Summer at the Santorini Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin

Author:Rebecca Raisin [Raisin, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2023-10-12T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

The next day, Roxy breezes in, her skin pink from the sun. ‘Why the long face?’ She props herself on the stool near the counter. Pee Wee sidles up for some love, which is duly handed out in the form of a neck scratch.

‘Ooh, where to start. Georgios is inviting Lucy Strike to the launch …’

‘LUCY STRIKE!’

‘I gather you’ve heard of her?’

‘Have I heard of her? Whoa, she’s a BookTok sensation. Everyone wants a piece of her. It’d be quite a feat if she says yes.’ Her eyes shine with excitement. Golly everyone loves Lucy. ‘Is it confirmed? Because if so, I can get a lot of exposure for Epeolatry if she’s the guest speaker.’

‘Not confirmed yet. But Georgios seems to think he has enough sway to convince her. He edited her latest novel.’

‘This is amazing!’ Roxy goes behind the counter and hunts around for a notebook and pen. ‘Why are there never any pens?’

‘Pen lady takes them.’

‘Pen lady?’

‘Yes, yet another weird and wonderful character. She visits a few times a week and asks for rare books that I presume she knows we don’t have. Still, I humour her, and pretend to search for whatever tome she’s after. While I’m hunting high and low she fills up her pockets with mints and pens. I mean, it’s not ideal but I figure maybe she needs the sugar hit.’

‘But why the pens?’

‘I don’t know. Gran says it’s better than her stealing the books so we turn a blind eye.’ Even my cleverly disguised War and Peace book box has been raided. Pen lady sure is fast.

‘The life of a bookseller: never a dull moment. OK, so no pens.’ Roxy takes her phone from her pocket and types up some notes. ‘Can you let me know as soon as Lucy has confirmed and I’ll get onto my contacts to spread the word. With her name attached I can aim for some bigger publications and mainstream radio stations.’

‘Sure, sure. She’ll probably be a massive diva about it and we won’t hear back until the very last minute.’ My phone pings with a message, which I duly ignore.

Not today, Satan.

‘Was that your phone?’ Roxy asks.

‘It’s OK, I’ll check it later.’

‘Check it now! I’ll wait.’ I don’t want to because I’ve got a sneaking suspicion who the message refers to.

I hold in a sigh and open the text:

Lucy has confirmed! She’s so excited to be the guest of honour at the launch. She did have one stipulation, that it be black tie. Love Georgios

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