The Last Bookshop, which was shortlisted for the Fogarty Literary Award, is a heart-warming read about the connections people make through the books they read and the power of local communities to save the places that matter most.
We chat to Emma about her debut novel, her writing and what led her to write a book about books.
Hi, Emma! Tell us a bit about yourself!
I contemplated many careers for myself as a child, including author, editor, professional gymkhana rider, musical theatre star, pipe band tenor drum, rock band singer, doctor and nurse.
I ended up becoming a bookseller, then a journalist, and while I am still a journalist I can finally call myself an author as well, after having it on my wishlist for as long as I can remember.
Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author and the one you can’t stop thinking about!
A little board book about rabbits, the first book I ever read “by myself”, I think I was about three and I distinctly remember how smug I was about it.
The one that made me want to become an author was The Silver Crown by Robert O’Brien. A very creepy and suspenseful kids’ sci-fi novel, and I know it must have triggered the bug because I immediately went off and penned a story myself that bore a remarkable similarity to it.
The book I can’t stop thinking about, most recently is Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings. This biography by a Montgomery scholar (they have those in Canada) reflects decades of work and is compulsively readable, fascinating and devastating, a portrait of a tortured soul in a world changing so rapidly you realise our generation is not the only one that has had to grapple with a seismic cultural shift and a feeling of terrible loss for a vanished way of life.
When did you first discover your love of reading?
My parents were both avid readers and I grew up surrounded by books, which were standard entertainment at home and on holiday. When I was in primary school I devoured all those series… Famous Five, Secret Seven, Malory Towers, Babysitter’s Club, Saddle Club, Sweet Valley, you name it. I couldn’t get enough.
Your new novel is out now. If you could describe it in five words what would they be?
Cosy, nostalgic ode to bookshops!
What can readers expect?
They can expect to instantly feel like they’re walking into a bookshop called Book Fiend. They’ll smell the dust, feel the gentle breeze of clunky old ceiling fans on a hot day, and feel the faint thrill of anticipation, like somewhere in those piles of secondhand books is the one that will spark their next obsession. And smiling at them behind the counter will be Cait Copper. That’s my main character, and it’s her bookshop and her story.
What inspired you to write the novel?
First, it was working in bookshops and meeting all the weird and wonderful characters who walk in and treat you like an oracle (which you quickly must become). I wanted to put all their funny habits and quirks and sayings into a story. Later, I wanted to add stories about finding a way to know people in a whole new way, just through talking about books. And later still, I wanted to weave in all I was learning in my journalistic life, about why some small businesses thrive and others fail, and how the key to a successful small business is being part of a strong community and providing a service people value.
What were the challenges you faced when writing it and how did you overcome them?
Full-time work as a journalist during the day giving me an aversion to banging more words down during the early hours of the morning or on weekends. I soon learned that I had to toughen up, put my head down and bum on the seat and just do it. Another challenge was some very tough-love feedback from literary agents. It was sometimes difficult to interpret their advice, and resulted in a lot of lengthy rewrites. I definitely learned about writing the hard way, but I overcame this challenge by treating rejections as something to be expected, not something to be destroyed by. Martinis also helped. Actually, martinis help with all life’s challenges.
What were the parts of the novel you loved bringing to the page?
I loved writing about the physicality of working in a bookstore. The dust and dirt and hefting heavy boxes. Cleaning and sanding and pricing books, cleaning shelves, counting cash, climbing ladders, standing til your feet and legs ache. It’s not an easy job, but there are those little glows you get when someone asks you a completely random, half-baked question and your trusty bookseller brain delivers the answer, or when you recommend a book and someone actually buys it. I loved writing about all of that.
What’s the best and worst writing advice you’ve ever received?
Best writing advice I’ve ever got was to insert sensory detail into your story. Not just what the character is doing or what they can see, but also what they can smell, feel and taste (thanks Laurie!) Worst writing advice I ever got was something I won’t specify exactly, but the giver shall we say advised me on exact plot lines they felt should be in my story and they were somewhat, ahem, left-field. Now I know that good advice is non-specific, merely eliciting the answers you already know within yourself and will not make you choke on your coffee in surprise.
What’s next for you?
My husband, baby and I will be travelling Australia, touring my book, while I add the finishing touches to my second manuscript, during the second half of the year. Hopefully I will have some more news on that second book, soon!
Do you have any reading recommendations for our readers?
At the moment I’m reading Stalking Claremont, the comprehensive account of the Claremont serial killer murders and the subsequent investigation and court case. It’s by Bret Christian, the newsman who has spent his whole professional life covering the case from within that community as the owner and main journalist on the local independent newspaper covering Perth’s western suburbs. He was only in his late 20s when the first abduction happened and had recently opened the paper, and he runs it still. His detailed narrative finally puts all the events in order, and makes you realise how little the public ever knew about the police investigation and the lives these murders ruined even apart from the women’s. Even as a journalist who has closely followed the court case and the events leading up to the arrest, this is finally making it all fall into place for me. It’s riveting, yet sensitively and compassionately written. Not at all sensationalist. Highly recommended.
But if that doesn’t appeal, some novels I’ve recently loved include Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline, Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith, The Motion of the Body in Time and Space by Lionel Shriver. Smart Ovens for Lonely People is also amazing, a short story collection by Elizabeth Tan. Most of these are reviewed either on my Instagram, @emma_young_book_fiend or my website, emmayoungwrites.com.
