Pickering Book Tree

22/05/2026

NEXT WEEK

We’re looking forward to welcoming Katie Carr to talk with us about her heartfelt memoir, Thundery at Times, which charts her journey with grief while kayaking every area of the Shipping Forecast.

Katie’s first book Moderate Becoming Good Later follows her brother Toby as he faces a life‑limiting illness through sea kayaking and the solace of the natural world, written from his recordings and notes.

Thundery at Times is her own memoir of finishing his Shipping Forecast journey while navigating loss, a difficult family past, and midlife in Barcelona.

Katie’s story is beautifully realised on the page — she has created a hopeful and honest, yet uplifting account of her attempt to finish the challenge left to her by her brother Toby, whose story is so poignantly told in her first book Moderate Becoming Good Later.

Charlie Connelly, author of Attention All Shipping said that “Thundery at Times is a profound depiction of the long tail of grief, but most of all it is a voyage into the best of humanity and how it can be found in the remotest of locations. Like the Shipping Forecast itself, Thundery at Times is quirky and eccentric but underpinned by extraordinary heart and substance. A remarkable book”.

It’s free to join us for the evening, but please let us know if you’ll be there by messaging or chatting with us in the bookshop.

13/05/2026

📚 EVENT — THIS FRIDAY

🌳 After an especially delayed train back in February making her stop in Pickering impossible, we’re excited to finally welcome Ellie Levenson to the Book Tree on Friday for this rescheduled event!

➡️ There are still some places remaining if you’d like to join us in conversation with Ellie about her suspenseful and deeply compelling novel.

🚪 Room 706 is set up like a thriller, laced with tension throughout, but the story is a thought provoking reflection on womanhood, love and the consequences of choices. There’s lots to talk about, but of course we’ll keep it spoiler free at the event!

📆 Friday 15th May
🕖 7pm (doors and complimentary drinks from 6.30pm)
📍 Pickering Book Tree, 43a Market Place, YO18 7AE

🎟️ Tickets are FREE but please book in advance by messaging us, contacting the bookshop, or online at pickeringbooktree.co.uk/event/ellie-levenson

05/05/2026

🌳 This month’s events in Pickering Book Tree

📚 There’s still time to join us for our first author event of the month — TODAY at 7.30pm (doors and complementary drinks from 7pm)! We’ll be in conversation with Jules Brown about his travel writing and specifically his most recent book, Far Out, where he challenged himself to reach the four furthest points in Europe by train with lots of stories, travel tips and off-the-beaten-track discoveries along the way!

🎵 Later this week we welcome Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine for a story-led evening of music when they perform their beautiful collaboration, Things Found in Books, alongside songs from their extensive solo albums.

🎟️ Visit pickeringbooktree.co.uk/upcoming-events or contact the bookshop to find out more and reserve places for events in May and beyond.

02/05/2026

📚 Tuesday 5th May: An Evening with Travel Author Jules Brown
📍 7.30pm | Pickering Book Tree | Doors and wine from 7pm
🎟️ Tickets: FREE from the bookshop counter or pickeringbooktree.co.uk/event/jules-brown

🧭 We’re very much looking forward to chatting with travel author Jules Brown about his recent adventures and his latest book, Far Out: By Train to the Edges of Europe, in a few days time!

🚞 Join us to hear more about how Jules plans his journeys and translates them into his always entertaining real-life stories, with a focus on his challenge to reach each of the four furthest points in Europe by train and exploring some fascinating off the beaten track places along the way.

📖 Jules’ books are all written in his lively and humorous style, and are brilliantly engaging with quick and often funny observations which make these reads perfect for fans of Bill Bryson, anyone in need of some armchair travelling, or perhaps even to inspire your own European adventure!

🗺️ Jules started his travel author journey writing for Rough Guides, now focussing on his own blog posts and travel books. He’s published two series: Tales from a Travel Writer’s Life (Don’t Eat the Puffin, Never Pack an Ice-Axe and Watch Out for Pirates) and On the Rails (Not Cool: Europe by Train in a Heatwave and Far Out: By Train to the Edges of Europe).

🧳 Jules has so many great stories to tell and plenty of travel tips gathered from his many trips across Europe and beyond, so we know that we’re in for a fantastic evening hearing some of them!

26/04/2026

🎵 Yvonne Lyon & Boo Hewerdine
Friday 8th May | 7.30pm | doors + bar from 7pm
The Book Tree, 43a Market Place, Pickering YO18 7AE

✨ We’re excited to welcome acclaimed singer-songwriters Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine back to the Book Tree with their beautiful co-created album, Things Found in Books.

📍 Though they’re on an extensive nationwide tour, Pickering is the only place in Yorkshire you’ll be able to catch the show this time, so join us if you can for a very special story-led night of music in the bookshop!

📚 Things Found In Books is a show born from songs written in response to a noticeboard in Culzean Castle’s secondhand bookshop, where notes, photographs, old receipts, letters, postcards and fragments of people’s lives have been lovingly collected and kept on the wall among the bookshelves.

🎶 Haunting, nostalgic and sensitive, each song transports you into lives imagined from an object carried through time between the pages of a book.

📖 Forming a stunning and unique songwriting partnership, Yvonne and Boo weave these found stories with their own, creating a performance full of nostalgia and beauty, hope and longing.

⭐️ The show will include favourites from the album alongside new songs and solo performances for an evening not to be missed!

🎟️ Tickets are £16 and can be bought from the shop counter or online at pickeringbooktree.co.uk/event/things-found-in-books

Join us in welcoming acclaimed singer-songwriters Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine to the Book Tree during their new tour for their beautiful co-created album, Things Found in Books. Haunting, nostalgic and sensitive, each song transports you into lives imagined from an object carried through time betw...

23/04/2026

✨ Festival Programme Update

☀️ Two new Pickering Midsummer Festival events will be announced and opened for booking each day this week!

⭐️ Today’s events now open for booking are:

📚 Aidan Meighan: The Folklore of Trees
📆 Monday 22nd June at 7pm

🎵 Toni Bunnell: New Songs, Traditional Sound
📆 Friday 19th June at 7.30pm

🎟️ https://www.ticketsource.com/pickeringmidsummerfestival — click on the event titles on this page for the full details about each

➡️ Keep an eye out for our posts over the next few days to find out what else is happening during the Midsummer Festival!

21/04/2026

✨ Festival Programme Update

☀️ It’s two months today until the Summer Solstice — and from today, two new Midsummer Festival events will be announced and opened for booking each day this week!

⭐️ The first two events now open for booking are:

📚 Wyl Menmuir: The Spirit of Stone
📆 Thursday 18th June at 7.30pm

🎵 Amy Jeffs, Gwen Burns and Natalie Brice: Old Songs
📆 Sunday 21st June at 7pm

🎟️ https://www.ticketsource.com/pickeringmidsummerfestival — click on the event titles on this page for the full details about each

➡️ Keep an eye out for our posts over the next few days to find out what else is happening during the Pickering Midsummer Festival!

19/04/2026

Look who popped into the Book Tree recently ahead of the inaugural Pickering Midsummer Festival!

We’re excited to welcome Amy Jeffs for two events — an evening of Old Songs, stories told and sung alongside Natalie Brice and Gwen Burns, and a daytime interview in St Peter's and St Paul's Church where we’ll discuss Amy’s previous book, Saints.

Tickets for many of this year’s festival events will be on sale from tomorrow, with more to follow very soon, so watch this space!

18/04/2026

🐄 Saturday 25th April

🐮 We’re so much looking forward to this event with the udderly brilliant Three Acres And A Cow in Pickering Memorial Hall next Saturday!

🌳 George Monbiot says that “everybody should see this show” which is a history of land rights and protest in folk song and story.

🐂 Find out more and book tickets directly from Three Acres and a Cow online at threeacresandacow.co.uk

🌾 We’re very excited to support the show on the ground here in Pickering, and will be there on the evening behind the bar and with a small range of relevant and highly recommended books to browse.

🎵 We hope to see you there next Saturday… it will be a-moo-sing!

14/04/2026

☀️ FREE event on Thursday

🥂 Celebrate the publication of Kate Gray’s latest twisty psychological thriller, and enjoy a glass of wine on us too at this much anticipated launch event!

🔪 We’re excited to chat with Kate about her new destination page-turner, where family drama and dark secrets collide in a sun-drenched Italian villa to set in motion a mystery which kept us guessing right to the end.

📚 In this character driven novel, an alternating viewpoint casts doubt on the motivations of others to weave complicated family loyalties, lies and betrayal into a layered mystery where we could never be sure who to trust. That’s all we’ll say for now, so that you can find out for yourself spoiler free!

➡️ Welcome to the Family is out now and copies are available in the Book Tree for a special event price of £16.99 (hardback). Kate will sign copies during the evening, and you’ll also have a chance to ask questions about writing thrilling plots, destination settings and more during the audience Q&A after the interview.

✨ We’re excited to chat with Kate on Thursday, and hope you can join us!

📆 Thursday 16th April
🕖 7.30pm (doors and complementary wine + cordial from 7pm)
📍 The Book Tree, 43a Market Place, Pickering
🎟️ FREE — book online at pickeringbooktree.co.uk/event/kate-gray or by contacting the shop

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10/04/2026

☀️ NEXT WEEK

🔪 Join us to celebrate the publication of the brand-new and completely addictive psychological thriller from acclaimed author Kate Gray.

🎉 We’re delighted to host Kate’s launch event for Welcome to the Family. After having such a fantastic time at her fully booked events for The Honeymoon and The Summer Party, we know that we’re all in for another brilliant evening chatting about all things crime fiction, destination settings, and thrilling plots!

🔆 Welcome to the Family transports readers to beautiful Tuscany in this pacy destination page-turner simmering with tension. Nikki Smith describes the characters as “brilliantly drawn and I never knew quite who to trust” with twists which are “whip smart and kept me guessing until the very last page”.

📚 In this character driven crime novel, an alternating viewpoint casts doubt on the motivations of others to weave complicated family loyalties, lies and betrayal into a quickly developing mystery where we could never be sure who to trust. That’s all we’ll say for now, so that you can find out for yourself spoiler free!

⭐️ C.M. Ewan recommends this book as “the perfect destination thriller” which combines “a messed up family with devastating secrets and a twisting murder mystery” to create “a stunning summer page-turner”.

📆 Thursday 16th April
🕖 7.30pm (doors and complementary wine + cordial from 7pm)
📍 The Book Tree, 43a Market Place, Pickering
🎟️ FREE — book online at pickeringbooktree.co.uk/event/kate-gray or by contacting the shop

✨ We’re excited to chat with Kate next week, and hope you can join us!

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