A Bookshop of One’s Own
Jane Cholmeley, Mudlark, £16.99

CHARING CROSS ROAD in London has changed. Back in the 1980s I had made the foolhardy decision to move to London. Foolhardy in that I was in my twenties and had no idea of “city life” and secondly, I had no work to go to. So I ended up working at Foyles bookshop.

I hated it.

During my lunch break (I had to “clock off”) I would walk miserably down Charing Cross Road dreaming of all those other bookshops that so nicer to work for. Film, crime, art, second hand; this was a place of wonder for a bibliophile. And then I would end up at 68 Silver Moon, whose window displays were always eye-catching, at times humorous, but always welcoming.

A Bookshop Of One’s Own by Jane Cholmeley is just like that: a wonderful display of the rise and fall of a unique feminist bookshop, or as the book’s subheading states: “How a group of women set out to change the world.”

And change it they did, with the help of the GLC (Greater London Council) offering “bookshop rents” at reasonable rates, so that the heart of London had a diversity of  bookshops that became a global phenomenon.

Cholmeley charts with honesty the mistakes they made and the savage obstacles they had to overcome, from some surprisingly depressing quarters. But what comes across strongly is, as Jacqueline Wilson states on the back cover, the part the shop has played “in the making of the feminist movement, and also the role of women in society in general.”

Nothing is ignored, from guest speakers (Glenda Jackson, Angela Carter, Judy Chicago, Maya Angelou and Marge Piercy to Alice Walker, whose book signing had queues around the block) to the cafe and safe havens for women, to the loo-cleaning rota that the Collective took turns to do. A touching moment comes on pages 216-218 where Cholmeley lists the authors that she would like to thank for supporting Silver Moon. It was that kind of place.

The book reminded me of their political window displays that always seemed empowering: the protest to Stop Clause 27 (as it was then), or their celebration of Pride in 1996 with their best-selling teddy bears going “full fabulosa.”

Nearing the end of the book and knowing the outcome seems almost Shakespearean in it tragedy. The ending of the Net Book Agreement (NBA), the abolition of the GLC in 1986 and the “Bastard Landlords” as Chapter 20 is called, meant that Silver Moon was finished, or as Cholmeley says: “It wasn’t just a slowdown; it was a catastrophe, an unstoppable slide off a mountain peak into the chasm of death.”

This is a book for those who remember those days and for those who wish to follow Silver Moon’s core message: “You are not alone. Change for the good can happen. We demand it!”

So stop reading now and order this book from your local independent bookshop.