Wednesday 25 February 2015

Award-winning author Catherine Chanter at Witney Library!

Don't make plans for 23 March! At 7:30, at Witney Library, Catherine Chanter, an Oxfordshire author who won the Lucy Cavendish Prize 2013 for her debut "The Well", which is now being published by Simon & Schuster, will talk and answer questions about her new novel.

To take it from the experts, Jessie Burton, author of the glorious "The Miniaturist", is raving about "The Well":

"There was so much that impressed me… The boldness with which Catherine depicts her characters in their bravery and emotional squalor was incredible... whilst she showed how we manipulate each other, she also focused on the harder, hidden truths about how in turn we want, or need, to be manipulated ourselves.... Set against the natural beauty of the Well, Catherine also paints an exquisitely painful portrait of a marriage under threat - not just from an unnerving meteorology, but the tempests of the mind.... The Well asks us where do we seek refuge, and why? And perhaps it shows us that what is left after all is suffered, is love. Battered, weathered, at the end of the novel it comes cresting over the hill, a herald of relief. Bravo, that woman. I loved this book!"

Good, evocative writing is enough to get this here bookseller totally engrossed in a book. Just listen to this!

'One summer was all it took before our dream started to curl at the edges and
stain like picked primroses. One night is enough to swallow a lifetime of lives.'

But what is it about?
 
When Ruth Ardingly and her family first drive up from London in their grime-encrusted car and view The Well, they are enchanted by a jewel of a place, a farm that appears to offer everything the family are searching for. An opportunity for Ruth. An escape for Mark. A home for their grandson Lucien.
But The Well's unique glory comes at a terrible price, and quickly Ruth's paradise becomes a prison, Mark's dream a recurring nightmare, and Lucien's playground a grave.
With the pace of a thriller and the heart of a literary smash hit, The Well is a dark and devastating tale of obsession, motherhood and the complexity of female relationships, wrapped inside a gripping whodunit.


TICKETS ARE FREE, INCLUDE REFRESHMENTS AND CAN BE COLLECTED FROM WITNEY LIBRARY, WELCH WAY FROM THE COUNTER.

TICKETS ARE LIMITED AND WILL BE OFFERED ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS

Monday 23 February 2015

Bookseller Vacancy


Bookseller Vacancy: Come and join the team at Waterstones

You love books? We love books…

Our customers love books too, and love buying books and gifts from us, thanks to the fantastic environment, choice and service provided by our knowledgeable, friendly and enthusiastic teams.

Our Booksellers are the hearts of our bookshops and what makes them so unique and enticing. They know what their customers want from their bookshop, and deliver it through their friendliness, enthusiasm, knowledge and love of books.




To be a great bookseller, you will provide excellent customer service, friendly and professional at all times. You will also help keep our bookshops vibrant and enticing; from creating inspiring displays to helping out at our special events, there will always be plenty of opportunity to use your initiative.

If all this sounds like you, you’re in luck as we have a vacancy for a Bookseller (part time including weekends). So if you’re friendly, flexible and enthusiastic*, come in for a quick chat and pick up an application form.




* and love books…

Tuesday 17 February 2015

Paddington Story Time!!

If you are looking for something to do this half term, why not join us at Waterstones in Witney for a Paddington story time on Friday 20th February at 10.am. There might even be a marmalade sandwich or two!

And the winner of the Mother's Day Drawing Competition is.... *drumroll*

Some of you may remember that Waterstones held a Mother's Day drawing competition at the start of the year, asking children to submit a drawing of their mother to be used on our Mother's Day window and shop posters. Considering that Waterstones has over 300 shops country-wide, you can imagine that'd be a strapping heap of submissions. While there isn't just one winner - several submissions will be on the posters - it still chuffs us to bits that one of them comes from Witneyshiretown.

Little Edgar Varese's Mumsie will be gracing our Mother's Day poster - congratulations, Edgar!