Bella Pollen at Lutyens and Rubenstein

Lutyens & Rubinstein is run by literary agents Sarah Lutyens and Felicity Rubinstein (whose offices are at the bottom of the building), and contains an expansive range of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels, children’s classics and coffee-table tomes. The shop also serves tea and coffee served in bespoke china, for those who like some light refreshment with their literature...

Former designer and author of Midnight Cactus and Hunting Unicorns, Bella Pollen, takes us on a tour of her local bookshop, Lutyens & Rubinstein in London’s Notting Hill, and recommends a novel you might love – or hate – as this week’s book club choice.

“As you can see from looking round it’s a gem of a bookshop; a sensory overload of new imprints, old classics, prints, scent, wrapping paper, a whole host of things...and it’s a wonderful place to spend some time. Downstairs on the ground floor, the Lutyens and Rubensteins agency are also based, so very occasionally the wall is drawn back and there is the agency full of people beavering away, on the phone, reading books, reading manuscripts and this all adds to the idea that the people in this bookshop really love books.”

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
 “It’s a retelling of the story of Hamlet, but is set in rural Wisconsin around the 1970s or 1980s, although it’s not it’s not specific. It’s about the wonderful Edgar Sawtelle who’s a mute boy living on a farm which raises and trains dogs, and it’s about his relationship with those dogs and with his family, and what happens when the rather evil force of his uncle comes back into his life.
It’s a wonderfully imaginative, beautifully written story and I think that it has great universal appeal. It encompasses so many different themes, not just the very obvious connection to Hamlet, but there are also buried threads of Kipling and some biblical references and all kinds of things for other literary detectives to follow. It’s a book that some people have absolutely loved; it’s also a book that some people have hated. It invokes incredibly strong feelings, which is I think is wonderful for any book: everybody has something to say about this book.”

Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home. When Edgar's father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm - and into Edgar's mother's affections.
Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father's death, but his plan backfires - spectacularly. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him. But his need to face his father's murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward.
David Wroblewski is a master storyteller, and his breathtaking scenes - the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain - create a riveting family saga, a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, and a compulsively readable modern classic.