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.
-
About Us
The Book Nook is a cosy bookshop on Ware High Street We opened our shop in 2019 and we have quickly become the destination for books and more in East Hertfordshire We have thousands of books on our shelves for you to browse: Fiction, Non- Fiction, Children's books as well as a range of gifts and toys and If you can’t find what you’re looking for on our shelves, we can order it in for you and you’ll usually have it in your hands within 24 hours. We hope to see you soon! Don’t just take our word for it though, check out what people are really saying about us on our testimonials page. We hope to see you soon!
-
Expert Help
We want you to love what you read, so all our staff are experts at what they do. We’ll help you with book recommendations and we’ll listen to what you’ve enjoyed in the past. With our extensive book knowledge, we’re sure to find your next favourite book. Stepping into The Book Nook, the chances are someone will ask if you'd like a recommendation. After years of hand-selling books and making personalised picks for our Reading Subscribers, we're confident that we can find a book to suit your tastes. We boost our book knowledge by spending our time talking to customers, getting tips and feedback, The Book Nook is a place where bookish chat is always on offer. Of course, if you prefer a quiet look around, that's fine too - we understand the thrill of the tranquil browse. If you can't make it to the shop then, you can browse and buy from our online shop.
-
Thousands Of Books!
We have thousands of books on our shelves for you to browse including Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children's books as well as a range of Bookish Gifts and Toys. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on our shelves, we can order any book in for you, and you’ll usually have it in your hands within 24 hours. For rare and out of print titles we will try our best to track down that hard-to-find book you are looking for. We love getting book suggestions from our customers and getting your reviews on books you have loved, so feel free to tell us what you would like to see on our bookshelves!
Meet Our Bookshop Cat
Meet Bilbo Baggins! He’s our very own Bookshop Cat.
He likes to nap on our cosy bookshop chair and receive cuddles from regular bookshop adventurers.
Pop-in for a chance to see him or check out our Instagram page to see what antics Bilbo’s been up to.
Need More Than A Book?
-
Tea And Cake
What goes better with a book than a cup of tea and a slice of cake? Our cosy little Tea Room serves delicious homemade cakes, a selection of homely teas and also the fabulous locally roasted Campervan coffee as well as pre booked afternoon teas including our Children's Mad Hatter's Tea Parties.
-
Book Events
Books are great but chatting about books with others is great fun too. Due to Covid restrictions, many of our author events have gone online. However, that doesn’t mean we still can’t have fun. With regular activities, competitions for kids and picture hunts in the high street during the school holidays, there’s still lots going on!
-
Little Explorers
If you have a little one who loves books, why not pop on over to our Kid’s Corner during the week? We have a selection of children's sticky finger books and colouring activities to keep your kids entertained whilst you can enjoy a well-deserved quiet cuppa.
