05 - The Back Room

In the Gwair quarter of Hay-on-Wye there is only one bookshop - The Back Room. The owner, Dido Doolittle, is happily picking at her crochet, unaware that Alphonse, the taxidermist opposite, has sold his shop to an Outsider. As yet she does not know that the new buyer intends to establish there a rival literary emporium. It is therefore with pleasant attentiveness that she greets Malvolio Claxendell as he enters. He introduces himself, mentioning that he is an inventor, and a member of the Institute of Lyrian Archeology. He is however a canny operator, and does not yet disclose that he is the new owner of the neglected shop opposite.