The Crooked House Bookshop

"...a very old house bulging over the road...leaning forward, trying to see who was passing on the narrow pavement below..." Charles Dickens In the south-easterly corner of the United Kingdom, sits the ancient realm of Kent - Henry VIII's Garden of England, home to more castles than anywhere else on Shakespeare's sceptred isle, and where the first book translated into English was printed. At its heart sits majestic, medieval Canterbury, a storied city full of ghosts, with cobbled streets echoing with the footsteps of Romans, Saxons and Vikings. There you'll find a black and white Tudor building, adored by Dickens, toppling to one side. An optical illusion, an architectural curiosity, a crowd pleaser, and the second-most photographed building after the cathedral, inside you'll discover a cornucopia of good people doing good things, for the love of good books and their community. A place where lost and abandoned books find their way to feel valued, understood and loved again, which is how Sarah Ivens felt when she accidentally stumbled upon the chance to work there, right when she needed it most.
About to turn 50, an expat attempting to repatriate after two decades in America, while trying to make sense of her depressing menopause symptoms, her father's terminal diagnosis, and the off-kilter world around her, good sense and solid ground felt impossible to find, until she found The Crooked House Bookshop.
Or did it find her? The Crooked House Bookshop is a magical place run entirely by volunteers selling rare novels, vintage maps - and more than just a few books by Chaucer and Dickens - to the daily parade of awestruck pilgrims who stop and stare at its topsy-turvy façade, before stepping through its wonky, Yuletide-red door to discover the treasures on the shelves and the stories shared within it. A labyrinthine, literary centre where everyone is welcome and everyone finds a friend. Part midlife memoir, part literary and cultural history of England, and a celebration of the healing power of books, bookshops and the people who love to read, The Crooked House Bookshop is the life-affirming true story of what can happen when you accept change, grab second chances, and connect with people who make your heart expand. A warm hug of a read, let this memoir take you on a journey of twists and turns through time, meet witches and writers, join parties and pilgrimages, and find hope, because when life throws you off balance, The Crooked House Bookshop will show you the most authentic route to happiness is not to shrink into self-pity or hide away, but to look outward to the wisdom of others, fictional or otherwise, and find your place in the world you want to live in.

Sarah Ivens, PhD, is the best-selling author of eleven lifestyle and wellness books, including A Modern Girl's Guide to Getting Hitched and Forest Therapy: Seasonal Ways to Embrace Nature for a Happier You, and the founding Editor in Chief of OK! magazine in the US. A Londoner, who now lives in Canterbury, Kent, after 19 years in the US, where she ran OK! magazine in New York City, worked for the drama development team at HBO and certified as a life coach in Los Angeles and learned how to two-step in Texas. She holds a PhD in Comparative Humanities from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, her work focusing on the changes and choices faced by women during the reign of Elizabeth II, and how the ideas of home and homeland shape a woman's life. She has given lectures at universities around the world and written for academic journals on socioeconomic class and gender. She also has an MA in English Literature and has collaborated as a ghostwriter with many celebrities on their bestselling memoirs and self-help books.