They’d heard the news about potential flooding, and prepared accordingly: emptied the floors, removed the books from some of the lower shelves. Of course, the flooding reached a bit higher than that…

“I guess in the end it turned out all right”, said Catherine, the current owner and second generation bookseller in Cockermouth. Her mom still occasionally helps out in the shop, as she does the day I visit. “We got the chance to re-do quite a lot, but in a café… you can’t really change anything once you’re open and always selling books. Of course, it didn’t really feel like it when I came saw all those books, drenched and ruined.”
“It must have been a very sad sight”, I said.
“Yes, it was. But all us shopowners here were in the same situation, so that helped. You just had to get through it.”

And get through it they did, of course. The New Bookshop in Cockermouth is a beautiful bookshop in a beautiful town.

Her recommendation for me? The Snow Child by Euwyn Ivey.