ANDREW FFRENCH attempts to find why big name authors such as Jodi Picoult, above, are flocking to an independent book shop in Abingdon.

ON May 1, best-selling American author Jodi Picoult will leave the genteel splendour of the Theatre Royal in Bath and arrive at scaffolding-clad Mostly Books in Stert Street, Abingdon.

How on earth did one of the world’s most successful authors end up visiting a bookstore which started out selling pots and pans next to paperbacks three years ago?

Mark Thornton, the manager, gives me a shaggy dog story as his explanation, but talks so convincingly about the books trade that I end up believing him.

“When Martin Clunes came to do a signing last year, he got a great reception – lots of people came to see him and his dog,” explains the father-of-two.

“Hodder also publishes Jodi Picoult, and authors get to hear about places where they are guaranteed a good reception.

“Jodi isn’t doing any other signings in Oxfordshire, and we are delighted she is coming all the way from her home in New Hampshire.

“She is a best-selling author who has cornered the market in what she writes. She takes ethical dilemmas and transforms them into compelling thrillers. It’s quite right to describe her as a publishing phenomenon.

“When Raymond Blanc did a signing here in November, there were people queuing out of the door but I think the queue could be even longer this time.

“Jodi Picoult is very popular with teenage girls trying out their first adult reads and we have had a lot of phone calls from young women asking ‘is she really coming here?’”

But it would be wrong for Martin Clunes, the man who behaved so badly for far too long, to take too much credit for the arrival of an author who is more used to home comforts offered by book chains Waterstone’s and Borders.

When Mostly Books opened in 2006, Mr Thornton decided to make the shop a focal point of the community.

He tried to achieve this by offering a loyalty card, sessions for kids involving children’s authors, and a garden cafe for people to relax in.

Gradually several book groups were established and a number of author events were staged in the store.

These small events gave the manager the confidence to try for bigger names, and the store’s presence at the county’s first major food festival in the summer of 2007 boosted the shop’s profile.

The following summer, the shop’s efforts were recognised and it won the British Book Industry's New Bookshop of the Year award.

Mr Thornton decided to build on this success by trying to book a number of big-names authors, bringing novelist Joanna Trollope and award-winning Kate Summerscale to Mostly Books earlier this year.

On both occasions, the shop hosted the talks in venues away from the store to cater for demand in a town lucky enough to have another independent book shop, The Bookstore, in the precinct.

The bookseller is not finished yet with headline-grabbing authors but admits that it takes a lot of forward planning to get a writer of Picoult’s clout to drop in.

“We do get calls from authors who are just starting out and want to give a talk in the store. Sometimes we have to tell them that we are booked up,” explained Mr Thornton.

“This is a community book shop and it’s a question of striking a balance because I would hate to be accused of moving too far away from our roots.”

A 30-minute drive away in the west Oxfordshire village of Wootton-by-Woodstock, residents are also gaining a reputation for attracting well-known speakers to their village hall, including former Chancellor Geoffrey Howe, and spy novelist Henry Porter.

QI supremos John Lloyd and John Mitchinson are there tonight.

Jodi Picoult will sign copies of Handle with Care, her new novel, at Mostly Books, on Friday, May 1, at 5.30pm.