2024 in Books

5th December 2024 Nigel Jones

The East Gate Bookshop in Totnes opened on December 12th 2020 and four years later, thanks to the support of the good folk of Totnes and lots of hard work from the team we are still here.

We grew

In October 2023 we had the delicate job of adding Totnes institution Arcturus Books to our book offer, and some people will have noticed we recently renamed it The Rowan Tree Bookshop. We have been mindful that Arcturus Bookshop was held dear by many people and have tried to keep its spirit alive while adding our own personality to the books that are stocked there. It’s been a lot of hard work with lots of trial and error, but we think we are getting it somewhere near where we want it to be.

Another great years for books…

With so many great books published again this year, we’ve had the pleasure of looking back and picking some of ours and our customer’s favourites. After lot of agonising, we have curated a paperback selection and a hardback selection. It really was a tricky job, and looking at them again, we still think there are some books we could have included – but, what to leave out.

Our top five paperbacks

Samantha Harvey’s sublime pean to Earth in all its fragility and magnificence was a unanimous winner of The Booker Prize 2024, if you read one book over the festive period make it Orbital. Harvey’s evocation of astronauts contemplating our planet whilst orbiting in the ISS is a tour de force.

If you feel bombarded by doomsday headlines and are thinking all is lost, then Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet might transform how you see our environmental problems and demonstrates how people from all over the world and coming together to solve them.
Do you fancy a challenge for 2025, maybe a walk over a moor or two, maybe Dartmoor and Exmoor? If yes, then Ben Perring, recollection of four attempts to walk the Two Moors Way, from a gung-ho young man, to an only slightly more considered grown up is for you. One Moor Time is an uplifting tale of mishaps, nature, self-discovery and the very welcome lights of a pub after a long day’s slog.
Fancy something a little weirder and unsettling and generally ‘out there’. Then Asako Yuzuki’s true story inspired tale of the life of Manako Kajii: gourmet cook, seducer and serial killer, Butter, could be for you. Or if you prefer a more down to earth book, then Paul Murray’s deep dive into the characters, egos, ambitions and eccentricities of a small Irish town will suit. The Bee Sting is a boisterous riot of a book: funny and tragic in equal measures. Hopes, dreams and desires are fulfilled and squashed in this immersive novel.
You can browse the full selection of fifty books by clicking this link.

Our top three hardbacks

After the phenomenal success of Normal People, anything new from Sally Rooney is eagerly awaited, and with Intermezzo Rooney delivers another beautifully observed and compassionate novel about desire, grief, love and family.
Raising Hare is a compassionate and inspiring book. Upon returning to the countryside of her childhood Chloe stumbles upon a hare: endangered, alone and no bigger than her palm – she is compelled to give it a chance to live. With the challenges of caring for the leveret and preparing for its return to the wild, we witness an extraordinary relationship between human and animal.

Our third choice was a difficult decision. It’s a tale of courage and morality that needs to be told, but unlike Hollywood, this story doesn’t end happily. As resources get scarcer and the spectre of climate catastrophe hangs over us the rise of brutal, popularist demagogues is all to apparent. Alexei Navalny began writing Patriot whilst recovering from his poisoning in 2020; it ends with his prison diaries from Siberia where he died in 2024. With a spirit that cannot be crushed Patriot is as dramatic as its author’s life, a man passionate that good and freedom will prevail. It is Alexei Navalny’s final letter to the world and a rousing call to continue his work
You can browse the full selection of fifty books by clicking this link…

Our Events at The East Gate Bookshop and Beyond

We hosted many events with fantastic authors at the East Gate Bookshop in 2024. We also took our bookshop to the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay and provided the book for the Southwest leg of Brian Bilston’s tour. In addition, we partnered with Ambios at Lower Sharpham Farm to hold our third Restoring Nature Festival
We are holding off events now until 2025 and gearing up for Christmas. We’ve ordered a whole shop’s worth of stock, put up the lights and decorated our windows. We are looking forward to Tuesday late night shopping and seeing the shop packed full of people browsing and buying from the ever-growing selection of books we squeeze into the bookshop.
So here we are about to complete our fourth year in Totnes. It’s hard work and long hours, but it’s a privilege to trade in this fantastic market town and we aim to continue as long as we are able.

Thank you for all your support.

Our events in 2024 are listed here with the most recent at the top, just click on the links for more info of each author and their book.