The Hannah Barnes book

[RoyalCorgi]

There have been discussions about the book on different threads relating to various interviews with Barnes or pieces about the book. Thought it would be useful to bring everything on to one thread.

This review by Sarah Ditum is excellent and very moving:

unherd.com/2023/02/the-tragedy-of-becoming-a-woman/

Another good one from Suzanne Moore:

suzannemoore.substack.com/p/a-review-of-time-to-think-the-book

The tragedy of a misogynistic world is that it makes girls believe they need a cure for femaleness. The scandal of GIDS is that it pretended it could supply one

I wandered into an independent bookshop in my middle class, rather bohemian rural town to order this book.
As soon as I mentioned Hannah Barnes,the young woman serving ( hippy style, piercings etc) said oh yes and led me to the shelve where there were 3 copies.
A big smile and 'it's going to be a tough read' at the till.
Couldn't believe it.

Shelf obvs

Bought my copy from newish small independent. Staff member said it had been popular. Not stocked at Waterstones btw.
excellent book, very thorough research

There are 60 pages of references and notes at the end. Barnes did a lot more research than anyone at GIDS ever did.

The research is impressive. It's chilling to see how appalling groups like Mermaids and GIRES were able to influence the healthcare of children like this. All funded by the NHS.

Having said that, it's so surreal to read. I'm constantly having to take breaks to figure out whether I just read that.

Same here, @StephanieSuperpowers . Now getting to a part where principled clinicians, excited and proud to be working for the renowned Tavistock, but after raising justifiable concerns were labelled “transphobic”, which of course is as silencing as it’s intended to be, and reflective of social media in general. Only when I left Twitter and came to Mumsnet have I been able to comment, or question, without getting piled on by one side or t’other.

Sorry, are Waterstones not stocking it or have they run out?

Waterstones have it listed on their website: www.waterstones.com/book/time-to-think/hannah-barnes/9781800751118

Well I went into Waterstones in Bristol and asked. They said they were sold out, i asked to order it and the man told me it was sold out online too. Checked on phone 5 minutes later and it is available on Waterstones website so was a blatant lie!! This book is in the top 10 this week! Do they not want customers?

In town this afternoon my local Waterstones had a copy of Hannah Barnes’ book prominently placed in the new non-fiction section at the front of the store. Conversely, in Blackwell’s it was nowhere to be found. They had a big display of ‘queer’ books (Grace Lavery, Torrey Peters, Bergdorf & co.) though.

Which bristol waterstones, fabric? I'll go in next week

One in the galleries. I have ordered it from Foyles now. Waterstones staff are so misguided deciding what people can read

I looked in the big Waterstones in my nearby woke university town last weekend, nowhere to be seen. I was going to order it on my kindle instead but, after news last week of Amazon updating people’s Dahl books on their kindles, I’ve decided to buy a hard copy.

I was weighing up buying on kindle but I have a feeling friends might want a read

#16 on the Amazon chart.

Seems to be doing really well.

www.amazon.co.uk/charts/2023-02-26/mostsold/nonfiction/ref=dp_chrtbg_dbs_1

Taht's Amazon non-fiction, to be precise.

Sunday Times bestseller: twitter.com/hannahsbee/status/1632279726482915328

Be curious to see whether publishers will continue to throw vast sums of money at authors who produce flag-draped books that nobody is interested in reading, or whether they will decide that the books they're so afraid to publish that are doing so bloody well might actually have been worth taking a punt on, after all.

Did anybody else read Hadley Freeman's piece in the Sunday Times today? Not only has Hannah Barnes's book got into the bestsellers list (as mentioned above), but Munroe Bergdorf's book, which was apparently the subject of a bidding war, has reached the dizzy heights of 2,838 in the Amazon charts.

I find it fascinating that publishers, who we are constantly told operate to tight margins, and who you'd assume would be focused on publishing books that people want to buy, are instead turning down books like Barnes's, and Kathleen Stock's and Helen Joyce's, and instead spending a six-figure sum (apparently) on a memoir by a person literally no one is interested in.

I think sex matters should do a similar campaign as trans and send one to every MP.

And school.

As SOS are doing in Scotland

Is that only a Scottish campaign? I thought it was UK wide!

If you go to Waterstones' website you can check 'click and collect' to see if it's available in your local store. Putting in "bristol" shows that the nearest ones in store are Hereford, Salisbury and Bridport. So may well be sold out. Manchester doesn't have any either.

don't seem to be any available in Glasgow.