And yet, in a world where even those few of us who still like to read are being dictated-to by big business, The Wivenhoe Bookshop sits prettily in the High Street with a demure two-fingered salute held up to corporate android culture. Their
rugged stance on window displays exemplifies this. A quick-change dressing strategy, along with regularly-held
launch events, helps endow the place with the living-breathing quality
which keeps it one step ahead of the average bookshop. The installation of a sofa and a micro art-gallery in the back
room has further enhanced the shop's appeal so that it not only seems
but actually is more than just a bookshop. When
the two arson attacks came, quite apart from initial shock, there was also
a distinct feeling of unease, in these philistine times, at the
near-destruction of a bookshop and its books. Perhaps
someone didn't care about books − or even actively disliked
the idea of the bookshop? Well,
it was easy to get paranoid back then, with the sour smoke still hanging
on the late summer air. Though
it also made many of us realise how unique and special the shop is. And
how much we'd miss it − if the place and the people who work in it
were suddenly gone. In the more-considered cool of autumn therefore, I'd just like
to raise a glass to Ginny and to all her staff: For services to literature above and beyond. And to the future. Martin Newell
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