Ask a Bookseller: Dawn from Waterstones Sheffield

I love reading about messy family dynamics and complex characters. Which three fiction books would you recommend? – Cat

This is a great question; it's a genre that a lot of people enjoy although can't always describe! A current bestseller would be The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, which is set in 1960s Netherlands and looks at sibling dynamics, but also unravels the main characters' sense of who she is over the course of a summer. Its background is the aftermath of WWII, which seeps into the characters' lives. The Safekeep was the winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025.

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray was shortlisted for both the Booker and the Nero Book Awards, and is a tragicomic story about an Irish family who each have their own problems, and mixed with old mistakes coming back to haunt them. The family dynamics are explored through a mix of narrators over different generations. An absolutely enthralling book!

On theme, but different to the above two, would be The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, where the characters' humanity is tested in a novel about how siblings react to their father's murder. Some say this is Dostoevsky's greatest novel!

More contemporary authors like Anne Tyler, Mary Lawson, Ann Patchett, Lucinda Riley's Seven Sisters series, and Lisa Jewell for a crime angle, are all worth a look!

What's your favourite book-to-screen adaption? – Faith

Annihilation by Jeff van der Meer absolutely blew my mind when I read it – I could feel its fungal-like spread of ideas in my mind for several weeks afterwards. I was concerned about the film and how it would achieve the same effect but actually, the film made its own path with the story and was also brilliant – a clever mutation from the original book but also in keeping with its central idea!

What book is great for 4-year-olds who love dinosaurs, but don't want anything too scary? – Charlie

We're very lucky to know a great picture book author called Suzy Senior who regularly comes in to the store to do a story time with us. She's very talented and a very engaging storyteller! One of her books is called How to Spot a Dinosaur, which has two dino-spotters in the park trying to find dinosaurs but everything that looks like a dinosaur turns out to be something very ordinary. Eventually they find themselves somewhere where they can definitely spot dinosaurs and everyone is happy! The illustrations by Dan Taylor are wonderful, and provide the red herrings and give a little twist at the end for the dino-spotter reading the book!

Can you recommend some easy reading books for a teenage boy? – Tammy

It's often a good idea to ask what interests someone has if they're wanting some books to introduce them to reading as a hobby. There are certainly plenty of fantasy-adventure books suitable here, for instance The Maze Runner by James Dashner. But if we look more widely there are many books and authors that are great for teenagers but not necessarily written specifically for them – the young adult or 'YA' genre has absolutely boomed over the last several years but their choices don't have to stop there!

Authors such as Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle write accessibly for teenagers, as do thriller writers such as Dan Brown and Matthew Reilly. Maybe Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park? It's also worth exploring graphic novels and manga for reluctant readers as there's an amazing variety out there, for instance Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces by Carlos Sanchez or Avatar: The Last Airbender by Konietzo et al. One of my favourite recommends would be Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is easy going, funny and will leave you wanting more!

What advice would you give someone who wants to become a bookseller? – Alexandra

From my experience, a good bookseller is an open-minded, friendly person who loves reading and loves talking to people about books! Although we all have our favourite genres or authors, a bookseller who can read and find good elements in all genres becomes better each time they go out of their comfort zone, meaning they can connect with people in many ways and be better able to recommend.

Aside from a love of reading, booksellers need to be able to prioritise jobs through the day, be organised with admin tasks, a quick shelver, enjoy a variety of tasks every day, and usually be able to work well as part of a team as well as by yourself. Be prepared to be active all day, too!

You can gain experience of working with books and people in your school library, charity shops, local libraries, and demonstrate your love of books in any number of ways online of course. Equally, visiting your local bookshop and making contact with booksellers is a great way of opening up conversations about how people started their careers!

Essentially though, it goes back to the first point – if you enjoy reading and enjoy talking to people about books, you're ready to start one of the most rewarding careers!