FORTHCOMING EVENTS
The Essex Book Festival 2012 is bigger and better than ever and the Bookshop is delighted to be participating at local venues:
Kathy Lette at Loughton Library Wednesday 7th March 7.00 pm   After several years as a newspaper columnist and TV sitcom writer in America and Australia, Kathy wrote 11 international bestsellers including Mad Cows and To Love Honour and Betray. She appears on television and writes regularly for newspapers and magazines. The Boy Who Fell to Earth Meet Merlin. He's Lucy's bright, beautiful son - who just happens to be autistic. Since Merlin's father left them in the lurch shortly after his diagnosis, Lucy has made Merlin the centre of her world. Struggling with the joys and tribulations of raising her eccentrically adorable yet challenging child, (if only Merlin came with operating instructions) Lucy doesn't have room for any other man in her life. Funny yet heartbreaking, witty and wise - this unputdownable, bittersweet novel about keeping your family together when your world is falling apart, is the wonderful Kathy Lette at her very, very best.   Daphne Sheldrick at Zinc Arts Centre, Ongar Thursday 8th March 7.30 pm For over 25 years Dame Daphne Sheldrick and her husband raised and rehabilitated orphans from many wild species. She is a recognised authority on the rearing of wild creatures and has been a tireless capaigner against the abuse of captive animals An African Love Story: Love, Life and Elephants A typical day for Daphne involves rescuing baby elephants from poachers; finding homes for orphan elephants, all the while campaigning against the possibility that the ivory trade might be re-opened. "An African Love Story" is the incredible memoir of her life. It tells two stories. The first is the Tsavo years, and the extraordinary love story which blossomed when the young Daphne, moved to Tsavo with her first husband and fell head over heels with both the park and its famous warden, David Sheldrick. The second is the love story of how Daphne and David, who devoted their lives to saving elephant orphans, at first losing every infant under the age of two until Daphne at last managed to devise the first-ever milk formula which would keep them alive.   Sophie Hannah at Budworth Hall, Ongar Saturday 10th March 7.30 pm
	As well as writing psychological thrillers, Sophie Hannah is a bestselling poet and an award-winning short story writer.She won first prize in the Daphne du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition for her psychological suspense story The Octopus Nest. Her psychological thrillers Little Face and Hurting Distance were long-listed for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Kind of Cruel When Amber Hewerdine consults a hypnotherapist as a desperate last resort, she doesn't expect that anything much will change. She doesn't expect it to help with her chronic insomnia . . . She doesn't expect to hear herself, under hypnosis, saying words that mean nothing to her: 'Kind, cruel, kind of cruel' - words she has seen somewhere before, if only she could remember where . . . She doesn't expect to be arrested two hours later, as a result of having spoken those words out loud, in connection with the brutal murder of Katharine Allen, a woman she's never heard of . . .
Roopa Farooki at Epping Library Wednesday 14th March 2.30 pm
	Roopa Farooki was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1974, to a Pakistani father and Bangladeshi mother, and is the youngest of three sisters. She moved to the UK when she was seven months old, and was brought up in central London. Roopa's first four novels have all won prestigious awards. The Flying Man Meet Maqil - also known as Mike, Mehmet, Mikhail and Miguel - a chancer and charlatan. A criminally clever man who tells a good tale, trading on his charm and good looks, reinventing himself with a new identity and nationality in each successive country he makes his home, abandoning wives and children and careers in the process. He's a compulsive gambler - driven to lose at least as much as he gains, in games of chance and in life. A damaged man in search of himself. His chequered history is catching up with him: his tracks have been uncovered and his latest wife, his children, his creditors and former business associates, all want to pin him down.

 

 

 

 

Recent Events

Father Christmas was at the bookshop on SUNDAY, 4th December to sign copes of his lavish book "Santa Claus, All About Me" £18.99

 

On Wednesday 31st August, Mary S Lovell , the best-selling biographer of 'The Churchills' and 'The Mitford Girls' was interviewed about her writing, and signed copies of her books at St. John's Church, Epping. About 75 bookshop customers enjoyed a glass of wine and some tasty refreshments before being entertained by Mary, with her extensive, often personal, knowledge of the subjects of her writings.

 

In July Gervase Phinn signed copies of his new book 'The Little Village School'

Professor Gervase Phinn taught in a range of schools for fourteen years before becoming an education adviser and school inspector.

Gervase Phinn is probably best known for his best-selling autobiographical novels: The Other Side of the Dale, Over Hill and Dale and Head Over Heels in the Dales, fourth book in the series, Up and Down in the Dales, was published in March 2004.In 2004 Gervase Phinn received "The Speaker of the Year Award' from the Association of Speakers' Clubs

 

Saturday 11th June

Christine Truman, former tennis champion, signed copies of her new children's poetry book 'Dilly and Other Poems'

BOOK SIGNING Saturday 9th April

The Love of a Brother, from Plaistow to Passchendaele: The Memoirs of Private F. E. Cearns

Edited by his great nephew Martin Cearns This is the very personal story of how the First World War affected one large, close knit family from London's East End. Discovered and edited by Martin Cearns. It is an interesting piece of social history, following the life of Fred, as told by his much loved brother Percy,  from his early association with West Ham United through to his war experiences and eventual death at Passchendaele.

Proceeds went to the charity Help for Heroes

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Getting to Know Epping Forest by Ken Hoy

Author Signing Saturday 26th February

Priced just £8.95, this treasury of information and maps includes over 200 colour photograps as well as historic black and white images. 'Getting to Know Epping Forest' will enrich a trip into the forest with current and historical information on over 300 of the forest's woods, plains, streams and tracks.

20% Discount Weekend Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th November. Our discount weekend included an author signing. 'Father Christmas- All About Me' offers a glimpse of the private world of Father Christmas with unique insights into his home and working life. Beautifully illustrated and amusing, this book will fire the imagination of children and adults alike. Each child received a £2 gift voucher to spend during December.

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30th Anniversary Celebration Saturday

We celebrated in style, with birthday cake, drinks, two book launches and a charity quiz! Thank you to all the invited guests and customers who made it such a successful and memorable day.

Two of the winners of our charity quiz with Glyn Wadeson	Eleanor Laing presenting a cheque of monies raised in our quiz for St Clare Hospice, with Epping Mayor, Olive Dunfeath
Lorna cutting the cake, with authors Karen Brown and Glyn Wadeson	'The girls' on the big day

 

20% Discount Weekend 3rd & 4th July

These events are always so popular and seem to be a great place to bump into everyone you know in Epping! If you would like to be notified of our next event email us and we will put you on our mailing list.

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Essex Book Festival - March 2010

We again supported the Essex Book Festival, hosting two very successful events with Margaret Drabble and Francesca Kay, winner of the Orange Award for New Writers 2009

Margaret Drabble

Francesca Kay

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Saturday December 12th The Colosseum of Dread by Jack Trelawny

Jack was with us to sign copies of the final book in The Kernowland Series

This has become a very popular annual event with local children

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Thursday 19th November

Over 100 customers joined us for a talk by the renowned historian and author Alison Weir who spoke about her books, especially her latest 'The Lady in the Tower - The Fall of Anne Boleyn'. The event was held in St. John's Church and was the largest and most successful we have organised to date. Alison said it was one of the best events she had ever, ever been to!

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On Wednesday 17th June Jojo Moyes talked about her new book The Horse Dancer.

Sarah's grandfather was a horseman of rare talent - only the exceptional are allowed into France's elite riding academy, Le Cadre Noir. But life took an unexpected turn, and now from a council estate in east London, the Captain hopes to train his granddaughter towards a better life. Natasha is a lawyer whose job is to represent the best interests of children.  Her confidence in her judgement has been shaken and her marriage has died - but an encounter with Sarah may lead to Natasha learning all she needs to know about life from a fourteen-year-old girl and a large horse named Boo . . . Inspired by Jojo's own adolescence (as a fourteen-year-old she kept a horse in a stable in Hackney), The Horse Dancer is an emotionally powerful novel packed with unforgettable characters, proving once more that she is a writer of the highest quality.

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Jack Trelawny returned to the Bookshop on Saturday 20th June (our 20% Discount Day) to sign copies of 'Slaveland' the fifth novel in the Kernowland series of children's adventures.

Tizzie and Louis are on holiday in Cornwall. When they arrive at the beach, they go off exploring and discover a cave - rather a magical cave as it turns out, and they soon find themselves in Kernowland where they come across some weird and not-so-wonderful characters. After being attacked by giant climbing crabs, they have the great misfortune to meet the nasty Melanchol Drym, the fearsome Cap'n Pigleg, the slimy Mr and Mrs Maggitt, and the none-too-nice Brazilian brainboiler tree - to mention just a few!

Jack with a few of his fans

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The bestselling author Adele Parks was available to meet customers, sign copies of her novels and talk about her work on Thursday 26th March.

Adele has published eight novels in eight years, all of which have been bestsellers. She's sold over a million copies of her work in the UK but also sells throughout the world. Two of her novels are currently being developed as movie scripts. Young Wives' Tales was short-listed for the Romantic Novelist Association Award 2008.

She has written articles and short stories for many magazines and newspapers and has appeared on radio and TV talking about her work and related topics. She lives in Chiswick with her husband and son. Her earlier novels, Playing Away, Game Over, Larger Than Life, The Other Woman's Shoes, Still Thinking of You, Husbands and Young Wives' Tales were all bestsellers and are published in over twenty different countries.

Her latest novel is Tell Me Something

Elizabeth has wanted two things her entire life to keep her happy and fulfilled - an Italian husband and lots of rosy-cheeked bambini. The first is ticked off now she's bagged dark and sexy Roberto, the second is proving harder to achieve. But when Roberto loses his job and decides to leave London for Italy and the family business, Elizabeth hopes the change in lifestyle might help her relax and boost her chances of conceiving. Except, no matter how much ice cream she eats in the sun-drenched piazza, it's impossible to relax when her wily mother-in-law (the original black widow) seems hellbent on destroying her marriage.The language barrier is tricky, as is Roberto's beautiful, significant ex who practically lives next door. Is Elizabeth's desire for a baby enough to hold her marriage together or is it ripping it apart? And why is she suddenly craving the company of a gorgeous, blond American stranger? Her filthy, flirty thoughts about him are totally inappropriate. Yet undeniably temperatures are rising ...and it's nothing to do with the Mediterranean sun.