Sad news that another much loved secondhand bookshop is closing. After 20 years of occupying the former Wesleyan Church in Hesse Street, Queenscliff, Barwon Booksellers – aka Peter and Anne Downie – have sold the building and are retreating to their Geelong headquarters where they will carry on in the book trade. At least Peter Downie will; his wife has heard the call of tranquil weekends. Downie said trade was strong and he had hoped another bookseller would buy the building but instead the church will become a print-making space and gallery. He will continue to run the shop in James Street, Geelong and BB will celebrate its 25th anniversary in January. Downie says he agrees with Clive James' comment that people aren't to be despised because their dreams are cheap: he is happy to sell a customer a Dick Francis paperback or a volume of Proust. Barwon Booksellers has started a final sale in Queenscliff, which will run at weekends and holidays until the end of September, when the bookshop will close.

The pick of a captain

Last month we had Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman, next month we have George MacDonald Fraser's Captain in Calico. This was the first novel by the late MacDonald Fraser, best-known for his Flashman novels – "Flashy" to his many admirers. Fraser wrote the novel in the 1950s, using the figures of real-life 18th-century pirates Jack Rackham and Anne Bonney, and, like Lee's first novel, it was rejected by his publisher. His daughter, novelist Caro Fraser, said:  "We thought long and hard before allowing it to be published, and are only doing so because we believe that, as an early work, Captain in Calico is a delightful curiosity, one which we hope will provide fans of GMF with a fascinating insight into the inspirations and creative impulses that turned him into such a fine novelist." That's good enough for me. Incidentally, in Clive James' new book, Latest Readings, he talks of the Flashman novels "popular among my friends" that have invaded his kitchen – "they must be dealt with".

MWF set sail again

This is the first weekend of the 30th birthday edition of the Melbourne Writers Festival and highlights includes the likes of Mark Latham, Gerard Henderson (see review on page 26), Anne Summers, Anne Gracie, Mary Jo Putney, Tim Soutphommasane, the Ned Kelly awards, the John Button oration from Rebecca Huntley, S.J. Watson, Shobhaa De, Sarah Winman​ and many more. mwf.com.au.

Girl on a second book

"Really struggling with writing today, so am watching Psycho to cheer myself up. Anthony Perkins was so very pretty." That's what Paula Girl on a Train Hawkins tweeted when she was having a tough day writing her second novel. From that you get the impression that the book will be just as noir as her debut, which has been such a success. It remains in the top 10 here and in the US it has sold more than 3 million copies since publication in January.