The Next Chapter team L to R -Sarah Clark, Alex Walton, Caroline Harker, Sally Battson
Recently, Wanaka’s own independent bookshop – The Next Chapter – celebrated two years in business. Quite an achievement in the turbulence of the Covid environment, with its associated challenges! Owners Jenny Ainge and Sally Battson work with their team (Caroline Harker, Sarah Clark, Alex Walton) to curate and present a diverse and engaging selection of titles across a wide range of genres, including children’s books and specialist areas such as gardening, art, interior design, cooking and mountaineering.
The team pride themselves in having good knowledge of both current and landmark literature and love to “talk books” with customers. Individual staff have a range of reading preferences and areas of special interest. Talk to Jenny about literary fiction; Sally about children’s books; Sarah about YA fiction and Fantasy. Caroline has a passion for New Zealand authors, while Alex also does part-time work at the library which makes her knowledgeable about a huge range of genres.
In addition to books, The Next Chapter sells gift vouchers and also specialises in book subscriptions, which can be the perfect gift for someone special or an effortless way to line up a year’s worth of hand-picked reading for yourself. Such a treat!
Over the coming weeks we look forward to introducing you to a range of books – best-sellers and our favourites – for your reading pleasure or Christmas shopping. To start you off - how about Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus? We, and our readers, have loved this story of the rebellious and resilient Elizabeth Zott, who takes on a TV cooking show after her career as a research scientist is stymied by 1950s chauvinism. Everyone says of the book “I just didn’t want it to end!”. A terrific book gift or addition to your summer reading list.