Sherlock & Pages

02/08/2026

Congratulations to Lee & Helen in NSW, Australia - winning 2 awards at their regional business awards. To have played any tiny role in that story is an honour - thank you for letting us know. A real boost as we continue our journey. 🤝 from one set of booksellers to another

24/07/2026

Okay .burnham and Lisa Nandy (doesn’t allow tagging)…and many others across government. The news of relief for pubs and night venues came yesterday. Here at S&P we urge you to look at bookshops I’m due course. So many of us know how tough it is to run a physical bookshop, as well as how important they are to so many across our communities - they provide social hubs, set up events, are honeypots attracting visitors for other business…and well they have books in, so that’s nice. It seems an absurd situation to be in when heavy discounting online retailers face a significantly easier trading and tax environment than independent high street booksellers. At the moment the is actively campaigning on business rates. Wider debates about book pricing and corporate tax rates abound. However, we welcome the noise around shaping the economy to reflect what people actually want to see…now we need to work out how to do that. And of course we’ve got to ask ourselves how we can get better all the time and attract readers each day ✨❤️📚 get out there and back your independent booksellers

17/07/2026

So, do give a follow - the festival of books, nature and wonder…coming to Frome this September 19th-20th (considerthewondrous.com). Check out the wonderful list of authors and speakers in attendance ❤️✨📚 Here at S&P we’re pleased to be a small part of this big effort involving lots of people and organisations- do direct any festival queries to the team over and take a moment to consider the wondrous today. Hoping to see some of you in September.

For tickets it’s considerthewondrous.com or in person here in Frome . More to come from us on the line up in due course

13/07/2026

Now, of course…3 weeks off in France is a rare luxury indeed. However, the whole experience of monitoring my energy levels during that time was an excellent reminder to just allow times for calm during the everyday…to simply stop and listen, to feel and sense. I’ve gifted this book a fair few times now and find it full of quiet wisdom. Maybe one for the future :-)

09/07/2026

“So often, a visit to a bookshop has cheered me and reminded me that there are good things in the world.” This quote comes from a letter Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his beloved brother Theo on October 30th, 1877. For anyone who hasn’t read Vincent letters, he is as profound in the written word as he is with a paintbrush - intensity bursting from the page.

Vincent’s words acted as a guide when we started Sherlock & Pages. Although we are tiny (v v tiny) we always wanted to be a sanctuary of inspiration, a little hub to share our passions from, and an anchor for those who might pop on they say they need to be surrounded by the intriguing and the beautiful. I don’t say the lightly. When I had a dreadful bout of anxiety back in 2022 I could hardly stand a walk to the supermarket…on work calls I’d be shaking…my face and neck were locked with tension for months…but one day I decided I could make it to , a place I’d sheltered in as a teenager and which means a great deal to me. And I did. I made a v short train journey and hesitantly walked to this citadel of light, my heart pounding, arms tingling. Inside I picked up a copy of Roger Deakin’s “Wildwood”, a nature book to soothe and inspire. And that evening as I read Roger’s words I cried a little, all that accumulated emotion sizzling out. That’s why these places mean so much to me. And these books.

Go steady team, Luke

09/06/2026

07/06/2026

🦉I must admit, this post is one I’m hestitating to post as it’s an almost impossible task. What about T.H White’s Goshawk? What about J.A Baker’s The Peregrine? It really is endless BUT let that inspire…birding is having a moment, let’s grow it into a deep culture of awe AND action. Here’s some to start…get involved in the comments on your favourites and recommendations and for any birding authors, thank you for banging the drum 🦅

27/05/2026

Radical Wordsworth by Jonathan Bate completely opened my eyes to the radical, even revolutionary, impact of Wordsworth output. Of course, this video simplifies things a great deal. He was already working with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, here in Somerset, before returning to live at Dove Cottage in Grasmere with his sister, Dorothy. Together, they produce Lyrical Ballads, setting the scene for them to take on the poetic norms of the day….this was poetry for the people. Maybe it hadn’t sounded like that to my 21st century ear but now I understood…something clicked

I went on such a journey with this book, imaging the pyrotechnics of imaginative fervor of the Lakes Poets as they bounded across fellsides. If you enjoy nature writing, philosophy, literary history, biography, poetry and English landscapes…then this one could be for you. I really really enjoyed it and it’s a book with a long tail. It’s whispering to me now, arguably making more radical in my outlook as I cast a gaze across our current society

23/05/2026

Can anyone help with the great bookshop postcard mystery?

18/05/2026

So…I call Amazon a “pragmatic beast” because realistically, v few publishers or authors are going to look away from it entirely. I totally understand that, as an author and an independent bookshop owner. However, when I see some of the biggest names in the industry promoting pre-orders AND the only option is Amazon, I think 2 things. 1. Either they’ve made a mistake OR, more likely, they are quite being looked after by their teams as they could be…because you can have an array of options now, with a bit of work. Realistically, most authors are going to want those options. So, less of a rant more of a nudge to the industry from our tiny corner…as pre-order mania is, understandably, a gathering phenomena…