 AN EVENING WITH DAVID NICHOLLS
Sweet Sorrow Wednesday 17th July
7.30pm (doors 7.00pm)
Wynnstay Hotel, Oswestry
Join David Nicholls, the bestselling author of One Day, as he talks about his new novel Sweet Sorrow, a bittersweet and brilliantly funny coming-of-age tale of ordinary lives. One life-changing summer. Sixteen-year-old Charlie meets Franà Poignant, funny, enchanting, devastating, Sweet Sorrow is a deeply evocative novel about negotiating the rocky path to adulthood, a hymn to the tragicomedy of family life, a celebration of the deep, reviving power of friendship and the brief, searing explosion of first love. David Nicholls is one of BritainÆs most successful writers with an incomparable talent for making us laugh, cry and wince with recognition. ItÆs ten years since his novel One Day became an international publishing phenomenon and the iconic love story for a generation. ItÆs five years since the journey of Us took him to the Man Booker Prize long-list. A new David Nicholls novel is a major publishing event and something to look forward to. WeÆre thrilled to be welcoming him to Oswestry as we celebrate the publication of Sweet Sorrow.
Tickets: ú10 (without book - redeemable against a signed copy of Sweet Sorrow) or ú20 (with book - includes a signed copy of Sweet Sorrow). Tickets available from the bookshop or purchase online with booking fee HERE |  NOVEL CONVERSATION WITH JO BAKER & ANNA HOPE Wednesday 24th July
7.30pm (doors 7.00pm)
Booka
Join us for an evening of novel conversation and contemporary feminist fiction as bestselling authors Jo Baker and Anna Hope discuss their latest novels. From Jo Baker, bestselling author of æLongbournÆ comes a dark, thrilling new novel û æThe Body LiesÆ: a work of riveting suspense that grapples with how to live as a woman in the world û or in the pages of a book û when the stakes are dangerously high and the relationship between a creative writing school tutor and a student goes tragically wrong. æExpectationÆ by Anna Hope is a novel of the highs and lows of friendship û how it can dip, dive and rise again. It is also about finding your way: as a mother, a daughter, a wife, a rebel. Most of all, it explores that liminal space between expectation and reality, the place û full of dreams, desires and pain û in which we all live our lives. Anna is the bestselling author æWakeÆ. Both novels handle issues around feminism, the womanÆs experience, societal and moral influences and pressures. For Jo and Anna they also mark a move away from historical fiction to the contemporary landscape. WeÆre delighted to welcome them to Booka for what should be a great event. Tickets: ú5 (redeemable against a signed copy of either book). Includes a glass of wine / soft drink on arrival. Tickets available from the bookshop, or purchase online (with booking fee) HERE |  A MORNING WITH KONNIE HUQ Tuesday 6th August
11.00am (doors 10.15am)
Lion Quays Hotel, Oswestry
Get ready to meet Cookie Haque û funny, science obsessed and ready to take on the world! Join author, broadcaster and much loved former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq as she introduces you to Cookie and her adventures in the first of a sparking new series for 8-12 year olds. With live draw-alongs, brain busting quizzes and games galore û prepare for non-stop comedy fun at this celebratory book launch event! Cookie and the Most Annoying Boy in the World is published on 8th August. With rave reviews from David Walliams, Charlie Higosn, Jacqueline Wilson, David Baddiel, and Dawn French we feel sure that this new series written and illustrated by Konnie will be a huge hit. WeÆre so excited to be hosting this event with Konnie to celebrate the launch of æCookieÆ û donÆt miss this to see and meet her and get your signed copy! æSmart, funny and full of warmth, just like its authorÆ David Walliams
æEverybodyÆs going to fall in love with Cookie. SheÆs clever and funny and just canÆt seem to get anything rightÆ
Charlie Higson Tickets: ú15 Admits One Child & One Adult with signed book (Includes a signed hardback copy of Cookie) & ú5 Additional Adult/Child. Tickets available from the bookshop, or purchase online (with booking fee) HERE |  AN EVENING WITH PHILIPPA GREGORY Wednesday 21st August
7.30pm (doors 6.45pm)
Lion Quays Hotel, Oswestry Join international bestselling author Phillipa Gregory as she talks about her new novel Tidelands, the first in a brand new historical series. England 1648. A dangerous time for a woman to be differentà MidsummerÆs Eve, 1648, and England is in the grip of civil war between renegade King and rebellious Parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even to the remote Tidelands û the marshy landscape of the south coast. Alinor, a descendant of wise women, crushed by poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life.
Suspected of possessing dark secrets in superstitious times, AlinorÆs ambition and determination mark her out from her neighbours. This is the time of witch-mania, and Alinor, a woman without a husband, skilled with herbs, suddenly enriched, arouses envy in her rivals and fear among the villagers, who are ready to take lethal action into their own hands. Philippa Gregory is one of the Queens of historical fiction with a string of number one bestselling novels. WeÆre thrilled to be welcoming her to Oswestry during publication week as she embarks on an evocative new series. Tickets: ú10 (without book - redeemable against a signed copy of Tidelands) or ú20 (with book - includes a signed copy of Tidelands). Tickets available from the bookshop or purchase online (with booking fee) HERE |  Here's a selection of the signed copies we are currently offering for Pre-Order ahead of publication, including the long awaited memoir from former Prime Minister David Cameron. We'll be adding more titles soon! | |  AN EVENING OF CRIME & WINE WITH SHARI LAPENA Monday 22nd July
7.30pm (doors 7.00pm)
Booka Love a bit of domestic noir and looking for your next gripping read? Then join us for an evening of criminally good conversation and a glass of wine as Shari Lapena, international bestselling author of The Couple Next Door, talks about her latest electrifying thriller Someone We Know. It can be hard keeping secrets in a tight-knit neighbourhood. In a tranquil, leafy suburb of ordinary streets û one where everyone is polite and friendly û an anonymous note has been left at some of the houses. `IÆm so sorry. My son has been getting into peopleÆs houses. HeÆs broken into yours.Æ Who is this boy, and what might he have uncovered? As whispers start to circulate, suspicion mounts. And when a missing local woman is found murdered, the tension reaches breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than theyÆre telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their secrets? Maybe you donÆt know your neighbour as well as you thought you did . . . Shari LapenaÆs debut novel The Couple Next Door was the UKÆs bestselling fiction title of 2017. Her two follow ups, A Stranger in the House and An Unwanted Guest, were both Sunday Times Bestsellers. Shari will be in conversation with fellow crime author Mary Torjussen. WeÆre delighted to welcome her to Booka when she tours the UK from Canada this July. Tickets: ú5 (redeemable against a signed copy of Someone We Know). Includes a glass of wine / soft drink on arrival. Tickets available from the bookshop, or purchase online (with booking fee) HERE |  MIKE PARKER
On the Red Hill Wenesday 31st July 7.30pm (doors 7.00pm) Booka Join us for an evening in the company of Mike Parker as he talks about his superb new memoir On The Red Hill, telling the story of Rhiw Goch and its inhabitants in an intricately woven celebration of life in modern rural Wales and the redemptive power of nature. In early 2006, Mike Parker and his partner Peredur were witnesses at the first civil partnership ceremony in the small Welsh town of Machynlleth. The celebrants were their friends Reg and George, who had moved to deepest rural Wales in 1972, not long after the decriminalisation of homosexuality. When Reg and George died within a few weeks of each other in 2011, Mike and Peredur discovered that they had been left their home: a whitewashed `house from the childrenÆs storiesÆ, buried deep within the hills. They had also been left a lifetimeÆs collection of diaries, photographs, letters and books, all revealing an extraordinary history. On the Red Hill is the story of Rhiw Goch, `the Red HillÆ, and its inhabitants, but also the story of a remarkable rural community and a legacy that extends far beyond bricks and mortar. On The Red Hill celebrates the turn of the yearÆs wheel, of ever-changing landscapes, and of the family to be found in the unlikeliest of places. Taking the four seasons, the four elements and these four lives as his structure, Mike Parker creates a lyrical but clear-eyed exploration of the natural world, the challenges of accepting oneÆs place in it, and what it can mean to find home. æA moving, multilayered memoirà extraordinary, ambitiousà its scope is immense. A book that is deep in riches.Æ Simon Callow, Guardian On the Red Hill is our Book of the Month for June and weÆre delighted to welcome Mike Parker back to Booka to talk about this marvellous, uplifting book of people and place. We feel sure it will always have a place on our bookshelves! Tickets: ú5 (redeemable against a signed copy of On the Red Hill). Includes a glass of wine / soft drink on arrival. Tickets avaialble from the bookshop, or purchase online (with booking fee) HERE | 
SUSANNAH STAPLETON
The Adventure of Maud West Lady Detective
Tuesday 6th August
7.30pm (doors 7.00pm)
Booka
Join us for an evening in the company of Susannah Stapleton as she tells the remarkable true story of Maud West, Lady Detective. Maud West ran her detective agency in London for more than thirty years, having started sleuthing on behalf of societyÆs finest in 1905. Her exploits grabbed headlines throughout the world but, beneath the public persona, she was forced to hide vital aspects of her own identity in order to thrive in a class-obsessed and male-dominated world. And û as Susannah Stapleton reveals û she was a most unreliable witness to her own life. Who was Maud? And what was the reality of being a female private detective in the Golden Age of Crime? Interweaving tales from Maud WestÆs own `casebookÆ with social history and extensive original research, Stapleton investigates the stories Maud West told about herself in a quest to uncover the truth. Susannah Stapleton has written a superb biography of a woman ahead of her time offering a deliciously salacious glimpse into the underbelly of ægood societyÆ during the first half of the twentieth century. Susannah will be in conversation with fellow author James Hannah. WeÆre delighted to welcome her to Booka. Tickets: ú5 (redeemable against a signed copy of The Adventures of Maud West). Includes a glass of wine / soft drink on arrival. Tickets available from the bookshop, or purchase online (with booking fee) HERE |  AN EVENING WITH MARK RADCLIFFE
Crossroads Thursday 5th September
7.30pm (doors 6.45pm)
Wynnstay Hotel, Oswestry Calling all music fans! Join much loved radio broadcaster and TV presenter Mark Radcliffe as he talks about his new book Crossroads and takes us on a personal journey picking out those moments which changed music history. Standing at the crossroads û the Mississippi crossroads of Robert Johnson and the devilÆs infamous meeting û Mark Radcliffe found himself facing his own personal crunch point. Aged sixty, he had just mourned the death of his father, only to be handed a diagnosis of mouth and throat cancer. This momentous time in his life, and being at the most famous junction in music history, led Radcliffe to think about the pivotal tracks in music and how the musicians who wrote and performed them û from Woodie Guthrie to Gloria Gaynor, Kurt Cobain to Bob Marley û had reached the crossroads that led to such epoch-changing music. In this warm, intimate account of music and its power to transform our lives, Radcliffe takes a personal journey through these touchstone tracks, looking at the story behind the records and his own experiences as he goes in search of these moments. With his refreshing down to earth amiability Mark Radcliffe has been has been a distinctive voice on our airwaves for many years presenting programmes on BBC Radio One, BBC Radio Two and BBC Radio Six Music plus various TV programmes including the BBCÆs Glastonbury coverage. WeÆre delighted to welcome Mark to Oswestry for what should be a great event! Tickets: ú10 (without book - redeemable against a signed copy of Crossroads) or ú17 (with book - includes a signed copy of Crossroads). Tickets available from the bookshop or purchase online (with booking fee) HERE | |
