Shaun Bythell bought The Bookshop in Wigtown on 1 November 2001, and has been running it ever since with an increasing passion for the business, matched only by a sense of despair for its future, and an ill-humour inspired by almost two decades of
dealing with confused customers and surly staff. His internationally-bestselling books The Diary of a Bookseller and Confessions of a Bookseller have been translated into over twenty languages, including Russian, Korean and French.