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Down to Earth | Rural reads for the summer

Down to Earth | Rural reads for the summer

‘Flowers and conversation are still the best pleasures I know in life. Sitting in the orchard musing on those former contentments, I felt that there was a truth behind them to which country life grew as a bough grows, quaint and crooked, but persistent.’  – Adrian Bell, A Countryman’s Summer Notebook

Greetings from No. 53 Hoxton Square, where the rain is lashing the old metal-framed window panes and we’re spending our lunch breaks holed up on the sofa with mugs of hot soup, dreaming of escaping the city for Adrian Bell’s flower-filled orchard or, more appealingly, a comfortable chair fireside until summer decides to arrive. We fear it may be a little while yet until summer does come to stay and so, in the interests of remaining cheerful come rain or shine, we’re plotting a jolly trip out of the city.

On 4 July we’ll be shutting up shop mid-morning and journeying to the Holt Bookshop in Norfolk to toast the summer issue of Slightly Foxed, the new quarter’s SF Edition Life in Our Hands, and Adrian Bell’s Summer Notebook. Subscribers, occasional book buyers, newsletter browsers and all other friends are welcome. To find out more and book a ticket (£5 including a glass of wine; redeemable against a purchase on the night) please click here.

In other good news, we’ve been delighted by the response to our latest podcast with Sarah Langford which has now been heard by some 8,000 of you around the world. If you haven’t yet heard it, you can listen here: Episode 49: Down to Earth. If you, like us, are in the mood for a spell in the countryside, you might like to scroll down the page for our round-up of favourite rural reads from the SF bookshelves, which includes an ever-changing selection of new and old books from other publishers.

With best wishes from the SF staff

Jess, Isabel, Rebecca, Izzy & Jennie

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