Angela Pulp Fiction

Angela –

“I went to Murwillumbah High. My family lived all over the Shire and as a teenager I could not wait to get out of Murwillumbah.

I took off with a German exchange student from Tweed River High. We hitch-hiked around Australia for 3 years. She was on a student visa and I think she got deported. She had 6 weeks to leave the country and we were having so much fun that I went with her. Her parents had bought a holiday house in Spain so we went and worked for a Real Estate Agent in Spain. I was in my early 20’s and that’s where I met my future husband.

Somehow we all ended up in Berlin where we stayed for 7 years. My favourite bookshop there was called Original Version. I spent so much time there and I loved it. I had a fantastic job and made lot’s of money. My eldest daughter was born there and when she was 4 1/2 we had to think about school so I decided to come home. My parents were still in this area so we returned.

I had the idea in my mind for a book shop. I had no qualifications at all so I didn’t know what I could do here in Australia. I thought, I will do something that I love and I had the idea of how my book shop would be.

When I was little I wanted to be a Librarian but I’m so ADHD I’d be a horrible Librarian. I was always up a tree with a book. I love reading! I love Literature! I love second hand books especially. They have such a story. You find old photos, ticket stubs and things written inside, messages and phone numbers.

I was in Kingscliff looking at old places in a commercial zone and I found a beautiful old Artdeco building in the main street opposite the beach. It was divided into 4 units and the top left unit was for rent. I met the young guy who rented downstairs and asked if he would consider moving upstairs. He was a surfer so he loved that he could check the surf. He agreed as long as I sold his bananas as he was banana farmer. All the cupboards were curved. It was gorgeous. My daughter had one bedroom at the back and I slept on a futon I would pull out from the wall in the shop. I’d broken up with my Portuguese partner by then. We lived there for a while and by then I was in a new relationship. My partner moved into the shop. He had a fishing boat full of stinky fish parked outside. We had a dog that had puppies and it was crazy and way too small. I’d just had a baby and the building was to be sold.

We bought an old farmhouse here on acreage and I got lost in raising the children for a few years. I had been looking at this house for years. It was the cheapest house in Murwillumbah. It didn’t have a front door, it had thick carpet, paint spattered everywhere. There was a fire pit just sitting in the middle of a room. It was pretty derelict. I met the owner and told him I wanted to rent his house for a bookshop. He said he used to rent it to a couple of alcoholics whose favourite pastime was belting big holes in the walls. Downstairs was bits of cars and junk, tyres and rubbish.

I put a door on the front. All my family and friends came one night and built all the book shelves. I have heaps of vintage clothes here too which I try to cull and put in more bookshelves (laughs).

After the flood in 2017 we got so many donations. The shop was a foot deep up stairs so downstairs was gone. We were trapped at home and it came through our house half a metre deep. We lost everything, my car went under water. We were fighting mud and my son kayaked with the keys to the shop. My best friend got the keys and started cleaning the shop. People had taken all the clothes home and washed them. Random people turned up with books. It was so amazing.

I love op-shopping and I love going through books and finding the one amazing treasure. I once found a book of Leonard Cohen poetry in a box of old Mills and Boon books. If I had just looked on the top I would never have found it. As soon as you build a few shelves people start dropping off books. I buy books off people. I often turn up for work and find boxes of books at the door. It looks chaotic but there is order in the chaos.”