Bookshop of the Quarter: Summer 2024

Summer Bookshop of the Quarter 2024 | The Holt Bookshop

Keith and Pam have been managing the new look The Holt Bookshop for the last four years and have created a beacon for book lovers and a much appreciated literary hub (as you will see from the comments below).

We launched this year’s Summer issue there and had a wonderful time. The shop was packed with local authors, customers and the majority of the Slightly Foxed staff ‘up from London’ – many of whom have Norfolk links. Holt itself is a delightful small market town with an eclectic array of thriving, independent shops and with the Norfolk beaches only ten miles away, this is a fabulous place to visit, shop and stay.

It may sound hackneyed, but we are really blessed with the most extraordinary collection of customers, of all ages and interests. Every day is a joy chatting to them and helping them with their book needs.

The Holt Bookshop

Please tell us about your bookshop. What makes it special?

Rather than write about ourselves, we have included some customer quotes about the shop:

– ‘It’s a small shop but punches many times above its weight thanks to its owner’s knowledge, empathy, and ability to translate even the vaguest enquiry into real books. Round the corner the second-hand section provides more treasure. Pam and Keith add the miracle ingredient: imagination. Lady Anne Glenconner sat on a bench outside, happily at a launch. Elly Griffiths became the conductress on a vintage bus touring the sites familiar to Ruth Galloway. The Crime Festival added another strand to the cultural life. These and similar events build a real community of book lovers: The Holt Bookshop is its motor.’

– ‘What makes the shop so special is the atmosphere, it is the cultural hub of Holt. It helps that the two owners are widely read, and their recommendations are always worth taking. Pam and Keith are also always supportive of the Holt Festival. Throughout they have provided backup for countless authors as well as hosting an array of events, particularly the much-loved storytelling.’

– ‘A delight to visit. The patrons are always ready to guide, search and recommend a wide variety of books. The atmosphere in the shop is of anticipation and excitement. A brilliant shop with great owners who have a huge interest in all books.’

What first inspired you to become a bookseller?

Our background in books include Keith working for Dillons and then managing the Battersea Art Centre Bookshop, before diverting off to work in new media and publishing. Pam has a BA Honours degree in literature and fine art, and combined working for the Norfolk library service with bringing up her family for 13 years, so we both have a passion for books. We then both worked part-time at the old incarnation of The Holt Bookshop, where we met. The old owner of the shop was retiring, and we decided that the town could not be without a bookshop, so we offered to buy the shop from him – not the easiest thing to do during the first lockdown! After a successful Crowd Funding Appeal and several months later after a lot of box moving, we were installed in our new site and we opened on 1 August 2020. We have traded successfully ever since from the new site.

Who has been your favourite customer/what is your favourite bookshop anecdote?

All of our customers are our favourite customers! It may sound hackneyed, but we are really blessed with the most extraordinary collection of customers, of all ages and interests. Every day is a joy chatting to them and helping them with their book needs. Oh, and our dog of the week we choose is perennially popular – Dusty from Slightly Foxed was our Dog of the Week on Instagram when the team visited the shop this summer.

What are your all-time favourite reads and why?

Pam – Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. As a teenager I was blown away by Hardy’s description of rural life in England at the time, particularly of women’s roles in the agricultural tradition on the eve of industrialisation of farming. His observations on nature as well as his astute comments on social injustice towards women have made this my favourite book. The only book I have ever read more than once (five times in total) and led to me calling my daughter Tess – the prettiest girl in the village!

Keith – as a young child it was the Swallows and Amazon books, a wonderful escape from life in South London. As a teenager it was The Lord of the Rings, more escapism! The C. J. Sansom Shardlake series, and more recently it has been Robert Macfarlane’s books – The Old Ways, Wild Places and Underland. Recuperating from a cancer operation, these books offered a window back onto the world that I was temporarily absent from.

Who would be your dream bookshop party guests?

Keith – Virginia Woolf, to hear her tell us about her day leading up to the party. Michael Palin, for both humour and travel anecdotes, and Canadian writer Robertson Davies – who going back to the question about favourite reads was the backdrop to my life during my 30s, reading his wonderful trilogies and having met and talked to him when I worked at Harrods, he would be the polymath to fill in any gaps in the conversation.

Pam – Shakespeare would be at my book party. Hero or villain? Was he a spy? Did he even write all his plays? Perhaps if he had enough wine he might tell us all. Sarah Winman would be my other choice for her humour and intelligence in When God was a Rabbit and the utterly beautiful Still Life. Would Shakespeare appreciate Claude, the parrot who quotes his plays in another century?

What are your top picks for Summer 2024?

Pam –

Rare Singles by Ben Myers – a Northern Soul saga set in Scarborough

The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable – a fascinating story of ambition and womanhood set in 18^th century Venice.

Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd – a wonderful novel of espionage and elegance set during the Cold War.

Keith –

Spycraft by Nadine Akkerman – the tricks and tools of the dangerous trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration.

The Lost Paths by Jack Cornish – a nostalgic amble through the history of travel in England and Wales, and an examination of the routes that make up our modern path network

Under the Henfluence by Tove Danovich – the world of chickens and the people who love them, partly for the interest of the book and partly for the great tittle!

What is your favourite Slightly Foxed publication and why?

The Adrian Bell books, fascinating and with a local connection. Bell wrote his ‘Countryman’s Notebook’ column in the Eastern Daily Press from 1950 and Slightly Foxed have produced a wonderful seasonal selection from the weekly column and published a beautiful set of the four seasons.

Who has been your favourite customer/what is your favourite bookshop anecdote?

I worked for two years as Deputy Manager in Waterstones Hampstead from 1995 to 1997 and we used to have an impressive number of well-known visitors. I was serving on the front till one Saturday when I noticed someone had left a wallet on the desk. I picked it up and a few seconds later had it taken out of my hands by a glowering Peter O’Toole who had disappeared to look for another book to buy.

Another slightly surreal moment happened when I was the Acting Manager of Waterstones in Cambridge in 1994‒5. Salman Rushdie was due to appear at Waterstones in Hampstead and in Cambridge, his first public appearances since the fatwa that had followed publication of The Satanic Verses. I received a call from the Metropolitan Police’s Special Branch. The resulting security arrangements included identifying three different exits from the building, selling tickets to customers with a camera hidden in a children’s play block that videoed each transaction, blocking out windows with newspaper and installing airport scanners on the day of the event.