ONE WEEK TO GO. Yikes.
Just a little note this morning to let you know that our deadline for ordering online for pre-Christmas delivery to UK addresses is tomorrow (Sunday) at midnight.
The shop is open 10-6 every day between today and December 23rd (and 10-9 next Thursday and Friday). The ordering deadline in the shop is Tuesday (19th).
So there’s still time to browse the thousands of books on our website, or to post out a Backstory subscription, book club membership or voucher:
Backstory subscriptions
Buy them a 12, 6 or 3 month book subscription and we’ll surprise them every month with a mystery book tailored specifically to their interests.
We can post or email you a voucher to give to them on the day explaining how it works. Then we send them a quick survey to fill in telling us a bit about themselves and their book likes and dislikes.
The lucky recipient then gets matched with the Backstory bookseller whose tastes most closely match theirs. We will pick out a book each month, wrap it up beautifully and include a note explaining why we thought they’d like it. We’ll post it to them anywhere in the world, or they can pick it up from the shop.
And, because we love having pen pals, they get a cute little postcard each month to give us their feedback.
1 year £160, 6 months £100, 3 months £60 (for non-UK prices, see the website)
Kids subscriptions
Know a young bookworm? Our kids subscriptions are the perfect gift. Just like the adult ones, they will get a mystery book picked out just for them each month by Denise, our children’s manager.
We can post or email you a voucher to give to them on the day explaining how it all works. Then we send them a quick quiz about things they’re into and, if they’re a bit older, books they already like. Denise will then pick out just the thing for them every month.
Subscriptions are suitable for children of all ages, since we pick the books just for the recipient.
1 year £140, 6 months £80, 3 months £45
Book club membership
Our book clubs are ideal for keen readers who want, well, the backstory. Just like any book club, members get to chat each month about the book they all read. Unlike a regular book club, though, the author then joins the discussion. So members get to ask “what did you really mean with that plot twist?” or “how did you persuade that warlord to talk to you?”
We set a really high bar for guests at the book club, aiming to invite the world’s best writers of fiction and non-fiction. So far we’ve had the likes of Patrick Radden Keefe, Katherine Rundell, Tim Marshall, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Christina Lamb and Rebecca Wait.
The discussions always take place on Zoom, so members can join the club from anywhere in the world.
Rory has designed beautiful tokens so you can give a friend or relative membership of either our fiction or non-fiction book clubs for 12, 6 or 3 months.
Here’s the upcoming line-up for each club:
Fiction
January Kathryn Scanlan - Kick the Latch
A Times, Telegraph and New Yorker book of the year, Kick the Latch vividly captures the arc of one woman’s life at the racetrack – the flat land and ramshackle backstretch; the bad feelings and friction; the ‘particular language’ of ‘grooms, jockeys, trainers, racing secretaries, stewards, pony people, hotwalkers, everybody’.
February Eliza Clark - Boy Parts
One of Granta’s Best Young Novelists, Clark’s debut is a pitch-black comedy both shocking and hilarious, fearlessly exploring the taboos of sexuality and gender roles in the twenty-first century.
March Tomasz Jedrowski - Swimming in The Dark
This Backstory favourite is a beautiful gay love story set in 1980s Poland. Confronted by the scrutiny, intolerance and corruption of life under Communism, Ludwik and Janusz must decide how they will survive, and in their different choices, find themselves torn apart.
Non-fiction
January Ed Caesar - The Moth and The Mountain
New Yorker writer Ed Caesar tells the incredible story of one man’s attempt in the 1930s to fly a Gipsy Moth aeroplane from England to Everest, crash land on its lower slopes, then become the first person to reach its summit - all utterly alone. In doing so, it attempts to answer that perennial question - why do we climb mountains?
February Henry Marsh - And Finally
A Telegraph, FT and Times book of the year, And Finally sees retired brain surgeon Henry Marsh navigate the bewildering transition from doctor to patient after his diagnosis of advanced cancer. As the days pass, his mind turns to his career, to the people and places he has known, and to creative projects still to be completed. Yet he is also more entranced than ever by the mysteries of science and nature, by his love for his family, and - most of all - by what it is to be alive.
February Maria Ressa - How To Stand Up To A Dictator
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2021 Maria Ressa has spent decades speaking truth to power. But her work tracking disinformation networks seeded by her own government, spreading lies to its own citizens laced with anger and hate, has landed her in trouble with the most powerful man in the country: President Duterte. Now, hounded by the state, she has multiple arrest warrants against her name, and a potential 100+ years behind bars to prepare for - while she stands trial for speaking the truth.
Backstory vouchers
Buy them a voucher for our shop, available for £10, £20, £30 or £50. Redeemable only in the shop and only for books.
Backstory magazine
The perfect stocking filler for a bookish loved one. We’re very proud of the first issue of our very own magazine. Some of our favourite authors have written for it, from Alice Winn to Cal Flyn. There’s insight, provocation — and plenty of humour. Order now for a mere £2.95, with free postage anywhere in the UK.
And of course… put it all in a Backstory tote
Not the most famous bookshop tote…but surely the prettiest? Pick it up and, well, tote it. £3.95.
Still stuck for inspiration?
Try our gift guide. Or head straight to our website, where you can browse and order your choice of 50,000 books.
Enjoy!
Tom