Coming up at Backstory
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Free live music on Thursday evenings
No need to book, just turn up at our bar from 6pm on Thursday evenings. The first live music of the summer was last Thursday and it was magical. Come along this Thursday for James Or, a local indie singer-songwriter. We can’t wait
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Thursday 20th July, 7.30pm, Backstory
Visiting from across the pond, Booker-shortlisted author Karen Joy Fowler talks about Booth, which tells the story of the ill-fated Booth family and their attachment to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
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Oliver Franklin-Wallis - Wasteland
Wednesday 2nd August, 7.30pm, Backstory
When we throw something “away”, where does it go and who deals with it when it gets there? In this age of climate crisis, award-winning journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis takes us on an eye-opening journey through the global waste industry.
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Isabel Hardman and Stephanie Snow on our NHS
Wednesday 9th August, 7.30pm, Backstory
Marking the 75th anniversary of the NHS, The Spectator’s assistant editor Isabel Hardman talks with Stephanie Snow, a Manchester University expert in healthcare history, about the past and future of the beloved and beleaguered institution.
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Wednesday 16th August, 7.30pm, Backstory
Tom's favourite non-fiction book of the year so far, ‘This is Europe’ is a masterful portrait of a continent, told through pen sketches of dozens of its ordinary citizens.
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Live poetry at Backstory: Michael Pedersen and Hollie McNish
Wednesday 30th August, 7.30pm, Backstory
Two dazzling poets bring their words to life live at Backstory. Michael Pedersen will be reading from his new collection, ‘The Cat Prince,’ in conversation with Hollie McNish, author of ‘Slug’ and ‘Nobody Told Me.’
Team pick of the week
Darby recommends: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell - new in paperback
The latest novel from best-selling author Maggie O'Farrell and shortlisted for the women's prize, The Marriage Portrait did not disappoint. Set in the 1500s in Italy, the story follows a 15-year-old named Lucrezia who, after being married to her husband for a year, is convinced that he plans to murder her. Most of the story takes place in flashbacks, exploring Lucrezia's upbringing as the least favourite child of the Grand Duke of Florence, followed by her young marriage. O'Farrell does an incredible job of playing with the reader's perception - my own reading of what was happening continued to change as I delved deeper into the plot. She also does a great job of exploring complex emotions, as well as creating developed and dynamic characters. A must-read for anyone into historical fiction, beautifully-written narratives, and/or character-driven stories! - Darby
This week’s bestseller
…is Kala by Colin Walsh, our book of the month. Here’s a reminder of why we love it:
It’s a pacy but stylish page-turner about a group of friends growing up together in small-town Ireland. At the centre of this group - and everyone’s attention - is Kala, at least until she goes missing.
Fifteen years on, the remaining friends are back in town when old secrets come out of hibernation and the truth about what became of Kala slowly emerges.
It’s a riveting summer read, so make room for it in your suitcase.
IF YOU’RE A KEEN OBSERVER of human nature, you never run out of interesting subjects in a shop. I’ve written before about the unexpected, joyous diversity of our customers. No matter how similar you think they might be, or how confident you are that this one will make a beeline for the same book someone else did five minutes ago, they will surprise you.
Take the lady who approached me yesterday for some present-buying advice. The recipient, she told me, was a woman in her eighties. Okay, I was thinking, probably some “cosy crime”, or perhaps a gentle bit of historical fiction. “She particularly likes non-fiction.” Right. “She’s a nun.” Blimey. “But she likes to be provoked.” Despite reassurances that this particular nun is “very broad-minded”, I am still a little worried that the excellent books I picked out for her contain rather too much sex.
Then there was the customer dressed head to toe in black who solely wanted recommendations for “depressing reads”. It’s so often the other way round. But we rose to the challenge, gleefully.
When there are no customers to study, there’s always the Backstory team. In particular, I delight in how we all do the same few tasks - greeting customers, scanning their purchases and offering them various bits of bumf like loyalty cards or leaflets - quite differently.
I grin every time I hear a “G’day” in the wild, courtesy of my Australian colleague Megan, who is also to be found asking customers and colleagues “how ya garn?”, which is somehow much warmer than “how’s it going?”. Darby, meanwhile, has been known to “welcome in” just about anyone to the shop, which would sound jarring from an awkward Brit but totally works for her.
Speaking of awkward Brits, well I think the rest of us all do versions of “hello”, some more mumbled than others. A “bless you” from Denise is a reminder that you’re probably grumbling about some minor inconvenience again. Rory and Amy have a habit of offering a choice of oat milk or “cow’s milk”, as opposed to “regular milk”, which makes me smile.
Of course, you don’t notice your own verbal crutches. Amy offered up that she greets customers with a “hiya”, which is true, but demurred when I said she also has a slightly less common habit of declaring things “lovely jubbly”, for instance when a customer decides to go ahead with a book order. “How often?” she asked. “Oh, about once or twice a shift.”
The same is true for me. I thought I greeted all-comers with a fairly netural hello. But the rest of the team were ever so quick to point out it is in fact more like a “hullo”, even on occasion a “hullo there”, which makes me sound like an Enid Blyton character. (Yes, we do serve lashings of ginger ale.) Now I’m paying attention, I can confirm they are quite right.
All of which is as it should be. And I hope by sharing this I don’t promote any greater uniformity. One of the things I think most of us hate about today’s approach to customer service is how often it is either scripted, as in call-centre interactions, or faceless, with supermarket assistants reduced to directing silently stewing queues or pressing buttons to fix the automated checkouts rather than having meaningful interactions. I resisted loyalty cards for a while in part because the last thing I wanted was for every interaction to begin: “do you have an Advantage card?”
So please, please carry on being different, and coming to us with your unusual, sometimes bonkers requests… within reason! They light up our days, and our WhatsApp thread. And I’ll continue to give you all the warmest of, well, hullos.
Tom