23rd January Newsletter
What’s On At Veranda
Welcome, welcome! If you’re still hibernating (see last week’s newsletter), we don’t blame you. Terrible weather + great telly = the perfect excuse to retreat. At Veranda, on the other hand, energy levels are soaring! It could be the new supply of coffee or the matcha-flavoured KitKats (see last week’s newsletter), but it’s probably the slew of new books we’ve been getting on the shelves, and the events schedule we’re planning – with a couple already sold out.* So stay at home if you want to, but not for too much longer – or who knows what you’ll miss out on!
* If you’ve missed out on tickets, get in touch and we’ll always try to accommodate, subject to numbers
Publisher Spotlight: Foundry Editions
Aah, those distinctive blue-and-white covers, always generously stacked at the shop, and usually with a ‘Veranda Picks’ card clipped to the front – we do love a Foundry Edition.
Founded in 2023 by Publisher, Editor – and occasional Translator – Richard Village, this small, independent press is on a mission to share stories from the people and countries of the Mediterranean. Literary fiction, in translation, drawn from Spain, Italy, France, Palestine, Cyprus – and in the future, Malta and Greece – all of these books come with a strong sense of place, and the clarity with which Village makes his choices is evident. He is, first and foremost, a reader and enjoys beautiful, interesting work – with an element of the odd or unexpected.
While some of these books present challenging themes, there is a joy to the way they’ve been discovered, translated and presented to us in these highly collectible editions – come and discover them on our shelves soon.
Highlights:
- Killing the Nerve by Anna Pazos – coming-of-age autofiction from a superb Catalan writer
- Just A Little Dinner by Cécile Tlili – on a sweltering evening in Paris, a little dinner for four simmers with tension and bad behaviour
- Repatriation by Êve Guerra – look out for this stunning debut set in France and Cameroon, exploring grief and the post-colonial condition (out in March)
“The family - that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, never quite wish to.” - Dodie Smith, Dear Octopus
OK, hands up if over the past week, you’ve had one eye on Davos, and the other on the Beckham family drama. The Veranda team unashamedly had a good chat about it all – and beyond the (inevitably) merciless reaction on social media, there is something very tragic in motion Chez Becks. As bookworms, our immediate response was to reach for that famous quote about unhappy families, but we also considered just what a rich literary seam the family dynamic is – and has been for centuries. Family fallouts of all shapes and sizes have been explored in novels, poems, self-help books, memoir…something we can all relate to, even though most of us manage to keep it behind closed doors.
A selection of the team’s favourite family sagas:
- Alison – Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan Would you believe me if I said I love this for the insight into Singaporean culture it provides? Well, there is some of that, along with intergenerational conflict, scheming relatives and satirical treatment of the ultra-rich. High camp, highly amusing, if I believed in guilty pleasures (I don’t), this would be high on the list.
- Emily – The Bee Sting by Paul Murray My favourite family saga of recent years- talk about immersive! I loved how you get to see how the family is imploding from each member’s perspective. It spans years from young adulthood up to middle age, following all the characters’ decisions and actions that culminate in a cliff-hanging ending.
- Leo – The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen Probably the first novel I read where my perspective on each character changed constantly while reading, and never came close to being fully resolved, even as I turned over the final page. A novel to read, perhaps, if you’re getting sick of always being told to pick a side!
Now Booking
Nidhi Arora in conversation
If you’re curious about book publishing – especially for a first-time author, then reserve a space with us on the 17th February, for a unique insight.
Nidhi Arora is the author of The Lights of Shantinagar, a warm and lively portrait of family life set in modern India, where new philosophies are reshaping old traditions – and one woman’s astute observations can change everything. This is Nidhi’s debut novel and the winner of Unbound Firsts 2025, a competition for debut writers of colour.
FYI – Unbound refers to the now-defunct publishing house set up in 2011. Positioning itself as a ‘literary disrupter’, its unconventional funding model aimed for an author-first approach – but when the company imploded last year, those authors found themselves owed (collectively), hundreds of thousands of pounds, and questions remain about sales reporting and financial mismanagement.
When we first met Nidhi last summer, she was uncertain of her publishing future, but has since found a home with Wilton Square Books, whose director, Will Atkinson will be interviewing her. This promises to be a lively and fascinating conversation – about Nidhi’s work, about stories set in India and about the road to publication in the current climate. We hope you can join us – wine and nibbles served from 6.30.
Our Recommended Reads
Something from Nothing by Alison Roman/What to Cook and When to Cook It by Georgie Mullen
A double recommendation this week from Emily, who’s been hunkering down in the kitchen, alternating between Alison Roman’s Something from Nothing and Georgie Mullen’s What To Cook & When To Cook It. Both packed with hearty seasonal recipes that are easy to cook and ultimately about delicious home cooked food. Beautiful photography and lots of tips on how to get the perfect silky pasta sauce.
One Sun Only by Camille Bordas
As per her new year’s reading resolution, Alison alighted on a collection of short stories this week. Camille Bordas has a number of novels to her name (in both English and her native French), and has contributed numerous short stories to The New Yorker over the last decade – which is all to say that as a reader, you’re in safe hands. The dozen stories in this collection are ‘slices of life’ – understated and thoughtful, driven by the characters Bordas sketches and their interior worlds. Highly recommended if you want to explore the genre, or need a calm, low-drama read this week.
What we’re loving this week…
Emily has been immersed in a podcast this week –The Birth Keepers (The Guardian Investigates). Documenting the rise of the free-birth movement in America, this podcast focuses on the two founding members and the inevitable fallout from the movement. Explores why women might choose to give birth without medical intervention – and ultimately shines a light on how the movement has been monetised and turned into a business. Really interesting!
Leo was reminded of the Kurt Vonnegut quote: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be” while listening to The Walkers: The real Salt Path the new podcast from The Observer about the truth behind the bestselling ‘memoir’, The Salt Path. Presenter Chloe Hadjimatheou picks up where she left off in her article in the newspaper last year, but goes deeper, questioning whether the actual 630-mile trek the couple claimed to have undertaken ever really happened. This is a compelling listen, but above all, a testament to the importance of good old-fashioned journalism, brought to life by a real writer and not an AI bot!
Alison saw Hamnet and gives it an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Already a huge fan of Maggie O’Farrell and her commitment to telling women’s stories, Alison loved the depiction of Agnes Hathaway in the 2020 novel – and Jessie Buckley’s portrayal of her on screen is all she could’ve hoped for. Hathaway’s beloved forest also features heavily, and the beauty of these scenes should really be enjoyed on a big screen.
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