This week happens to be National Grief Week. Consequently, we are showcasing our grief books which are a mixture of memoirs and guides to dealing with the death of a loved one.

We also have a comprehensive collection of books for young children to help them
understand death, whether it is a close family member, a pet, or just a question being asked about death.

There are also some excellent books, recently published, discussing our approach to death as a society. For example “Being Mortal” by Atal Gawande and “The Way We Die Now” by Seamus O’Mahony.

Childrens’ Bookshop: It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to John MacIntyre from The Children’s Bookshop. In the spirit of cooperation that prevails amongst the Wellington booksellers, he was a great support and mentor to many of us. He will be missed.

John ran the bookshop in partnership with his wife Ruth, who is now leading a great little team at the Children’s Bookshop. We will continue to support her and the shop and wish her well as she steps into John’s shoes.

Lonely Planet Promotion: Lonely Planet is now producing a wonderful range of children’s books, activities and guides. We will be running a promotion in August to showcase these.

NZ Post: There have been some changes to NZ Post prices. These are only affecting Fastpost letters and some increases to international post parcels.

Facebook and Instagram: We now have the lovely Belinda Robins managing our Facebook page and Instagram. She is making a huge impact for us with the increased communication offered and the opportunity to see daily the books we are promoting. This has also meant that out-of-town customers can get a better idea of the books available here and have books posted to them. If you are not following us on Facebook it would be worth a look. You can access via our website if you are not on Facebook. Marsdenbooks.co.nz

NZ Children’s Book Awards: We have a display of all the finalists for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The winners will be announced in August.

Music: Beatrice is busy collating a wonderful collection of CDs and is happy to take orders. She is in the shop on Fridays if you would like the chance to talk to her.

In the meantime, Happy Reading from the team at Marsden Books.

Now that we are well into 2017, the year of the Rooster, the Marsden Books team is working hard to stock the best books, cards, and extra little treasures you might need. It is great to see our fellow local businesses in Marsden Village thriving and enjoying much deserved support. In the difficult times, some communities such as Christchurch and Kaikoura have faced, the importance of a supportive local community comes to the fore.

“Leap of Faith”
We are thrilled to be hosting an event to celebrate Jenny Pattrick’s new novel Leap of Faith.
Thursday April 6^th
5.30pm at St Ninians in Karori.
Refreshments and seating will be available so join us to hear Jenny talk about the book and read from it.
Please rsvp by 3 April.
Copies of the book will be available to buy at the event, and Jenny will be happy to sign them then.

Gecko Promotion:
For the month of March, we are promoting local publisher Gecko. Buy a Gecko book during the month of March and go into the draw to win a wonderful collection of their children’s books.

The winner will be able to nominate a local school or preschool to receive an identical collection of Gecko books. Our thanks to Gecko publishers for their support of this promotion.

Facebook followers can be in to win a copy of The Gecko Annual edited by Kate de Goldi and Susan Paris. You can access our Facebook page here.

Stocktake:
Our stocktake will be on April 1^st which means the shop will close early at 1 pm.

Easter Hours:
CLOSED: Good Friday, 14 April.
OPEN: Saturday 9 till 3.
CLOSED: Easter Sunday and Monday

Books To Look Forward To by some of our favourite authors:

Leap of Faith by Jenny Pattrick. A vivid novel about ingenuity and hard slog, crooks and dreamers, bootleggers and love, during the construction of the main Trunk Railway line, set in a rugged difficult landscape.

Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore. An unsettling mystery set in Britain in the 1700’s as the French Revolution takes hold just across the water.

House of Names by Colm Toibin. A retelling of the story of Clytemnestra and her children.-spectacularly audacious, violent, vengeful, lustful, and instantly compelling.

How to Measure a Cow by Margaret Forster. This is her last novel published after her death last year and written in her wonderful style reminiscent of her best earlier novels.

Breaking Ranks by James McNeish. Three distinct stories about three New Zealanders, a doctor, a soldier and a judge, but with one thing in common — they all paid the price for standing up for what they believed in.

We welcome Charlotte and Emily Sinclair who will be working on Saturdays. They have shown a great passion for reading and will now be able to share that knowledge with our customers. We look forward to having them as part of our team at Marsden Books.