I wrote recently about my delight that an excellent second-hand bookshop has opened in my home city of Oxford. Well, karma has come around. In the upmarket district of Jericho, it’s recently been announced that Britain’s first ‘romantasy bookshop’, Bad Girl Books, will open next month. The shop is run by an American expatriate named Starlin Marot and is the permanent manifestation of a series of pop-up events she ran in London that have attracted thousands of readers.
Most popular
Patrick West
The tyranny of Pride is coming to an end
Marot told the Oxford Mail: ‘The reason I like the romantasy genre so much is because it is so inclusive and empowering. It can be empowering to celebrate stories written by women, which feature women’s voices and desires. I’m really looking forward to meeting lots of new customers.’ And the shop – which, naturally, is painted pink outside – already has a large and potentially loyal fanbase. As Marot said: ‘I started Bad Girl Books as a way to meet the romantasy community in real life and create a genuinely fun, unique shopping experience. The response has honestly been unbelievable. So many people showed up to the pop-ups that I was able to scale incredibly quickly, and within six months I’d raised enough money to open a permanent shop.’
