Matakana on Saturday morning happily clutching two most appealing books:

LUNCH IN PARIS by Elizaabeth Bard (Harper Collins)  and The Wit & Wisdom of Literary Greats (Prion)

The latter is a collection of quotations from history's legendary wordsmiths. From free-flowing prose to writer's block, it captures the joys and perils that envelop gifted writers' lives.

The former is described on the back cover as "Part love story, part wine-splattered cookbook, LUNCH IN PARIS is a deliciously tart, forthright and funny story of falling in love with a Frenchman and moving to the world′s most romantic city - not the Hollywood version, but the real Paris, a heady mix of blood sausage and irregular verbs". I read chapter one (12 pages) while in the sore and was hooked.

I left happy with my book choices but saddened by the news that the bookshop owner, the personable and likeable Tracey Lawton, has reluctantly decided after five years of working six days a week that she needs to spend more time with her teenage daughters and so is putting the shop on the market.. Tracey who came from a marketing and sales background from outside the book trade, has become a popular and successful retailer; she founded her bookshop and starting from scratch has built it into one of the finest  indie bookshops in the land. I spend an engaging hour or two in there almost every weekend and am always surprised and delighted at the wonderful range of stock, especially in my two areas of greatest interest - contemporary fiction and cookbooks. Like all outstanding booksellers she is widely read and can always be relied upon for advice whether buying for oneself or for a gift. Annie and I will miss her enormously and have our fingers crossed that another lively book reader will buy the business and maintain the high standard that Tracey has set.

If you are interested in buying this wonderful bookshop or would like information about it then contact Tracey - villagebookshop@paradise.net.nz  or telephone (64) 09 423 0315
http://www.villagebookshop.co.nz/