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

Yes, that was a good article by Hadley. And Bergdorf's piece was promoted by a sympathetic piece in The Guardian (of course...), too.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sense-prevails-we-re-giving-censors-the-boot-r6rdmgnw2

Interesting that my copy was on the politics shelf in the bookshop...

Yes but I asked can I order it in from online/ another branch and they said it was sold out completely and actually said try another retailer!

I'm also having trouble getting it from Waterstones. I went in on the day of publication so, I guess, a week and a half ago? And the guy behind the till said "oh it was only published today, come back in a few days" as I eyeballed piles of "preorder" books dotted around the shop. When I went back two days later a different guy (with much huffing and sighing?) told me they were sold out, nothing in the warehouse and not arriving anytime soon and I couldn't even order into the shop.

I tried again at a big Waterstones in another town this weekend, and they said the same - nothing on the shelves, nothing in the warehouse but they could see that there were two copies in the Waterstones branches in Trafalgar Square and Kensington High Street and that was it. She also couldn't order it in for me. I pointed out it had been Observer Book of the Week, Sunday Times bestseller etc but she had no answer for me why there were piles and piles of other books being promoted and she couldn't even order me this one into the store.

I know at this point I should just buy it from Amazon or another shop but I feel like I need to make a point here to indicate to the people on the shop floor that there's a problem here, if they can't even order in a Sunday Times bestseller.

Sounds like there's a story worth following up around Waterstone's. Are they suppressing this book or not?

Not available for click and collect in my local Waterstones either.

Also not on their list of recommended new books, unless you scroll deep into best new non-fiction.

Hm. You can get it at Stirling or Perth, but absolutely no Waterstones in Glasgow? Does seem a bit odd.

I think Waterstones press department need to respond as to why so many people can’t get it from their shops. It’s crazy that it’s not automatically stocked. They know from preorders how popular it is. It’s a form of information suppression by deliberately not stocking it. I’ll be having a look in my local branch but not holding my breath as I’ve never seen Kathleen Stock, Helen Joyce or Julie Bindel.
Are they institutionally sexist?

There are about eight Waterstones stores in and around Glasgow.

Not a one has a copy.

Not available from my local Waterstones (which is a good sized one with plenty of pro-Trans books on display). And nor is 'Hags' or 'Material Girls'. Apparently they do have the Helen Joyce 'Trans' book in stock (which they didn't when it came out as I went in there to buy it back then) but I didn't see it when I was looking for 'Hags' at the weekend so well hidden.

Munroe Bergdorf's 'Time to Transition' is available in every Glasgow branch of Waterstones, meanwhile.

Haud me back.

Not just this book, is it?

If I was a journalist I might be asking some questions.

Yep it’s not in stock in either of my local branches.
Bergdorph’s is but then I guess they’re desperate to shift stock. Wonder how long they wait before sending to pulp.

It’s a bizarre way to do business. Hide the bestseller!

It's completely bizarre. I've just rung up my local Waterstones to ask about Hags as well, which was published last week - 3-4 weeks for online delivery (for a newly published book!!) and can't order into the store.

I apparently can click and collect at a store that is an hour away, but the same store won't let me click and collect Time to Think. (I can click and collect Time to Think in High Wycombe but not Hags, I can click and collect Hags in Richmond but not Time to Think, I can click and collect both on Kensington High Street but neither in either Windsor or Victoria?!)

Well, they need to store them somewhere before they get pulped...!

I’d say they have regional buyers who are choosing not to stock Time To Think.
It’s not available in Richmond, Wandsworth, Clapham and Victoria. I guess the SW London buyer doesn’t like bestsellers

Ooh was just going to see if there was a comment re Waterstones. I can confirm that my local (Victoria) also did not stock (as of last week) and they could only find 2 physical copies in the whole of London.

They recommended I ordered online (they did not say they would send it in unmarked packaging but I got that vibe! )

It seems to be available at all the Waterstones near me (NW) but I'm sure I saw a tweet yesterday that implied it was a deliberate decision to not stock it in London.

Thanks for the reminder - I need to collect my copy today.

Trouble getting the book from certain, you know, bookshops? Well who’da thunk it? This from Twitter yesterday:

twitter.com/littlehardman/status/1632287118427865088?s=46&t=HayxxYISkdxqZGELM1SOCg

Yep.

Anyone struggling to buy a copy, you can ask your library if they will buy one, might be a good idea anyway to make it available to more eyes

excellent idea.

Thing is, this does all look like there are questions. And if it's the worst case, then going straight in at no1 or the top 3 may have been sabotaged. If that's the case then it's serious. There seem to be enough queries though, for some journos to have a dig.