Sunnyside up

The uproar which met Sceptre's announcement that Glen David Gold's Sunnyside would be a Waterstone's exclusive for three months, an imbroglio in which I am gratified to have played a small part, has concluded in notification today from Hachette CEO Tim Hely-Hutchinson that the deal is off. What's more this news came out on Radio 4's Today this morning, which I think reflects how important, practically and symbolically, this issue really is for the trade.

This is wonderful, a testament to indie power. Having finished the book since I first posted about it, my attitude could only harden, as it really stunningly good and I don't want Waterstone's being able to use it as part of any deluded claim that they are the guardians of literature in the UK.

So, my fellow indie booksellers, the ball is in our court: let's keep our eye on it. Let's make this book ours. It deserves the support of real booksellers. I can't think of an instance, in my time as a bookseller at least, where such a long hiatus between books has concluded in a novel of such wit, beauty and ingenuity.

A colleague of mine said recently that she regretted having read Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance because she would never again experience the wonder of first reading it. Sunnyside will, for many of its readers, will be a book like that. And we want them to remember that it was that knowledgeable bookseller at their local who told them they just had to read it.

Mind you, I'm not sure about that cover....