Corner Shop: A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick

The Corner Shop is a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week that tells the story of Babita Sharma, who was raised in a corner shop in Reading and gained a unique insight into a shifting landscape. It has shaped the way we shop, eat, and understand ourselves, and has won the Business Book Award for an exceptional book that promotes diversity.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 18 April 2019
Publisher: John Murray Press

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

Nuanced, human, and engaging, Nikesh Shukla, Observer

Full of life, characters, gossip, and all the richness of the local community, Sir David Jason

A delightful story of growing up above the shop, Nigel Slater, Observer

Cleverly links her own memories of shop-bound life with the last 50 years of British history, Spectator

I come from a hidden world: I am the daughter of shopkeepers. I've seen you on a Sunday morning, nipping out to get a pint of milk or to grab a newspaper. I came to know a lot about you; whether your politics leaned to the right or left, whether you were gay or straight, and whether you were plagued by cash-flow problems or had enough disposable income to indulge your penchant for Cadbury's Creme Eggs.

Babita Sharma was raised in a corner shop in Reading, and over the counter, watched a changing world, from the clientele to the products to the politics of the day. Along with the skills to mop a floor perfectly and stack a shelf, she gained a unique insight into a shifting landscape—and an institution that, despite the creep of supermarkets, online shopping, and delivery, has found a way to evolve and survive—and is currently keeping us all running.

From the general stores of the first half of the 20th century (one of which was run by the father of a certain Margaret Thatcher), to the reimagined corner shops run by immigrants from India, East Africa, and Eastern Europe from the 60s to the noughties, the corner shop has shaped the way we shop, the way we eat, and the way we understand ourselves.

WINNER OF THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARD FOR AN EXCEPTIONAL BOOK THAT PROMOTES DIVERSITY

A triumph, Radio Times

A compelling, full selection box of a story, Sanjeev Kohli

One of the best books I've read on.

Weight: 386g
Dimension: 214 x 145 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781473673229