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Faber’s special regional edition of Helen Rebanks’ memoir The Farmer’s Wife is proving a hit with Cumbrian bookshops.
The new paperback edition of the book - about life on her Cumbrian farm with husband and fellow author James Rebanks - takes its cover illustration of Rebanks’ kitchen table from the original hardback rather than the photograph on the front of the regular paperback, and also spotlights a quote from Cumbria Life.
Explaining why the regional edition came into being, associate publisher Louisa Joyner said: “It came from thinking about who is the primary audience – who are our writers trying to reach? The local community was really important to [Rebanks] — it’s a book embedded in the landscape. We want this book to be something that local communities will be proud of. You don’t see these communities represented in print very often.”
The design for the hardback cover was the result of members of the Faber team going to stay on the Rebanks’ farm, during which they “genuinely sat at that kitchen table with Helen with a cup of tea and looked around". Illustrator Eleanor Crow sketched from photos to create the final image, which has been praised for its unpretentiousness.
During the conception of the new regional edition, Faber said it felt that it was very important to stay true to the ethos of the book, which follows a day in the life of Rebanks as she works with James on their farm. Joyner explained: “People locally loved the [original hardback] illustration because that is Helen’s actual kitchen table — the dinosaur belongs to one of the kids. So, we wanted to stick with that realness, and to listen to people who felt like they owned part of the success because they do. We wanted to stay true to their values. We’re not selling the idea of a farm; it’s meant to be true to actual lived experience. So beautiful, yes, but not an idealised view of farming life.”
The regional edition has proven very popular in Cumbria, with local bookshops reporting high demand. It has been local distributor Hills Wholesale’s bestseller of the year despite its September release, selling 1,500 copies, and it has distributed the book to 48 different outlets across the region. Bookends Bookshop in Keswick and Carlisle has held two events with Helen, attended by 150 people in total, and the book is selling very successfully for them in the run-up to Christmas after performing well in pre-orders both online and instore, currently totalling 680 books.
Fred Holdsworth Bookshop in Ambleside said it has sold 70 copies in total with "signed copies and little extras like the postcards" going down well with customers. The Verey Bookshop has sold 114 copies to date "proving a good Xmas seller" as Rebanks "lives quite near us and many of the places/people in the book are known to our customers".
A spokesman for Sam Read Bookshop in Grasmere said: “From the summer school trip out for booksellers at the Rebanks’ farm to the beautiful illustrations in the finished book by Eleanor Crow, and the brilliant bookmarks, window clings and tote bags, The Farmer’s Wife has felt such a rewarding book to share. It’s far and away the biggest title of the year for us. Helen is the first person to have had the length of the front window dedicated to her in years. We’ve had immense demand fuelled by Helen appearing across the media, but also driven by her signed copies. Helen has the neatest author signature around so it must be a bit demanding replicating it the amount of times she has.”
The bookseller added: "It’s far and away the biggest title of the year for us," selling 300 copies.