GIFT BOOKS

There’s something for everyone on your list in their collection of best-selling gift books, whether you’re shopping for a die-hard Harry Potter fan or a budding chef. Browse their curated selection of the best children’s picture books, coffee table books, gift sets, collections, limited signed editions, and special clothbound versions of famous works.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (Hardback)

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, which was recently named Waterstones’ 2019 Book of the Year, was an instant hit with their staff. This book celebrates love, compassion, and understanding via the delicate calligraphic writing and beautiful illustrations of Charlie Mackesy, and its message is vital for their day.

compiled in one place to create a work of art and a lasting reminder of the importance of kindness and love in a society rife with bigotry and ignorance.

Four buddies, the boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse, have a friendship that can’t be broken. Mackesy celebrates the infinite varieties of kindness and compassion through a series of small but meaningful talks in which he coaxes universal truths and rich wisdom from the mouths of his characters. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse is an endearing study of friendship told through stunning, sensitive artwork and delicate calligraphy; it is a thoughtful present for the people you care about most.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: The Animated Story (Hardback)

For fans of the charming animated film The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, based on Mackesy’s former Waterstones Book of the Year, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, this gorgeous volume features the fruits of the labours of over 100 animators alongside a handwritten version of the script and makes for the perfect gift.

Featuring Charlie’s distinctive artwork brought to life in full colour with hand-drawn traditional animation and accompanying hand-written narration, this elegantly bound hardcover commemorates the work of over 100 animators spanning two years of development.

The Cat Who Saved Books (Paperback)

In Natsukawa’s enchanting tale, a talking cat enlists the help of a high school girl in a crazy journey to save books from being tortured by unknowing torturers, published by greedy publishers, and full of literary enchantment.

A book hoarder, a torturer of books for the sake of rapid reading, and a publisher with little interest in anything but volume make up Rintaro’s cast of characters. And then there’s a job that only Rintaro can do…

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai, is a captivating narrative for people for whom books are so much more than words on paper. It is a novel about books, first love, fantasy, and an extraordinary bond with a talking cat.

The Story of Art without Men (Hardback)

This fascinating revisionist history of art shines a bright light on the innovative work of women artists and the ways in which their contributions have influenced and improved their world.

Find out who the real inventor of the Readymade was, from the brilliant Renaissance artist Sofonisba Anguissola to the radical nineteenth-century American artist Harriet Powers. Learn about the women artists of the 2020s, the astounding work of Latin American artists that emerged after the war, and the Dutch Golden Age. Get your preconceived notions of art shattered and your mind blown by works of art you might not have considered before. This is the history of art as it has never been described before, from the Cornish coast to Manhattan, Nigeria to Japan.

Waterstones

In 1982, Tim Waterstone conceived up the idea that would become Waterstones. In the decades that followed, they expanded into a cultural institution in Britain, eventually employing over 3000 excellent booksellers across more than 280 locations.

Under the leadership of Managing Director James Daunt, they are happy to have survived the rise of e-readers and online competition and launch an aggressive development plan as the final remaining national bookshop chain. New businesses have sprung up across the country, while existing ones have relocated or been remodelled in recent years. Their goals remain lofty, which is why they’ve recently expanded into more prestigious places like Reigate and Clifton, and relocated their Edinburgh and Manchester stores to the Trafford Centre.

While this may seem uncommon for a chain store, their store managers have considerable freedom to tailor their operations to the preferences of their local clientele, with just minimal oversight from corporate. Stoner by John Williams, a quiet, powerful novel that they made into a bestseller forty years after its first publication, is emblematic of their commitment to promote simply good (but sometimes somewhat ignored) novels.

In addition to their physical bookstores, Waterstones.com is where they focus their efforts to offer the Waterstones experience to every home and smartphone in the United Kingdom. Waterstones.com is the ideal online complement to their High Street bookshops, with groundbreaking initiatives like their weekly reading update Waterstones Weekly and an ever-expanding portfolio of unique reader offers and signed editions. Their success has coincided with the expansion of Click & Collect, the service that bridges the gap between the two and gives clients the best of both worlds.