A Morning with Catherine Newman & Rachel Joyce

We are delighted to welcome back two favourite bestselling authors, Catherine Newman and Rachel Joyce, for a morning talking about their latest novels and the theme of family in their writing. They will be 'in conversation' with Alison Barrow, Director of Media Relations at their publisher Transworld.

Wreck - Catherine Newman

Rocky, Nick, Willa and Jamie. A normal loving, anxious, messy, relatable family.

Abounding with wit, crisp insight and compassion, this tender-hearted, laugh-out-loud funny novel follows one family through a rollercoaster year as they share the unpredictable, beautiful messiness of life.

Catherine Newman is the New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich and We All Want Impossible Things, which was also chosen for the Richard & Judy Book Club. She is also the author of the memoirs Catastrophic Happiness and Waiting for Birdy, and the bestselling children's book How to be a Person. Wreck is published in hardback on 29th January 2026.

The Homemade God - Rachel Joyce

Family is everything, even when it falls apart.

There is a heatwave across Europe. Goose and his three sisters gather at the family's house by Lake Orta in Piedmont, Italy. Their father, a famous artist, has recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his masterpiece. Now he is dead and there is no sign of a painting.

Alhough the siblings have always been close, as they search for answers over that summer, the things they learn - about themselves, their father and their new stepmother - will drive them apart before they can come to any kind of understanding of what their father's legacy truly is.

Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North, The Music Shop, Miss Benson's Beetle, and a collection of interlinked short stories, A Snow Garden & Other Stories. Published in hardback in April 2005, The Homemade God is out in paperback on 29th January 2026.

We look forward to a morning of brilliant bookish chat over coffee with Catherine, Rachel and Alison.

Event Format:

Catherine Newman and Rachel Joyce 'in conversation' live on stage, followed by audience Q&A and book signing

Tickets:

£10 (Admits One - £5 of ticket price redeemable against a signed copy of Wreck or The Homemade God)

Venue:

The Holroyd Community Theatre is accessed off the Gledrid junction of the A5 north of Oswestry and is sign posted off Station Road (left turn before railway crossing). On-site parking is available.

Seating is unallocated

Please let us know if you have an accessibility/mobility requirements.

Refunds:

It is our general policy not to refund event tickets unless an event has sold out. In the case of sold out events where we have a waiting list for tickets, we will attempt to sell on your tickets at face value, if notified 7 days prior to the event. If sold, you will receive a refund for the ticket value (excluding Eventbrite fees). Alternatively, you can request to transfer your tickets to another event, making up any difference in ticket price. Please contact us if you are unable to attend an event: hello@bookabookshop.co.uk for further advice.

Please contact us if you are unable to attend an event: hello@bookabookshop.co.uk for further advice.