Move over Vogue… welcome to our version of a glossy interview in ten nosy questions with a bookseller (with more cardigans and fewer designer shoes). This time, we are jumping into the mind of Liv Burness…

What’s the book you’re picking most for your subscribers this month?

Another Marvelous Thing by Laurie Colwin. It reads like a forgotten Nora Ephron script – whip-smart characters going back and forth with all this brilliant sparkling dialogue.

Recommend a niche book that you wish more customers had heard of –

The Seas by Samantha Hunt. It’s a dark, aquatic twist on coming of age, with a freaky little love story at its centre. Perfect for anyone who’s ever felt like falling in love made them go a bit mad… or anyone who’s ever wanted to be a mermaid!

Give us the three buzz words that will make you pick up a book from the blurb

HOT PINK COVER

Which book are you most looking forward to coming out this year?

The Silver Book by Olivia Laing. It’s a love story wearing a slick Noir trench coat, set against the backdrop of 70s Italian cinema. Olivia’s voice is just incredible – it captures this defunct dream world (and the dreamers who inhabit it!) so evocatively.

Current book of the year?
 
In Love with Love by Ella Risbridger. It’s a series of essays about the romance genre, and it’s just brilliant. If you’ve ever wanted to read about Jane Austen, Jilly Cooper, Judith Butler, and giant sexy aliens in the same book, In Love With Love is for you. Also, let’s be friends.

What was the last book that made you cry?
 
Heart the Lover by Lily King. It’s this read-in-one-sitting, audible-sob-inducing, great big beauty of a book… it absolutely devastated me (and I love being emotionally devastated).

Your favourite childhood book?
 
Growing up, I loved books by Jacqueline Wilson, Cathy Cassidy, and Louise Rennison. Angus Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging was so foundational to shaping my sense of humour, and I firmly believe that Dave the Laugh is up there with Mr Darcy in the canon of great romantic heros.

Which author have you just recently discovered?

Eva Ibbotson! She’s wonderful – completely charming and escapist – and I want to read everything she’s ever written.

Name a book that surprised you unexpectedly enjoyed (due to genre, content, style…)

Karma Doll by Jonathan Ames. This isn’t too unexpected, as I absolutely love this series… but how often can you say that the third book in a series is your favourite?

If you weren’t a bookseller, what would you be doing?

In my dream life, I think I’d direct music videos. Or I’d be a writer on a nutty teen drama show, like Pretty Little Liars or Riverdale. Or I’d ghostwrite celebrity memoirs. Or I’d work for Cher (in whatever capacity she would have me).