Somewhat embarrassingly, I’d never read anything by James Frey before. I’ve worked in bookselling since I was 17 (I’m now 27), and his books had somehow just passed me by. When the publishers came in to pitch Bright Shiny Morning right back at the beginning of the year, they showed us a cover image and a bit of information as to what the story was about. The other buyer with me was so excited, she almost fell off her chair. I realised there was obviously more to this guy than most other authors, and went out and bought myself a million little pieces that night.

I read the book in one sitting, and was slowly beginning to realise what I had been missing out on. I read my friend leonard too, and came to understand the whole Oprah controversy. I was ready for the release of Bright Shiny Morning.

When the book arrived at the Borders head offices, people were incredibly excited. We get sent a lot of books; this one had people grabbing it out of each other’s hands. I managed to get a copy, read it over the weekend and absolutely loved it. I loved the ‘nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable’. I loved the ‘facts’ at the beginning of each chapter about the history of LA, which may or may not be true. I loved the way some characters keep reappearing (Dylan, Maddie and Esperanza were my favourites), and some characters are never named and are given only a paragraph, or even just a single line. I loved the style of writing. I loved the depiction of LA as a mass of contradictions – from the glamour to the depravity. In case you haven’t picked up on it, I liked the book a lot.

We ordered stacks of it, and made it Book of the Month for the Borders Airport stores, and put it in New Fiction Talent for the rest of the shops. The store managers told us how much they loved the cover and how excited customers were by it. It’s been one of our best-selling books this year, and we’ve seen sales go up for a million little pieces and my friend leonard as well. So I’m professionally pleased by this book – because it’s made a lot money – but even more, I’m personally pleased, because you don’t get books come along that often that you enjoy this much.

Sarah Cahill
Borders Airports Book Buyer