6th February Newsletter

What’s On At Veranda

Welcome, welcome! Forgive us if we’re looking a bit bleary-eyed this weekend, it’s a been a week of long days, and late nights – between meetings, book events, and reading into the small hours, the business of running a bookshop is taking its toll. Not that we’re complaining, by the way – no two days are ever the same, and we couldn’t be happier! But of course, without you, reading this newsletter, sharing recommendations, supporting the shop, coming to events – we wouldn’t get to do any of this. So, thank you for your continued friendship and support, it means a lot!

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Shop News

The new literary year is officially underway!

A full house on Thursday for our first author event of 2026. Moroccan author, Khalid Lyamlahy joined us on the publication date of his deeply moving novel Venice Requiem for a fascinating conversation with acclaimed writer and ‘literary wild child’ Lisa St Aubin de Téran. Venice Requiem was translated by Ros Schwartz (pictured, with Khalid), with great delicacy and authority and we were delighted that Ros was here to provide added insight into how this much-needed book has been published for the anglophone world. (See our Recommended Reads below for more on this…)
A real treat on Wednesday when we were invited to join Akoya, a thrilling new entrant to the publishing scene, as they celebrated the launch of They by notable Danish author, Helle Helle, now in translation by Martin Aitken. Over an intimate dinner at local Mexican hotspot KOL, we chatted with journalists and fellow booksellers. The highlight of the evening was hearing from Helle herself about her work, along with with a reading from They, a haunting, intimate portrait of the bond between a young girl and her dying mother.
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Leo on The Rise of Autofiction: It’s All About Me!

In my former life in advertising, a phrase often employed was “don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.” A sentiment which appears to be favoured by many of the current wave of so-called auto-fiction writers populating the shelves of the shop.
The way we often explain autofiction is to say that writers have always mined their lives, or what people now call their ‘lived experience’ for material. The difference these days is that the story is told in a more explicitly hyper-realistic way than a more classical novel narrated in the third person.
In autofiction, the first person “I” voice generally populates each page with an almost tyrannical authority, and if the narrator is named, they may have the same name as the author themselves, which further confuses matters.
It’s perhaps this sense of immediacy and the idea that you are being drawn directly into the narrator’s private world, which feels so seductive to readers. Or perhaps, we now live in a culture so invested in the self that the “I” voice simply feels more relatable or even comforting.
Ultimately, though, readers are seduced by good stories, but as the morass of passionate but not widely read personal essays and Substacks attest to , it’s not enough to simply boldly speak your truth onto the page.
This is where the art of fiction part comes in. Good novel writing requires an understanding of the age-old craft of how to construct a story and the ability to know when to impart information to the reader and when to hold back. A skill employed by all successful autofiction writers, who are arguably more influenced by the classic novel than they may realise.
Autofiction Top 3:
  • How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti
  • The Sisters​by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
  • Love Me Tender by Constance Debré
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Now Booking

Evenings with Erin Somers and Anna Pazos

Evenings with Erin Somers and Anna Pazos

Make space in your diaries for two more fantastic events in March.

One of the most talked-about books this year is Erin Somers’ irresistibly-titled The Ten Year Affair. A Veranda pick last month, we weren’t the only ones shouting about this sharp and witty look at millennial marriage and infidelity in the suburbs of New York. Glowing reviews have appeared in a host of publications from the Guardian to the FT. So we’re delighted to welcome Erin to the shop on the 11th March for drinks and conversation. And we couldn’t think of anyone better to interview Erin than Juliet Rosenfeld, psychoanalyst and author of last year’s bestselling Affairs: True Stories of Love, Lies, Hope and Desire. We predict a busy, buzzy evening, and recommend booking soon to avoid missing out!

We still have a handful of tickets available for the following upcoming events:

  • 17th Feb: Nidhi Arora will be discussing her debut novel The Lights of Shantinagar over warm chai and snacks from 6.30-8.30
  • 5th March: Rebecca Perry’s new novel May We Feed The King has been named an Observer Debut of 2026 and Rebecca will be here in conversation with poet and writer Amy Key
For more details, please check our website. If you can’t find tickets, please call into the shop or email (alison@verandabooks.com) and we’ll do our best to fit you in!
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Our Recommended Reads

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This Is Where The Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin

Alison has found herself enthralled by this standout book by acclaimed short story writer Daniyal Mueenuddin. A series of interlinked novellas, in fact this reads as a rich, epic novel, replete with characters and the vibrant detail of life in contemporary Pakistan. Mueenuddin’s storytelling is fluent and often funny despite the darker undertones of inequality, corruption and human tragedy.  Satisfyingly complex, without ever being confusing, this is a must for anyone looking for a gripping insight into another culture.

Venice Requiem by Khalid Lyamlahy (tr. Ros Schwartz)

On a cold winter’s day in 2017, 22-year-old Gambian refugee Pateh Sabally took a train from Milan to Venice and drowned himself in the Grand Canal, while onlookers either turned away, or worse, shouted insults at him. That Khalid Lyamlahy has taken such an ugly incident and woven it into a work of literary beauty is testament to his skill as a writer. Written in fragments, Venice Requiem is an enquiry into what happened that day – and by extension, what has happened to our world in recent times. Lyrical, heartbreaking and thought-provoking, this is a vital book that should be read far and wide.

What we’re loving this week…

Emily has found it tricky to get out and do anything cultural so this week she’s been immersed in a jigsaw puzzle. Not just any puzzle but a cryptic one! Specifically, RuPaul-themed. You need to puzzle not what you see on the box lid, but what the judges are seeing on stage. She managed to finish it which brought a sense of pride and achievement to an otherwise uneventful week.
Leo went to see Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency at Gagosian (Davies St, W1K). While all of Goldin’s work is innately political, this is a show best viewed through the lens of personal storytelling, an homage to the friends and community that help us find our place in the world.
Alison watched Panorama: Our Man in Moscow, a fascinating insight into a year in the life of Steve Rosenberg, the BBC’s Russia Correspondent, and one of the few remaining western journalists still working in Russia. In Putin’s realm, journalists are routinely harassed, imprisoned or worse, so it does beg the question, ‘why stay?’. Rosenberg clearly loves this country – he’s lived and worked there for 25 years. And his integrity as a reporter shines through – he spends his days doggedly seeking out facts in the face of obfuscation and misinformation. (BBC/iPlayer)

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