THE Bookery, Crediton’s award-winning community bookshop, is delighted to welcome novelist Helen Bain for a compelling evening in conversation at 7pm on Thursday, March 26, as she discusses her extraordinary debut novel The Daffodil Days.

Set in North Tawton in 1962, The Daffodil Days is a richly atmospheric portrait of Devon village life woven around incoming literary couple Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. It will feel both familiar and quietly revelatory to local readers.

Told through a multi‑perspective narrative, the novel paints a vivid picture of the community and its inner worlds: the village doctor, the bell-ringers, the shop assistants, and others whose daily lives unfold beneath the steady rhythm of rural seasonal routines. Through their shifting viewpoints, one of the twentieth century’s most iconic literary figures, Sylvia Plath, comes into kaleidoscopic focus.

Author Helen Bain spent much time in North Tawton, interviewing villagers as part of her research as well as learning bee keeping, bell‑ringing and horse riding, thoroughly immersing herself in village life as well as the literary output of Plath and Hughes.

Helen works as a sub‑editor at the Financial Times and has previously worked at the Guardian, Vogue and Red. She holds two MA degrees from Birkbeck University and has been selected for The London Library Emerging Writers’ Programme and The Genesis Foundation Emerging Writers’ Programme.

This event forms part of The Bookery’s vibrant programme of author talks and cultural events and proudly contributes to our celebrations for the National Year of Reading, championing books, stories and the joy of reading across our community.

Helen will be signing copies ofThe Daffodil Days after the event.

Tickets cost £5 each and are available for purchase in store or online by visiting: thebookery.org.uk.