After a landmark birthday and reshaping her life after a personal tragedy, Sarah decided to fulfil a lifelong dream by opening a bookshop in her home town of Stewarton in December 2020. She thought by leaving her corporate career she was saying goodbye to long hours, lots of pressure and deadlines, and international travel. She still has all these things with the exception of travel as the shop is just around the corner from home!

Sarah loves sharing the joy of books and her love of reading with customers, many of whom have become friends. She is passionate about encouraging young people to read, working closely with local schools and ensuring that the shop is a fun and engaging space for kids of all ages.

Sarah could also not have imagined how opening The Book Nook would have transformed her personal life too. She met one of her favourite Scottish crime writers, Douglas Skelton, when he came to do an author event at The Book Nook’s first Mini Book festival in June 2022. Sarah and Douglas got married in The Book Nook in December 2024 - a real-life bookshop romance story!

Joanna joined The Book Nook three years ago, first as a volunteer, then undertook a Modern Apprenticeship, achieving a NVQ Level 7 in Customer Service, before becoming a fully fledged employee in 2024.

She is always bubbly and welcoming and is a special favourite with the children and young people especially when she leads Tales For Tinies on Tuesday mornings.

Joanna reads a wide variety of books ranging from general fiction to thrillers and the odd dystopian and sci-fi book.

Whatever genre you fancy, Joanna will be happy to recommend your next read.

Rob started off his Book Nook journey as a member of our BookNookers Book Club and was always happy to help at events and book club.

Rob was the obvious choice when The Book Nook needed more staff in order to expand our opening hours to 7 days per week.

A life-long lover of reading and books, Rob was delighted to be asked to join the team at The Book Nook.

Rob enjoys a wide variety of genres but particularly Scottish fiction, especially crime, sci-fi, humour and poetry. He also enjoys writing poems and the entertaining poems that Rob writes when he is running BookNookers are always popular!

You can guarantee that Rob is always very happy to spend time with you to help you select your next favourite book!