Books are my business: Specialist bookshop owner Caroline Sullivan

Working in the children’s section in Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin inspired her to set up Tales for Tadpoles

Caroline Sullivan: 'I wanted somewhere that sold all these beautiful illustrated books where adults could shop, and it has worked.'

Caroline Sullivan owns Tales for Tadpoles in Bray, Co Wicklow — a bookshop specialising in illustration and picture books for all ages.

How did you get into bookselling?

When I left school, I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do. I did an arts degree with English, then a higher diploma in business in Smurfit Business School. 

I thought I might want to go into publishing, so I did a masters in literature and publishing in Galway, which was amazing, but I learned that it wasn’t something I wanted to do.

I got a job as a fund accountant and I worked in a recruitment company for a year. 

Then I went travelling for a year with my now husband, and along the way, I had my epiphany that I wanted to own a bookshop. 

Everywhere we went, I was always seeking out bookshops.

When I came back, I got a job in Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin and I worked there for three and a half years. 

It was working in the children’s section in Hodges Figgis that inspired me.

I saw all these unbelievably beautiful books getting a bit lost amongst the more commercial books. 

I was thinking, how would an adult know that these beautiful books exist if they’re in the children’s section?

I wanted somewhere that sold all these beautiful illustrated books where adults could shop, and it has worked. It’s probably 50% adults buying for themselves or other adults. It’s a really nice world to be in.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I could be doing anything, from accounts, payroll, and Vat returns to working on the website and our social media. 

I order all the books, and I make sure all the displays look OK. 

We also have a coffee shop, we run craft workshops and we do storytelling.

The weekend days are very different to weekdays. Saturday is such a lovely day to work because it’s busy and it’s just customer-focused. 

So selling books, talking about books, whereas during the week, either I’m working at home or in the shop, doing a lot of admin.

What do you like most about what you do?

Being in the shop, I love it. Obviously, I’m surrounded by beautiful books, but also our customers are just the nicest people in the world.

We have lovely conversations all day long, people talking about memories from their childhood that come back when they see a certain book, or why they’re buying a certain gift for somebody. 

Or it could be somebody buying a Winnie the Pooh print for their mother, because she used to read Winnie the Pooh to them when they’re small.

We have a lot of people crying in the shop because they’re so moved — they might see something they haven’t seen since they were small.

I’ve also always had wonderful staff, so it’s just a lovely place to be.

What do you like least about it?

The admin, book-keeping, all of that. It gets really overwhelming, there is so much to keep on top of, I have to be always on. 

You have to be available because customers can contact you through Facebook, Instagram, so many different ways.

Three desert island books

My first pick is a book which was a gift from my husband, a first edition of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, by JM Barrie — illustrated by Arthur Rackham — it’s absolutely beautiful.

The second is a book called The Arrival by Shaun Tan, which is a big reason why I opened my shop.

It’s a wordless book, and one that I have gifted to so many of my friends. It’s the story of a man fleeing civil war in his country and it is so profound. 

It came out maybe 20 years ago, but it’s really relevant now.

The third book is one I read on my travels. I think it was somewhere in Bolivia, and I found a bookshop where there were maybe three books in English, and one of them was a translation of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. 

I absolutely adored it. I keep saying I’ll go back to it, because I loved it so much, but it’s so huge. 

Being on a desert island would be a good time to go back to it.

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