Travels by book

As we celebrate National Poetry Day on 1 October, Kent Life looks at how the joy of reading helped lift us into other worlds during lockdown

- Ana Sampson

As lockdown descended across Britain this spring, many of us turned to our bookshelves for comfort.

Though bookshops had to close their doors, a quarter of readers reported buying more books than before – aided by some of Kent’s wonderful independent bookshops such as The Sevenoaks Bookshop and The Margate Bookshop increasing their capacity to supply readers with stories by post.

Ebook and audiobook sales also boomed during those listless, confused early weeks, showing the public’s appetite for being lifted out of our enforced stasis.

I longed to read and found myself rather surprised to be pining for my much-maligned commute – a now halcyonseeming stretch of time during which I would not be clambered on or interrogated by my small children, and didn’t have to provide anyone with snacks.

Indulging in imaginary travel through the pages of my latest read as I sped towards the city became a guilty, unattainable fantasy.

Interestingly, although genres such as romantic fiction saw a surge in sales, crime books and thrillers initially saw the greatest boost. Propulsive plot lines and compelling twists were, it seems, most effective at keeping readers hooked and distracting them from the anxieties of rolling news.

Peter May’s Lockdown (Quercus) – written years before and rejected for publishers who felt its depiction of pandemic London was too far-fetched – was a notable success. Although these are stories in which dark things tend to happen, there is usually a tidy resolution by the book’s close and a comforting return to the status quo that can be a balm to readers in uncertain times.