Musings

  • Land by Maggie O’Farrell

    Published: 2 June 2026 We are taking pre orders for Independent bookshop edition which includes a digital signature (not signed), bespoke endpapers and a letter from Maggie, written exclusively to Independent Bookshop readers Inspired by the mapping of Ireland in the mid nineteenth century, Land, the new novel from the author of Hamnet, is at once intimate and epic: a portrait of a family navigating a legacy of upheaval and loss with love and hope. On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole […]

  • How Did I Get Here

    Hello, I’m Lucy. This is the story of how I got to be holding a copy of my book, in Red Lion Bookshop It’s been a strange time, and while I might look calm on the outside, I can assure you that my insides look a lot more like this:  First, some background. I’m a librarian by profession, and while I’ve wanted to write since I was a child, I’ve only been writing in an organised way for the last five years. I’d written a few things before that, but I had only shared them with my family and close friends. […]

  • The Final Curtain, on ‘Wise Children’ by Angela Carter

      https://www.theliteraryunderdog.com/_files/ugd/a0b156_c4e0aed82fc84c9483a6ca540dd9695f.pdf This article was written by Louise Prior, Red Lion Books and published in Underdog Lit Mag. Published in UNDERDOG, Literary Magazine, Issue 3, 2025 Louise’s article is Page 12.  The Final Curtain – On Wise Children by Angela Carter

  • Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me

    How We Use Cannibalism as a Metaphor for All-Consuming Love Louise, our youngest member of staff, has recently had her writing published in the Literary Magazine, THE LITERARY UNDERDOG We are very proud of her. As you may ascertain from the title, the subject matter may not be palatable for everyone (see what we did there) but click the link to read her observations on the growing trend for cannibalism being featured in literature.  Scroll down until you see the title Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me https://www.theliteraryunderdog.com/news   On this subject, we have an Author Event with Lucy Rose on […]

  • What Am I Doing Here

    What on earth am I doing up here? Autumn 2024 You may not know who I am – I’m a part time Red Lion bookseller. I’m the one who rambles on about children’s books and often recommends contemporary fiction, as well as nature writing, a bit of high fantasy and occasionally, historical fiction. Right now I’m far away from the bookshop. I’m in Fasaig, Torridon – a tiny community on the shores of Loch Torridon in the region of Achnasheen, Wester Ross, North West Highlands. Nearest town, Inverness, just over an hour away. London, another galaxy… Readers, I just wanted to […]

  • How Small Changes Can Make A Big Difference to Teachers

    Blog post by author Michelle Auton In teaching there is always so much to do, so why do we want to be worrying about wellbeing as well? With over a fifth of teachers leaving the profession in the first two few years of their career and stress and workload being cited as the main reasons for leaving- a conversation about wellbeing is essential. I think the key to good wellbeing in education is not a huge change in routine but small considered changes that can build to make a big change. Lots of small steps can make a big difference. With […]

  • You will find kindness in the corners of a bookshop

    You will possibly find dust in those corners as well but that’s a different blog. There are many ways to purchase a book. Some people don’t feel the safety or the conviviality of a bookshop is for them. They may prefer the anonymity of clicking a button and that’s okay. There are different tribes of people.  In our experience there are still lots of people who enjoy visiting a bookshop to buy their books.This is a fortunate fact and it’s why we are still in business. HMV came, went and returned! Debenhams, Woolies and M&S were not able to stick around. […]

  • Espionage, betrayal, scandal, corruption and murder. An author event about true events

      Behind one of the greatest tragedies in UK policing history lies an incredible political scandal which has been likened to that of the Post Office scandal. The audio link above is a small excerpt from an interview with Colne Radio when Matthew Young recently interviewed the authors of No Ordinary Day who are coming to the Colchester Arts Centre on Saturday 16th March at 11am to talk about their book https://redlionbooks.co.uk/product/author-event-no-ordinary-day-16th-march-2024-11am-matt-johnson-john-murray-at-colchester-arts-centre/ ‘An important book, especially now’ Lee Child ‘Espionage, betrayal, terrorism, corruption and murder. All the ingredients of a Le Carré novel, only it’s real’ Matthew Hall   On 17 […]

  • Article from The Big Issue, 2024 Indie bookshops survive closure

    Article for The Big Issue 2024 INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOPS SURVIVE CLOSURE We were asked to comment for the recent article published in The Big Issue.  Please read here https://www.bigissue.com/culture/books/independent-bookshops-closure-survive-ba/    

  • Deaths, Disasters & Destinies, Anglo-Norman History in Twelve Lives

    By Val Morgan, author, 2024 Being asked to write a blog piece about my new book by Red Lion is a real pleasure for me as Red Lion Books is a great supporter of local writers and their work. I was delighted when I knew my book would be displayed in the medieval history section in the shop. It is called Deaths, Disasters and Destinies: Anglo-Norman History in Twelve Lives. The book came about when I realised that after researching my four novels set in the Anglo-Norman period I had amassed a huge amount of historical and archival material. I was […]