About Us

The Book Nook is an independent, family run bookshop in Ware, Hertfordshire, that sells a range of new and used books, toys, literary gifts, book subscriptions, book tokens and more.

The Book Nook opened in 2019 and is owned and managed by Julia Chesterman along with her son Sam and a small team of volunteers.

The bookshop runs activities for children, book groups and author events, as well as working with local schools and community groups to encourage reading for pleasure, promote literacy and inspire a lifelong love of books, learning and imagination.

We curate a diverse collection of books ensuring the highest quality and variety for our customers and support local authors by helping them connect with readers and help build a strong literary community that inspires interesting, imaginative, and thoughtful stories.

 

 

A poem by customer Sarah Wragg

 

The old bookshop

 

Sitting in the armchair next to where the chimney used to be,

the storyteller begins her tale. 

Looking up every time she turns the page

she sees the semicircle of cross-legged children

staring up at her, enthralled. 

 

But the bookshop owner isn’t telling the story to them.

The tiny, centuries old building

had its own ideas -  

spitting out a translucent boy, 

malnourished, scared, covered in soot,

who’d stood shyly by her

whenever she sat down to read.

So finally she read a story out loud

and when the boy drew closer and smiled

she read another and another. 

Now there are stories for children every day

and every day the boy inches closer to their crescent.

 

She hopes one day he will be brave enough to sit cross-legged with them

and have a chance to understand what childhood is.