Max Minerva's Marvellous Books

Max Minerva's Marvellous Books Hi, thanks for visiting our page. We'd love to see you in person so please come visit our store in Henleaze.

We host monthly author events and a monthly translated fiction book club, plus regular events in other parts of Bristol. Henleaze
47 Henleaze Road, BS9 4JU
[email protected]
07498 538 858

This is just a reminder of all of the fantastic events we’ve got coming up in the shop! (And an excuse for us to show of...
06/08/2026

This is just a reminder of all of the fantastic events we’ve got coming up in the shop! (And an excuse for us to show off our new blackboard and incredible artistic skills🎨🖌️)

Throughout August, we have some great events lined up at the shop as we start gearing up towards a fuller events schedule in the Autumn.

🔍10/08 - Our first CRIME BOOK CLUB meeting! We’ll be discussing Bonnie Burke-Patel’s We Search the Island for Grace!

📖13/08 - We’ll be welcoming local and award-winning writer, Bonnie Burke-Patel to the shop to discuss her third novel, We Search the Island for Grace!

💫15/08 - We’ll be welcoming debut author of Wishbound, Clemency Brown, for an interactive workshop! There’ll be friendship bracelet making, wish making, and an introduction to BSL!

🍕26/08 - To celebrate the latest instalment in the Peng & Spanners graphic novel series, we’re hosting a pizza party! Get your copy a day before its official release and grab a slice of pizza!

🌍27/08 - This month, our TRANSLATED FICTION BOOK CLUB will be looking at the IBP-shortlisted, She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel.

💌31/08 - In preparation of ACOTAR 6, our ROMANCE BOOK CLUB are reading all of the previous books in the series. This month, we’ll be discussing books 3 and 4.

🍃09/09 - Having won the Women’s Prize of Fiction this year, we’re delighted to be delving into The Correspondent in our CONTEMPORARY FICTION BOOK CLUB!

🌊25/09 - After the huge success of Big Little Lies and upcoming TV series, we are thrilled to be welcoming Liane Moriarty to the shop! In conversation with local crime writer, Charlotte Philby, this will be an excellent lunchtime event that looks at BLL’s sequel, Big Little Truths…

To stay up to date with our latest book clubs and events, make sure to sign up to our newsletter.

For more information about our events, go to maxminervas.co.uk/events

We hope to see you there!✨

✨WOMEN IN TRANSLATION MONTH✨If you’ve ever been in a six mile radius of Ev, you’ll definitely have heard her talking abo...
06/08/2026

✨WOMEN IN TRANSLATION MONTH✨

If you’ve ever been in a six mile radius of Ev, you’ll definitely have heard her talking about translated literature. In the last two years, what started as a little nook in the shop has grown into two full shelves full of international titles. With our monthly translated book club meetings and events chatting with translators, we’ve been able to nurture a wonderful community that is committed to reading outside of the canon and beyond.

From August 1st to the 31st, we’re celebrating Women in Translation month: a time to celebrate intersectional and international literature to combat the gender disparity in non-English literature. We, as readers, deserve to have access to stories that truly reflect the vastness of the world in which we live, through the different lenses shaped by language, culture, and experience.

Join in on our WIT month reading challenge, where we’re encouraging you to read at least 1 book written by women in translation this month!🩷💫

Come by and have a chat with Ev about all things translated literature. Our new shelves await…

AUGUST BOOKS OF THE MONTH ✨Whether you’re chasing the sun or sheltering from the (much needed) rain today, we have some ...
04/08/2026

AUGUST BOOKS OF THE MONTH ✨

Whether you’re chasing the sun or sheltering from the (much needed) rain today, we have some brilliant picks to keep you company.

🎨 The Artist by Lucy Steeds (Lucy Steeds John Murray Press)

🦈 Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (Pan Macmillan)

🌟 Hari Kumar: Ultimate Superstar by Rashmi Sirdeshpande (Rashmi Sirdeshpande MAMTA SINGH HarperCollins Children's Books UK)

🕰️ The Call by Peadar O’Guilin (Peadar Ó Guilín David Fickling Books)

You can find our August picks on our BOTM display in the shop or also on our website!

Happy reading 📖

COMING UP!📆Join us for an interactive friendship bracelet and wish-making workshop with Clemency Brown, author of Wishbo...
01/08/2026

COMING UP!📆

Join us for an interactive friendship bracelet and wish-making workshop with Clemency Brown, author of Wishbound: the first book in a heartfelt series about wishes and friendship!✨✨✨

The workshop will start at 11 am and will last about an hour.
We ask that parents stay with their child at all times.

Here’s what you can expect:
💫 Clemency introduces herself and her novel, Wishbound (5 mins)
💫 Wishbound live-reading (5 mins)
💫 Adding wishes to Wish Jar (10 mins)
💫 Learning useful signs in British Sign Language (10 mins)
💫 Making friendship bracelets (15 mins)
💫 Book signing (10 mins)

Suitable for ages 8+

📘: Wishblund by Clemency Brown
📆: Saturday 15th of August
⏳: 11 am
🎟️: Tickets are available to purchase in store, and on our website! https://maxminervas.co.uk/collections/events/products/%F0%9F%8E%89-event-15-08-clemency-brown-workshop

Chicken House Clemency Brown, children’s author in Frome

MEET THE 13 LONGLISTED TITLES FOR THIS YEAR’S BOOKER PRIZE!🏆 Chosen from over 150 titles written in English and publishe...
28/07/2026

MEET THE 13 LONGLISTED TITLES FOR THIS YEAR’S BOOKER PRIZE!🏆

Chosen from over 150 titles written in English and published in the UK/or Ireland between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026, the longlist features 13 superb works of long-form fiction.

Written by authors representing seven nationalities and three continents, the longlist transports readers from a hospital in Mexico City to the Kent seaside in a post-apocalyptic Britain; from the barren hillsides of the Outer Hebrides to the criminal badlands of West Dublin; from Kingston, Jamaica in the late 1980s to coastal Massachusetts in the run-up to the 2024 US election; from an unnamed medieval court to a prison cell that defies explanation.

The 2025 Booker longlist is as follows:

⭐️ The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis

⭐️ Switzy by Emma Cline

⭐️ Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman

⭐️ The End of Everything by M. John Harrison

⭐️ The Disappearers by Marlon James

⭐️ Black Bag by Luke Kennard

⭐️ The Renovation by Kenan Orhan

⭐️ May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry

⭐️ The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley

⭐️ The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

⭐️ John of John by Douglas Stuart

⭐️ All Them Dogs by Djamel White

⭐️The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams

We can’t wait to dive into the longlist!

As always, you can purchase copies of these titles in store and on our website so you can make your way through the longlist.

COMING UP!📆We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming back the critically-acclaimed author of I Died At Fallow Hall and...
27/07/2026

COMING UP!📆

We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming back the critically-acclaimed author of I Died At Fallow Hall and Dead As Gold Bonnie Burke-Patel, to discuss her third novel, We Search the Island for Grace.

Join us for what will be a brilliant evening discussing crime writing, labyrinths, medieval art and Gothic history... (spot the very serious mystery-solving face)

A perfect read for fans of Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries and Sally Rooney’s literary writing style.

📕: We Search the Island for Grace
📆: Thursday 13th of August
⏳: 18:30 doors, 19:00 start
🎟️ Tickets are available to purchase in store and on our website! https://maxminervas.co.uk/collections/events/products/event-13-08-bonnie-burke-patel-introduces-we-search-the-island-for-grace

ABOUT THE BOOK:

They gather at Saints’ Climb, the only house on an island off the Somerset coast. Seven men with nowhere else to be at Christmas. Father and son George and Xavier Starvely; James, a taciturn archaeologist uneasy with the living; Victor, a French widower; Rik, the groundskeeper; and Chris and Nathan, the two men who want to make a documentary about this place and its extraordinary collection of medieval art.

And the housekeeper Marianne, who seems to find peace in serving. Erected around the stone labyrinth built into the floor by monks, Saints’ Climb is a house heavy with loneliness. Xavier Starvely is a successful academic with a real life elsewhere.

Yet he is wracked with guilt over the fragmentary memories of a childhood tragedy, and when his guests arrive on the island for Christmas, the deaths begin afresh. A labyrinth is different from a maze. There are no false turns or dead ends: there is only one winding path, which, followed faithfully, will always lead to the centre.

What will each find at the centre of the labyrinth? And can it save them?

BOOK CLUB ⭐️This is just a reminder that July’s translated fiction book club meeting will be taking place next Thursday,...
21/07/2026

BOOK CLUB ⭐️

This is just a reminder that July’s translated fiction book club meeting will be taking place next Thursday, where we’ll be discussing the 2026 International Booker Prize winner: Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated from Mandarin by Lin King!

Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, Taiwan Travelogue is a bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history and power.

Set in May 1938, the young novelist Aoyama Chizuko sails from Japan to Taiwan where her interpreter proffers tantalising glimpses of island life and helps her to taste as much of cuisine as her larger-than-life appetite can bear.

This is a masterful novel that dives into the art of translation, cultural exchanges through food and travel, and the legacies of colonialism.

Taiwan Travelogue is published by , who are a UK based independent publisher. In 2025, And Other Stories won the International Booker Prize for their publication of Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Basthi. In 2026, they won the International Booker Prize for their publication of Taiwan Travelogue. We are huge fans of And Other Stories here!💛

How to join?
Register your attendance by booking a ticket through our website (it’s free!) and turn up on the night. To order a physical copy of the book, select the ticket with a book option on our website and pop in store to collect your copy.

We hope to see you there!🌞

TODAY’S THE DAY!🌊 Homer’s great epic of a hero’s journey home: inspiration for the major motion picture by Christopher N...
17/07/2026

TODAY’S THE DAY!🌊

Homer’s great epic of a hero’s journey home: inspiration for the major motion picture by Christopher Nolan which is out in UK cinemas today.

We have plenty of EPIC Odysseys for you to choose from. Get your copy today🌊

“And what if one of the gods does wreck me out on the wine-dark sea? I have a heart that is inured to suffering and I shall steel it to endure that too. For in my day I have had many bitter and painful experiences in war and on the stormy seas. So let this new disaster come. It only makes one more.”

Looking for something to make you feel a little cooler in this heat? Here are some suggestions from .books, featuring ou...
10/07/2026

Looking for something to make you feel a little cooler in this heat? Here are some suggestions from .books, featuring our patented 5 Snowflake Scale.

The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

A beautiful book about a young girl searching for her friend in an expansive palace created by a frozen waterfall. Vesaas is a one-of-a-kind author, and this short novel is chilling in multiple senses. I love this book. Find it in our classics section!



Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell

❄️

One of June’s top sellers, it’s easy to see why. A great writer and a timely title, this is a textbook O’Farrell family drama that while set 50 years ago, doesn’t feel dated in the slightest. Find it in our fiction section next to her new release, Land!

The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

❄️❄️

What if you just want to go full escapism in the heat? Well here’s the book for you. Nameless teenagers fall in love, and then...she vanishes. In typical Murakami fashion, there’s an alternate world with mysterious rules and creatures that our protagonist must brave in his haunted attempt to find her. Find it in our fiction section with several others from Murakami!

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

❄️❄️❄️❄️

Set near Bristol, an unusually chilling winter grips England and forces a pair of couples into isolation, where drama ensues. Shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, this one can at least remind you that winter exists, even if it’ll also remind you to be careful what you wish for in this heat. Find it in our fiction section *directly* above the Murakami novels!

Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane

❄️❄️❄️❄️

I first read this after I came back from Everest Base Camp, and I cannot recommend it more highly if you’ve ever hiked mountains or just want to know what would pursuade someone to try. Equal parts ode to climbing and a history of the desire to see what’s up at the peaks, this one brought to mind the chill I felt in the unheated dorms that one sleeps in on the way base camp. One I’ve gone back to multiple times, find it in our Nature section!

Address

47 Henleaze Road
Bristol
BS94JU

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Saturday 9:30am - 5:30pm

Telephone

+447498538858

Website

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