Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Would you want to browse/flick through in a bookshop?

73 replies

pollyglot · 10/09/2026 07:13

Would this cover tempt you to pick it up and browse in a bookshop? It's not for sale-I wrote it for my family, but would love to know whether this sort of cover has general appeal? It's a bit out of proportion because I've concealed my name...thanks for advice!

Would you want to browse/flick through in a bookshop?
OP posts:
purplecorkheart · 10/09/2026 20:01

Honestly no. I like the colour and the font. The picture would actually put me off.

ElefantAndCastle · 10/09/2026 20:03

No. Not at all.

pollyglot · 10/09/2026 20:07

No idea what happened with my attempt to reproduce part of a chapter on page 2 . Never mind.

OP posts:
Daffodilsinthespring · 10/09/2026 21:40

pollyglot · 10/09/2026 07:26

I find it terribly sad that the word ANZAC is unknown among the modern generation.

Never heard of it and just googled it. Book is very unappealing to me. Maybe change the green to black.

StillSmallVoice · 10/09/2026 21:50

I think there’s a consensus on the cover. Sorry.

Mumsnet is international. It’s really only in Australia and New Zealand where ANZAC is part of the culture.

This is an important story and personal to you. The cover is important in promoting the book, and really needs to connect in some way with potential readers.

ilovepixie · 10/09/2026 21:55

I would read it. I like the title but doesn’t really go with the picture and cover.

PhilosophicalCheeseSandwich · 10/09/2026 22:04

LaterSunrise · 10/09/2026 07:25

It looks like what it is — self-published family history, primarily of interest only to family. So most likely not.

This is what I thought. I'd only read it if a relative had written it.

GetBernie · 10/09/2026 22:10

No. It looks old fashioned but not in a deliberate, retro way. In a 'stuck on the shelf of a charity shop with that horrible, musty ancient book smell about it' way.

somanychristmaslights · 10/09/2026 22:12

pollyglot · 10/09/2026 07:26

I find it terribly sad that the word ANZAC is unknown among the modern generation.

I’m early 40s and I have never heard of the word.
it’s not a book I would pick up. As I don’t recognise the words, to me it looks like a period drama book which I’m not in to.

Latenightreader · 10/09/2026 23:20

Mid 40s, UK person here, and I have heard of ANZACs - either I heard the term at school or at least in my teens. I used to read a lot of 20th century history. There was also an excellent miniseries ANZAC Girls about a decade ago about nurses during WW1.

coldcalling · 11/09/2026 07:55

I remember the Mel Gibson film Gallipoli about the Anzacs, but I've never learned about it at school.

The book will be a lovely thing to have, and to pass down in your family OP - lots of oral family history gets lost.

Petrine · 11/09/2026 08:03

I agree with others that the picture looks like something from a Mills and Boon - especially naff is the Cupid shooting an arrow at the couple.

The line ‘An ANZAC and his nurse’ doesn’t work either. Surely the acronym ANZAC refers to the corps itself? It’s a bit like saying An SAS and his nurse.

HambleTheDoll · 11/09/2026 08:07

No I wouldn’t but I hope your family enjoy it

Snoken · 11/09/2026 08:17

Petrine · 11/09/2026 08:03

I agree with others that the picture looks like something from a Mills and Boon - especially naff is the Cupid shooting an arrow at the couple.

The line ‘An ANZAC and his nurse’ doesn’t work either. Surely the acronym ANZAC refers to the corps itself? It’s a bit like saying An SAS and his nurse.

Edited

I think it should be referred to as an Anzac (not in full caps) when it is referring to a person rather than the corps as a group.

GoldTie · 11/09/2026 08:25

I’m from the UK and know what an Anzac is, I don’t think it’s that obscure. Regarding the book, no, not something I’d pick up. It’s a wartime romance. I’m not into romances really, but if I do read one I want to read a rollicking fictional saga. I don’t want to read the true story of a romance of two unknown people, unless I am related to them.

Anarchy99 · 11/09/2026 08:31

No it wouldn’t. If I glanced at it I would think it was a depressing romance with plenty of tragedy and melodrama. Not my thing

coldcalling · 11/09/2026 08:33

Petrine · 11/09/2026 08:03

I agree with others that the picture looks like something from a Mills and Boon - especially naff is the Cupid shooting an arrow at the couple.

The line ‘An ANZAC and his nurse’ doesn’t work either. Surely the acronym ANZAC refers to the corps itself? It’s a bit like saying An SAS and his nurse.

Edited

The soldiers were known as Anzacs.

user1492757084 · 11/09/2026 08:45

The cover is sweet. I really love the way you have identified it as a true story.
I would enjoy having a cup of tea, eating an ANZAC and reading your grandparents' story.

Lararoft · 11/09/2026 08:45

I think your book sounds very interesting! I follow Scott Bennett on Facebook who does a lot of work around Anzacs, Gallipoli & ww1 and has written some good non fiction regarding the men lost.
So I now know quite a bit about the conflict in Gallipoli & it was pretty horrific!
Also of interest would be the nursing aspect in your book @pollyglotas I work in a hospital and have many books on nurses in ww1 & ww2, also follow pages on social media about nurses in conflict.

The cover of your book may be old fashioned but it’s very much in the style of an antique ww1 postcard in my view (I collect them) which is no bad thing.

The pp commenting on your book saying it’s ‘only family history’ clearly don’t read many historical non fiction biographies…

CalliopeFosterBeauchamp · 11/09/2026 09:10

I’m a published author - I write historical fiction. I know what ANZAC refers to.

I’m confused by your question: surely no bookshop is likely to stock a self-published book? They have such limited space that they have to pick and choose books they’re sent by publishers.

As a PP said, if you were to get this published, the cover and title would not be your choice - it would be your publisher’s.

My blunt advice is: write this for your family, keep a few copies for yourself, and forget about whether this has market appeal.

placemats · 11/09/2026 09:14

Definitely would pick it up and browse through it. I watched the film Gallipoli and understand the meaning of Waltzing Matilda.

IvysMum12 · 11/09/2026 09:53

pollyglot · 10/09/2026 07:26

I find it terribly sad that the word ANZAC is unknown among the modern generation.

I absolutely agree.
The ANZACS suffered terribly at the hands of the Japanese in their prison camps.
Total respect for them.
I would certainly read your book!

pollyglot · 11/09/2026 19:45

@Lararoft Thank you! I follow Scott Bennett too on FB...in fact, you might notice a number of my photos on there from last month...! I had a Vietnam War combat nurse review the descriptions of treating the wounded from Gallipoli, from a nurse's experience, and she was fulsome in her praise. Three-quarters of the book is set in Devon and Malta, in hospitals -the Exeter No.2 Mililtary Hospital, and in the Sacra Infermeria in Valletta, and elsewhere. It 's not merely an "historical romance" - it's about the women who served, at home and abroad, and found their strength, the lost of the torpedoed hospital ships, the war brides who made a new life in the wilderness of the "colonies". Women I knew, loved and whose stories enthralled my youth. And while initially, and primarily for my family, though it appears that I've actually sold enough, in advance, and from sample chapters and the cover, in the museums and the community, to cover the costs, at least. You nailed it with the cover, @Lararoft - an old-fashioned postcard, of the era.

I'm especially grateful to those who pointed out the capitalisation of ANZAC is incorrect...I've stared at it so long thinking there was something not quite right...et voilà! Shameful, I know, but I blame old age and recurrent 'bugs'.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread