The Booksellers Association has today revealed One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley, as Fiction Book of the Month, and Call of the Titanic by Lindsay Galvin as Children’s Book of the Month for June.
 
Independent bookshops around the UK and Ireland will be promoting One Puzzling Afternoon and Call of the Titanic throughout June on social media and in-store. The Booksellers Association will be supporting the promotion of the Indie Books of the Month through social media and promotional material.

A captivating, darkly compelling debut adult novel from the Carnegie and Branford Boase prize nominated author, One Puzzling Afternoon is an irresistible small-town mystery for fans of Elizabeth is Missing, Joanna Cannon and Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers.
 
It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living alone with her eccentric mother - who conducts seances for the local Ludthorpe community - she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life. When the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. But Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep . . .Then Lucy goes missing.
 
In 2018 Edie is eighty-four and still living in Ludthorpe. When one day she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen, her family write it off as one of her many mix ups. There's a lot Edie gets confused about these days. A lot she finds difficult to remember. But what she does know is this: she must find out what happened to Lucy, all those years ago. One Puzzling Afternoon is published by Zaffre on 25 May 2023 and is available to pre-order now.
 
Emily Critchley said: “Browsing the shelves of an independent bookshop has been one of my favourite ways to spend a weekend afternoon for as long as I can remember. I have made some of my finest discoveries in independent bookshops - books that have shaped me as a writer and which have introduced to me to new and rediscovered voices. Whenever I visit a new town or city, I seek out the independent bookshops and feel immediately at home amongst like-minded book lovers.”
 
With thoroughly researched historical detail, Call of the Titanic reimagines the sinking of the Titanic and the terrible aftermath in a way that makes it a comfortable read for children to understand and relate to. Lindsay Galvin also includes her trademark story ingredient of myth and legend, linked to reported historical sightings of sea serpents… There is no doubt that this book will be as popular to read in the classroom and as it will be during summer holidays.
 
Young cabin steward, Sid, is proud to be working on the Titanic, the greatest ship ever built. Clara dreams of adventure too, but she’s a stowaway in the hold of a much smaller boat, Carpathia. Here she meets the biggest, best dog she’s ever known: Rigel, who is on his way to be reunited with his owner. None of them could have imagined how they would need each other one ice-cold terrible night. Or that an even more extraordinary creature might also answer their call… Call of the Titanic is published by Chicken House on 8 June 2023 and is available to pre-order now.
 
Lindsay Galvin said: " An independent bookshop is a portal into a world of stories, and the bookseller your trusty navigator.
 
There’s millions of books, and millions of readers, but it takes quality independent bookshops and booksellers to bring them together.”
 
The Indie Book of the Month titles are selected by panels of booksellers from publisher submissions. The Children’s panel for June comprised members from Read, Holmfirth; Children’s Bookshop, Muswell Hill; Rossiter Books and The Alligator’s Mouth. The Fiction panel were from Kemptown Bookshop; Nantwich Bookshop; Postscript Books and Hewson Books.
 
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