Sam Read, situated on Grasmere’s village green in the Lake District, first opened in 1887 and is renowned for its literary heritage. “EM Forster used to send his letters home via this bookshop,” says bookseller Will Smith. “Many people visit because of Wordsworth and then fall in love with the landscape. We get visitors from all around the world and there’s been a surge since being named a Unesco world heritage site. Elaine Nelson has owned the shop for the past 18 years.
Top five sellers
•The Shepherd’s Life: A Tale of the Lake District James Rebanks
•The Corpse Roads of Cumbria Alan Cleaver and Lesley Park
•The Land of the Green Man Carolyne Larrington
•Kat Wolfe Investigates
Lauren St John
•The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Five recommendations
•There Is No Map in Hell Steve Birkinshaw
“For runners who want the ultimate challenge: an account of running 214 Lake District peaks in seven days.”
•Reservoir 13 Jon McGregor
“Amazing ‘fly-on-the-wall’ portrait of life in a contemporary English village.”
•Swims Elizabeth-Jane Burnett
“An excellent long poem about losing yourself in water, and swimming across Britain. There’s a dip in Grasmere too.”
•Washington Black Esi Edugyan
“Edugyan is part of a new wave of compelling Canadian writing. A feat of storytelling about slavery and freedom, combining lyric sensitivity and empathy.”
•A Skinful of Shadows Frances Hardinge
“A story combining a ghost-bear, spies, orphans, sinister aristocrats and the English civil war.”
Sam Read Bookseller, Broadgate House, Grasmere, LA22 9SY; samreadbooks.co.uk/
