Ruth Shaw, author of Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World, is appearing at the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival.
Ruth Shaw, author of Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World, is appearing at the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival.
To celebrate the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival, we’ve teamed up with some New Zealand publishers to showcase some of the authors who will be on stage over the festival weekend.
This extract is from Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw.
Shaw will appear inthe event, A Life at the End of the World, in conversation with Elisabeth Easther, on Friday, May 16, at 10am.
TALES FROM THE BOOKSHOPS: WESTY COMES TO TOWN
FIVE YEARS AGO, when Westy first arrived at the bookshops, it was a slow day — thankfully! It was late afternoon and I was about to close when he pulled up in a big truck, dressed in shorts and open- necked shirt, wearing heavy work boots. I took a guess — maybe in his late 60s.
‘Hello, Girl. Told I was to come and see this bookshop, so here I am.’
After we had introduced ourselves he started to look through the books, occasionally pulling one out and placing it on the counter. He was Andrew West, a wheeler- dealer in secondhand farm and earth- moving machinery from Amberley, north of Christchurch. His work took him all over New Zealand, and frequently down to Southland.
Westy was born in Hastings and grew up on a farm in Ōmakere with his two brothers.
He reminded me of Barry Crump as he chatted away, the whole time searching for books, jumping from one funny story to another. He told me he loved books and was always adding to his collection.
Ruth Shaw and dog Kane. Photo / Graham Dainty
Westy has become a regular, although it may be many months between visits. Sometimes he will ring to say he is on his way, other times he just pulls up and announces his presence with his big booming voice, softened by continual laughter. He is an old- school gentleman with a gentle heart.
As his finger runs along the Fiordland books he asks, ‘Have I got this one?’
‘I think you bought that one a few years ago, Westy. How many times have I told you to catalogue your books so you don’t double up?’
‘I know, but I don’t have time. I trust you to remember what I’ve bought,’ he replies with a cheeky smile.
Many of my regular collectors are the same. ‘Have I got this book, Ruth?’
Westy’s Holden Rodeo, which he bought new in 2003, has done 950,000 km. He learnt early on that selling secondhand earth- moving equipment was easier if you didn’t look too prosperous. The Rodeo gets the odd tidy- up, but is worn and rattly. In top gear it makes so much noise you can’t hold a conversation. Westy has photos of it parked at Slope Point, at the bottom of the South Island, and another at Surville Cliffs, at the top of the North Island.
Ruth Shaw, author of Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World, is appearing at the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival.
I really love catching up with my regulars. They may only visit once or twice a season but we slip into an easy conversation, picking up where we left off last time. To my surprise, two of my regulars now have a database of books on their cellphones, so progress is being made. But not Westy.
He knows I have a system that allows people to return a book they have bought if they find they already have it. Not too many books are returned.
I always give discounts to my regulars, and often I will gift them a book. Westy will not accept a gift, and always argues when I try to give him a discount — it is a ritual that forms part of our relationship. I’ll make him a coffee, and while he tells yet another funny story, he secretly slips $20 under the sofa cushion. I only discover the money when I lift the cushions to vacuum under them.
Last time I emailed him. ‘Westy, you have slipped me money again!’
‘Wasn’t me, Girl,’ he replied.
Extract from Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw. Published by Allen & Unwin Aotearoa NZ. Out now. Ruth Shaw will be appearing at the Auckland Writers Festival May 13-18. For more information and tickets, visit writersfestival.co.nz.
