An independent book shop in Wiltshire, England has become an internet hit after its creative window display of Prince Harry’s memoir.
The Twitter account of Swindon-based independent store Bert’s Books drew thousands of likes and comments after it posted: “Anyway, we do have some spare copies of ‘Spare’ if you want one.”
Alongside the post, a photo of its window display showed “Spare” placed next to Bella Mackie’s novel, “How to Kill Your Family.”
Bert’s Books via PA Media
In a follow-up tweet, the shop wrote it had to order a box of 12 of Harry’s books to “fulfil a couple of pre-orders.”
“So if you do want a copy, you can order it here,” it added.
The placement was not pre-meditated, explained Alex Call, the owner of Bert’s Books, as How To Kill Your Family was already in its window because it was the store’s bestselling book of 2022.
He told the PA news agency: “Then when we saw it there, we thought it would be quite funny to put it next to ‘Spare’ and would be quite light-hearted and make a few people smile.”
He added that there has been a “little bit of interest” from people to get the book, with a few being sold.
“How To Kill Your Family” follows protagonist Grace Bernard, 28, who attempts to eliminate all members of her family to get revenge on her father, who abandoned her and her mother as a baby.
As the post went viral, Mackie responded on Instagram.
She wrote: “Thank you to the 8000 people who’ve sent me this today. And thank you @bertsbooks, what an honour.”
The author’s husband – radio presenter Greg James – also retweeted the post from Bert’s Books on his Twitter account.
Allegations from the book include his brother, the Prince of Wales, physically attacking him, and Meghan upsetting the Princess of Wales by saying she must have “baby brain” in the run-up to the Sussexes’ 2018 wedding.
Harry’s publisher, Penguin Random House’s imprint Transworld, said on Tuesday so far 400,000 copies have been sold across hardback, ebook and audio formats on its first day of publication, making it the fastest selling non-fiction book ever.
On Tuesday, Spare was number one in the U.K. Amazon chart and was listed as a bestseller on the company’s audiobook arm Audible and on Waterstones’ website.