19th December Newsletter
What’s On At Veranda
Welcome to the final newsletter of 2025!
What an absolute pleasure it’s been, getting to know so many of you this year. We’ve spent sunny mornings and rainy afternoons together, talking about books, music, families, travel…and pretty much anything else you can think of! The friendship and support we’ve found in this little corner of London has been overwhelming, and we want to say thank you! to everyone who’s visited our shop, bought books, joined us for events – and spread the word about us, it means a lot.
The Veranda Team – Emily, Leo and Alison – wish you and yours a very happy holiday season, however you celebrate. We hope 2026 is peaceful and joyous – and we look forward to continuing our journey together in the new year.
The countdown is on…
Opening hours for the next few days:
- Thursday 18th December: 10am-8pm
- Friday 19th December: 10am-6pm
- Saturday 20th December: 10am-6pm
- Sunday 21st December: 12pm-5pm
- Monday 22nd December: 11am-5pm
- Tuesday 23rd December: 10am-6pm
We’ll then be CLOSED over Christmas and New Year, reopening at 10am on Tuesday 6th January.
A reminder that even while we’re closed, books can be ordered on our website or email alison@verandabooks.com. Delivery might be a bit slower due to bank holidays etc, but hey, better than nothing!
Christmas Shopping Made Easy
No need to stress this festive season – we’re here to help!
Happy to recommend BOOKS to keep everyone happy, whatever they’re into. We can gift wrap too!
If you just can’t decide, we have GIFT TOKENS available to spend at the shop
For the gift that’ll keep them smiling when Christmas is just a distant memory, how about a VERANDA BOOKS GIFT SUBSCRIPTION? Pay a one-off fee, give us a few details about the lucky recipient (favourite author, last couple of books they’ve enjoyed etc), and leave the rest to us. We’ll select a book each month we feel sure they’ll love, and send it off to them.
- Choose from Translated Fiction, Contemporary Fiction or Kids
- 6-month or 12-month subscriptions available
- Bespoke subscriptions available too – come in and discuss with one of the team
Now Booking
The next exciting chapter for Veranda…
2025 has been a busy year at Veranda – and we’re thriving on this ‘busy-ness’. Whether we’re in the shop talking to customers, meeting publishers, writers or translators, or coordinating our program of evening events, we’ve embraced every opportunity to further our knowledge, and make Veranda the place to be for international literature, and great books in general – not to mention, a meeting place for booklovers.
Plans for 2026 are already well underway, with our events program for Jan-June filling up. Keep reading this newsletter to be the first to know, as space at events is limited, and we don’t want you to miss out!
We’re also planning a Literary Festival later in the year, celebrating Translated Fiction. Details will follow, but this promises to be an exciting and ‘Very Veranda’ experience.
Those who love to discuss books as much as we do will be delighted to hear that a Book Club is in the works. Watch this space early in the new year…
Keep checking the website – and our instagram for latest news and events @verandabookshop
Our Recommended Reads
What Emily will be loving in 2026…
Having not been on a plane since 2022, next year looks like more of a year for travel! In October, I’ll be going to the island of Formentera in Spain for a big knees-up for a friend’s 40th birthday (undecided if toddler will be in tow). Also planning trips to Rome and Verona, and I want to take my son abroad to show him a bit more of the world.
My New Year’s resolution is to get back into going to the cinema, very excited for The Devil Wears Prada 2 (May) to re-live the nostalgia of the first time round.
I’ll also be seeing LIVE music for the first time in ages, the powerhouse that is Rosalia is playing the )2 in May and I’ll be there living my best life!
Book resolutions – I have decided to go more with my gut instinct on what I want to read. There are so many books that have been on my list for years that I have not read and feel have passed me by, but next year is the time to dive in. I’m looking for big, sprawling stories that I can get fully immersed in. Books that are considered contemporary modern classics! On my 2026 reading list are…The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, Pachinko and Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia. I also want to read more Colm Toíbin and Elif Shafak. Inevitably, I’m sure when new books come out, they’ll jump to the top of my list. One of the debuts I’m looking forward to reading is May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry (January).
What Leo will be loving in 2026…
The book I’m most eagerly anticipating in 2026 is London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe (April 7th). After a year in which I mainly read novels (to paraphrase T.S.Eliot, I couldn’t cope with too much reality in 2025), I’m excited to read a book based in London from this most novelistic of non-fiction writers. This one looks like a belter!
2025 was a year in which we discovered and connected with so many brilliant small, indie publishers, and I’m looking forward to being surprised again – and again – by what their discerning editors will be bringing to readers this year, particularly in translation.
Books aside, I’ll be hotfooting it to the long-overdue Tracey Emin retrospective at Tate Modern as soon as it opens in February. And if I’m not in the shop, you’ll likely find me drinking coffee, reading, and eating baklava at Mehmet Efendi on Edgware Road.
What we’re loving this week…
What Alison will be loving in 2026…
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