It’s a coincidence that as we wrote this, we also got the news of the passing away of Leonard Riggio, the former chairman of Barnes & Nobel who grew B&N to be the biggest chain of “brick and mortar” bookshops in the world. The B&N chain changed the way books would be sold through its hundreds of stores, deep discounts, comfortable sofas and the inevitable cappuccino and doughnuts. The B&N chain ultimately lost its business to technology, to the Internet and to another behemoth, Amazon.
In an interview in 2021, Riggio said, “I don’t miss being a business person, I had enough of that. But I do miss the bookselling part, helping to find books to recommend to customers.” It’s this that lies at the core of the Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop. Alba Donati had a comfortable job as a publicist for a leading publisher in Florence. She was also an accomplished award-winning poet.
But she was restless and the pull of the Tuscany countryside was irresistible. One day she decided to go back to her village of Lucignana near Lucca and open a bookshop. Her conversation with Romano Montroni, the founder of Italy’s largest bookselling chain is striking. “Romano, I would like to open a bookshop where I live.” “Fine, how many people are we talking about?” “One hundred and eighty.” “Right, so if a hundred and eighty thousand people live there, then…” � “Not hundred and eighty thousand, Romano. Just a hundred and eighty!” “Alba, have you lost your mind?”
Not quite, and Donati’s book is a fascinating story of inspiration, friendship and relationship building with a community of readers and book lovers that stretch beyond the confines of the village to encompass Lucca, Florence, Montale and Viareggio. She maintains a diary which record the sales of the day. She sells books both in English and in Italian, the classics as well as the moderns. She refurbishes an old house with well laid out bookshelves and deck chairs in the garden with the picture of Frida Kahlo on the cushions. In addition to books, she also sells English tea from Kent and stockings from Israel with Jane Austen quotes and Emily Dickinson calendars.
The bookshop, Libreria Sopra La Penna or simply The Village Bookstore survives both the Covid (through online orders) and a fire (through timely help from friends). Two testimonials illustrate its uniqueness. “I’ve chosen the books myself, books you recommended, it’s the care you can sense, in the wrapping, the scent, the flowers and ribbons. I’m so happy I found you.”
“I am a wife and a mother. I work in healthcare but am dissatisfied, looking for my true calling and the courage to make a change. I’d like to open something like your bookshop.”
Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop
By Alba Donati
Hachette India
pp. 196; Rs 599
