A time of stalking, satire and storytelling

Paige Nick's Book People transforms the online book club into a sharply funny satire on cancel culture, bad reviews and literary obsession

- Rolland Simpi Motaung

fter her novel, Unpresidented, came out in 2017, novelist and columnist Paige Nick had no idea what to write next.

Then, one day in 2023, the idea for her latest novel Book People was born. Based on a fictional online book club, it is a comedy about a group of book lovers who literally lose the plot.

The novel is based on The Good Book Appreciation Society on Facebook, an online book club Nick founded in 2012.

Set in London, the novel essentially gives a worst-case scenario of some authors' inability to handle negative reviews, cancel culture and the impact of online book clubs.

The satirical novel follows Norma Jacobs, an average accountant, running a book club on Facebook and living quietly with her gamer boyfriend.

As she starts a new job as the only 42-year-old intern in the history of publishing, Norma is being threatened by deranged author Harry Shields and questioned by the police about an attempted murder.

Shields, a struggling crime writer, is haunted by negative reviews of his latest book on Norma's online book club leading to a public meltdown. Along with his upcoming book events, Shields gets cancelled as an author, ensuing a wild ride of plotting revenge and stalking his nemesis until someone ends up in a coma.

I caught up with Nick to find out more about her writing process, character development and the role of online book clubs, including the evolving reading culture.

What inspired this beautifully written and funny novel and how long did it take to write?

“The famous ‘they’ always says you should write what you know and since I run a book club on Facebook called The Good Book Appreciation Society, I took ‘they’s’ advice. I woke up one day and thought, “Hey, why not write a book set in a book club on Facebook called, The Good Book Appreciation Society?’