Description: Sara Sheridan, author of The Secret Mandarin and The Secret of the Sands among many others, has branched out into crime fiction with Brighton Belle, introducing us to the wonderful Mirabelle Bevan. It is 1951 and Mirabelle, former secret agent, is working for a debt collection company in Brighton and trying to come to terms with the death of her long-standing lover. She has sought a quiet life but her interest is piqued when her boss is absent and she looks into the mysterious disappearance of Romana Laszlo. Soon she is embroiled in a web of betting fraud, corpses and a trail of gold sovereigns. With the assistance of Vesta Churchill, bored insurance clerk from the office next door, she calls on her former espionage skills and sets out to find out what’s been going on and what’s happened to Romana…

I loved this book when I was sent a proof copy and although it’s a crime novel set in the 1950s, it’s a lot sharper than many and certainly not ‘cosy crime’ in the Agatha Christie vein! The plot romps along and Sara’s attention to period detail is perfect – enough to create atmosphere but not so much that it becomes laboured. It’s my favourite crime novel so far this year and we’re delighted that Sara will be joining us for an evening to talk about Brighton Belle and to sign copies of the book.

Tickets are £5 with a discount of £5 on copies of the book purchased at the event and are available below, in the shop or by calling 0131 447 1917.

Description: We are delighted to announce that Jen Campbell, author of Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops will be at the bookshop on Tuesday 10th April, from 5.30 – 6.30pm to sign copies of her book and chat about the funny and often surreal things people say in bookshops. Jen is one of our former booksellers and more than one of the stories in the book had its origin in her time with us…

Jen’s a great writer – she’s a published poet and is currently working on a collection of short stories so Weird Things is something of a diversion but a hugely entertaining one and the ideal read for anyone who’s ever visited a bookshop, worked in a bookshop or just wondered how odd some of the requests we get are!

Write to be Published has been a huge success over the last few months – whipping budding authors into shape and setting them on the right path towards an agent and a publishing contract. In most cases you’ll send an agent or publisher a covering letter, three chapters and a synopsis and we’re delighted to be holding an event on Saturday 28th January where Nicola will pass on some valuable advice on how to make your submission as good as it possibly can be.

Nicola says: “The exciting thing about this event is that, because you will already have a copy of Write to be Published, I can now go into selected aspects in even greater detail. AND you can ask questions. So, we’ll look at actual covering letters and what makes them good or awful; I’ll show you how to create a great hook and the ins and outs of writing a synopsis. Plus, we’ll look at the faults that are most often revealed in the first three chapters of the book.

What do you need to bring? Paper, pen and all your neurons. Also, please try to read WTBP in advance. I’m not going to test you on it (!) but it means I can leap into the practical detail and not spend too long on the theory of getting published. Please note: I do want you to enjoy this event so there will be no stressful role-playing or activities. No one will have to read out work and I will not be crabbit at all, not even a bit. Also, there will be cake.”

Tickets are £15 which includes a copy of Write to Be Published and a free copy of Nicola’s forthcoming new e-book, out in January. And cake, as Nicola said.

It is the perfect Christmas present for the writer in your life and ticket and book come in a gift-wrapped package. We can even post it to the recipient on your behalf if you wish – call the bookshop on 0131 447 1917 for more information.

A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro This highly acclaimed debut tells the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England. Dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter and retreating into the past, she finds herself reliving one particular hot summer in Nagasaki, when she and her friends struggled to rebuild their lives after the war. But then as she recalls her strange friendship with Sachiko – a wealthy woman reduced to vagrancy – the memories take on a disturbing cast.

Start Time: 19:30
Date: 2011-11-16
End Time: 21:00

Come along and tell us what you are reading, talk about books and meet other book loving children.There is no set text, simply turn up with what you have been reading and get introduced to new and old favourites.

Please call in to The Edinburgh Bookshop for more information and to register interest.

Come along and tell us what you are reading, talk about books and meet other book loving children.There is no set text, simply turn up with what you have been reading and get introduced to new and old favourites.

Please call in to The Edinburgh Bookshop for more information and to register interest.

Come along and tell us what you are reading, talk about books and meet other book loving children.There is no set text, simply turn up with what you have been reading and get introduced to new and old favourites.

Please call in to The Edinburgh Bookshop for more information and to register interest.

Bought a book from us (or from anywhere else for that matter) and loved it so much that you want to tell other people about it? Want to find your next book in a more serendipitious manner? Fancy spending an evening hanging out with other booklovers and listening to a couple of special guests talking about the books they’ve brought along and what they love to read?

Then you probably want to come along to The Edinburgh Bookshop’s bookswap which is being hosted by the lovely people at Henderson’s Cafe in the crypt at St John’s Church, Princes Street. Tickets are £5, which includes homemade nibbles and if you fancy a quick bite before the bookswap, show your ticket at the till and get 20% off your bill – told you the people at Henderson’s were lovely.

If you are not already on our mailing list, and would like to be added, please click to join. You will receive a weekly newsletter with up to date news and events from The Edinburgh Bookshop.

Invisible by Paul Auster
The coming-of-age story dazzlingly reinvented by one of America’s greatest novelists.

Sinuously constructed in four interlocking parts, Invisible opens in New York City in the spring of 1967 when twenty-year-old Adam Walker, an aspiring poet and studen at Columbia University meets the enigmatic Frenchman Rudolf Born, and his silent and seductive girlfriend Margot. Before long, Walker finds himself caught in a perverse triangle that leads to a sudden, shocking act of violence that will alter the course of his life. Three different narrators tell the story, as it travels in time from 1967 to 2007 and moves from New York to Paris and to a remote Caribbean island in a story of unbridled sexual hunger and a relentless quest for justice. With uncompromising insight, Auster takes us to the shadowy borderland between truth and memory, authorship and identity to produce a work of unforgettable power that confirms his reputation as one of America’s most spectacularly inventive writers.


Start Time: 19:30
Date: 2011-10-19
End Time: 21:00

Alastair Darling, MP for Edinburgh South West, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, was at the centre of this economic turmoil and Back From the Brink is a first-hand account of the crisis; a fascinating view of life inside the Downing Street bubble and of Gordon Brown’s premiership.

The Edinburgh Bookshop is delighted that Alastair will be joining us at Christ Church, Morningside (just opposite the bookshop) to talk about his new book. In conversation with Eleanor Updale (formerly producer of Newsnight and Radio 4’s World at One), Alastair will also answer questions from the audience and will be signing copies of his book afterwards.

Tickets are £7.50 with £5 redeemable against a copy of Back From the Brink.

If you are not already on our mailing list, and would like to be added, please click to join. You will receive a weekly newsletter with up to date news and events from The Edinburgh Bookshop.