«The bookshop that floated away», de Sarah Henshaw

Henshaw, Sarah. The bookshop that floated away. London: Constable & Robinson, 2014. XII, 260 p. ISBN 978-1-47210-805-0. £ 7.99, e-book £ 4.99.

This is the story of a great and unexpected adventure. Sarah Henshaw took a really amazing trip around English channels inside a barge  crammed with books and dreams, hopes and fears.

Sarah planned to go around England on a floating bookshop, dreaming about what she really wants as a reader, a personal, warm, different place that engages readers and facilitates chats about and around books in a magical place, a secret shelter for lovers of literature.

She started with a business plan and lots of expectations. She bought the boat, planned the route, and started her travel to the uncertain. She left behind her journalistic career, boyfriend, family and friends for a crazy adventure.

After some time she learned how to manage the boat, but to manage a travelling bookshop turned out quite difficult. Without a permanent number of clients and with urgent debts and inadequate convenience, she wandered around, surviving thanks to her stubbornness, family, friends and nice people that supported the project.

Full of literary quotes, this story has short chapters where Sarah tells about her personal experience from her point of view, but also from the boat’s point of view. Alternating moments of euphoria and hopelessness guide the reader between the tough and happy moments, taking us into her amazing life.

Bartering, accidents, theft, floods, Victoria sponge, herons and an episode when the book barge floated away, fill this book with loving and funny moments. A story highly recommended for lovers of travel and bookstores, though not necessarily in that order. 

Txell Valladares
From the 3rd year of the Escola de Llibreria