The Grandest Bookshop in the World
Book 1 — 1893
Inspired by the real Cole’s Book Arcade that was Melbourne’s crowning glory from 1883 to 1929, this historical fantasy novel is perfect for readers aged nine to twelve. The Grandest Bookshop in the World is a multi-award-winner within Australia. International rights have been sold in six regions, and an Australian production company has optioned the novel for film.
The Story
Ten-year-old Pearl and her big brother Vally live in a bookshop. And not just any bookshop. In 1893, Cole's Book Arcade in Melbourne is the grandest bookshop in the world, brimming with every curiosity imaginable. Each day brings fresh delights for the Cole children: voice-changing sweets, talking parrots, live music, all the toys they could want, or a new story written just for them by their eccentric father.
The only way life at Cole’s Book Arcade could be better would be if their sister Ruby were still alive to enjoy it with them. And that’s where the trouble begins. As the third anniversary of Ruby’s passing approaches, Pearl and Vally discover that their Pa has risked the Book Arcade — and himself — in a shocking deal with a mysterious magician called Obscurosmith.
With audacious courage (and a bit of help from friends and family), Pearl and Vally hatch a plan. Soon they are swept into a dangerous game with impossibly high stakes: defeat seven challenges by the stroke of midnight and both the Arcade and their father will be restored. But if they can’t work together to win the game, Pearl and Vally won't just lose Pa — they'll forget that he and the Arcade ever existed.
Image from Cole family photo album via State Library of Victoria
The Inspiration
In 1883, on Melbourne Cup Day, a remarkable man opened a magnificent bookshop on Bourke Street Mall. The man was self-made, self-educated author and activist Edward William Cole, and the shop was Cole’s Book Arcade.
My novel is fantasy fiction, but the setting, characters and key elements of the plot are based on the real Mr Cole, his family, his writing and his marvellous ‘palace of intellect.’ The Book Arcade’s many departments enticed customers to visit: a funhouse, a lolly shop, a toy shop, a monkey exhibit, a lush fernery with talking parrots, a live band, and a Tea Salon. The Arcade’s motto enticed them to stay: Read For As Long As You Like — No One Asked To Buy.
Exterior of Cole’s Book Arcade in the early 1900s, photograph (colourised) — from Ian Armstrong collection via Museum Victoria
Cole himself lived with his wife Eliza and their six children — Linda, Eddie, Vally, Ruby, Pearl and Ivy — in an apartment at the top of the Book Arcade. With pet monkeys, a huge department store to play in, Mr Cole’s eccentric flair, and Mrs Cole’s enthusiasm for parties and seances, it must have been quite an exciting childhood!
Universal education, anti-racism, secular humanism, and technological and social progress were some of Cole’s favourite topics. His staff and friends were racially diverse, and he strongly disagreed with the White Australia Policy.
Cole lived a long, successful life, which he spent trying to bring about the harmonious, humane, intellectual future he had predicted would arrive by the year 2000. After Eliza’s passing, Cole moved to Earlsbrae Hall in Essendon (now Lowther Hall), where he eventually died in 1918, aged almost eighty-seven. The Book Arcade closed in 1929 and was demolished soon after.
Many Australians who grew up in the 1900s remember EW Cole thanks to the work of his grandson Cole Turnley, who reproduced and updated his most popular books for children. These books include nonsense poems, puzzles, jokes, games, and a wide variety of other educational and amusing items, which have inspired many of the elements in my book.
If you’d like to learn more about Mr Cole and the Book Arcade, or see the last relics of the Arcade for yourself, you can find more details on my further reading page.
The Triumph
The Grandest Bookshop in the World is my debut novel. It was awarded the 2018 Ian Wilson Memorial Fellowship from the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust, which was a great help in developing the first draft.
Since publication, it has won an Indie Award, an Australian Book Industry Award, an Australian Booksellers’ Award, and a NSW Premier’s Literary Award, all in the children’s book categories for 2021. It was also a runner-up in the 2021 ARA Historical Novel Prize.
International rights have been sold in six regions, including Hungary, Turkey, Italy and South Korea. The film option is held by an independent Australian production company.
The novel has also been featured by booksellers across Australia in weekly and monthly promotions, including Dymocks, Readings, QBD Books and Harry Hartog Books. Over 80,000 copies have been sold to date.
