Why open a bookshop when everything that’s ever been written is online?
And why in Dunvegan?
Because nothing starts a conversation quite like a book and what better place for a chat (or a read) than the beautiful windswept Isle of Skye, backdrop to so many historical moments, fairy tales and political uprisings.
Between them Waystone’s directors Katy, Caroline and Louis have a lot of interests and passions. When they don’t have their heads in novels they organise community events, beach cleans, sit on boards for development trusts and creative industry committees, write fiction, compose music, create theatre, environmental activism and union campaigns. Two are even on-call firefighters at the local fire station.
But in all this activity and noise the one thing they all really wanted was a local bookshop
Somewhere to go that served coffee where the staff were knowledgeable about new publications and old classics, somewhere that felt like it could be a hub, somewhere that plots could be hatched and poetry could be read aloud. A home from home where the shelves creaked with stories.
They wanted that so much they decided to create it themselves. So out of the old cake shop opposite the village hall Waystone Books emerged: a small bookshop with a big heart fuelled by a desire to reduce social isolation and inspire wonder. We sell books, we serve coffee, we host
author readings and workshops, book groups, game nights and special events. We’re open all year round and we can’t wait to meet you.
Our Intrepid Adventurers
Katy
Over the whirr of the coffee machine, Katy is hatching plots over her shoulder while pulling shots. A puff of steam, and she turns, smiling, trading dates and details of upcoming community meetings and beach cleans with a local who waits for a hot drink to warm cold hands. There's a board game planned for tonight on the shop's long table, and Katy's looking for one more player to share the fun with.
Caroline
In the corner, there's a staccato click of typewriter keys as bold black letters unfurl onto thick paper. Caroline is writing something - a short review to tuck into a book, displayed proudly in the shop window? The intro to Waystone's newsletter, an open invitation to an upcoming book club? Cups bursting with pens and pencils and ranks of stationery surround her, and a full diary and notebook sit open at her elbow, pages pouring over with plans, ideas, numbers and schemes. On the other side of the typewriter, a pint of tea steams.
Louis
Behind a pile of books stacked to Icarusian heights, Louis' free hand darts out to tuck a tome into a gap in the shelves. The restocking blurs by in a stream of fiction, accompanied by a hum that slips into an occasional snatch of song. Composing as he goes, he moves from one side of the shop to the other. There's a community arts project in the making, and collaborators waiting, and he finishes his task with a moment to spare.