THE new Malvern Book Cooperative was the venue for local author Fiona Robyn to launch her latest novel The Most Beautiful Thing.

The shop, in St Ann’s Road, opened a month ago after being created in response to the closure of independent bookshop Beacon Books.

She said: “We had a launch online for the Kindle edition last week, when 20,000 people downloaded my book in two days, but it felt important to have a realworld launch for the paperback. I was delighted to be able to support the new co-op bookshop.”

Fiona’s novel is set in the UK and Amsterdam and follows the life of 14-year-old Joe, who is obsessed with birds and the weather, and perplexed by humans.

At the launch Fiona talked about her life as a writer and took questions from the crowd.