July 5, 2026
The second lockdown settled in differently. We knew the drill by now. Click and collect, free local delivery, the bookmark sliding into brown paper packages. But the shop stayed present in other ways through the books we talked about, the recommendations we sent out, and the window that kept changing even when nobody could come inside.
The ABA Booksellers' Choice Spring Reading Guide 2021 arrived and it felt like a promise. Bright covers, curated titles, the kind of catalogue that makes you want to read everything at once. I stamped each one with the @bookishchelsea details and made them available in store. If anyone wanted a PDF version, they could email info@chelseabookshop.com.au and I would reply with the guide attached. Five people messaged me for one that week.
The Hidden Life of Trees had been on my TBR list for a while. It was finally in stock, and I spent an evening reading chapter 24. There is something grounding about a book that reminds you the natural world is quietly doing its thing whether you are watching or not.
July lockdown had been about survival. August lockdown was about finding meaning. I thought about how even before the age of social media, photography had been a controversial subject flipping through Susan Sontag's On Photography. Then I escaped on a pilgrimage along the Camino with Two Steps Forward, the story of two broken-down souls walking with purpose. A Tennessee Williams quote tucked inside the pages: “There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.”
The sequel, Two Steps Onward, was already in store for anyone who had fallen in love with the characters. Books have always helped me find perspective and small kernels of wisdom in both good and hard times. I was looking forward to getting back to the bookshop as soon as we could.
Two titles that span decades and generations arrived that week: I Couldn't Love You More and Still Life. Great fiction reads to lose yourself in if you need a break from the screens. Seven people liked that post. It was the most engagement all week.
With the shop closed to foot traffic, the window became everything. I had a bit of fun rotating the books on display. Feature books on the coffee table, the non-fiction section rearranged, the picture book section visible from the street. I stepped outside to photograph it the full view of the storefront, the non-fiction shelves through the glass, the children's books catching the afternoon sun.
I told people to have a squiz next time they were grabbing a coffee. And they did. The shop stayed alive through its windows, waiting for the day the doors could open again.