Books are my bag
From the Secret Seven and Famous Five at age eight, I graduated on to Point Horrors as a teenager (who doesn’t love RL Stine) and then on to more mature books such as Captain Correlli’s Mandolin and The Beach - both books that my brother and I devoured.
English was an easy subject for me at school and I ended up at Aberdeen University studying Literature and History in 2002. I was getting to read books all day long and it really was a dream come true.
After university I became a newspaper reporter so I was now the one doing the writing. I had dreams of writing a book, and I do have many unfinished manuscripts hidden away on various floppy discs, CD Roms and USB sticks - endings have never been my strong point though and I just never managed to finish any of them.
So fast forward to 2024 and a brief career as a History teacher (and forest manager with my husband) when I suddenly just had the feeling that it was the time to open a bookshop. To be honest, I saw this as a 10 year plan. Maybe something I’d build up to when I was 50. How unexpected then to be here now!
The key was finding a space for my dreams to live, for a good part of the dream was to run a shop in Thornhill close to my home in Dunscore. I wanted to make a positive impact here.
Then suddenly, last week, all these ideas were real when I was handed the keys to 115 Drumlanrig Street. After a long gestation period, the actual building and setting up felt startlingly quick.
I am now a book shop owner. It feels surreal to say those words. After more than 20 years my dream has come true. My passion for reading is now my job. I cannot quite believe it. Chapters of Thornhill will never just be a shop to me.
At Chapters, we will primarily offer new and used books for sale; as well as sustainably produced and locally sourced gifts and stationery. We will stock a large selection of quality second-hand books and small, curated collections of new books, particularly by local authors. We will also aim to provide literary experiences. I want to host readings, author events, creative writing classes, workshops, and tea parties; creating a vibrant space for learning and socialising. I want it to be a safe space where children’s imagination can run wild.
Most of all, I want everyone to love books as much as I do. The journeys I have been on inside the pages of a novel, the world I have explored and past events I have experienced in non-fiction, have made me the person I am today. And I love it!