This was a thoroughly enjoyable biography of Richard Booth, the man behind turning Hay-on-Wye into the world's first book town. I didn't know anything about Richard Booth,and what a fascinating character he was. I'm fact many of the people he associated with were eccentrics, bohemians, artists, and various other colourful characters. I have always known Gay as a book town, and yet had never heard that it had declared itself independent, with Richard Booth as it's King. I will have to take a trip there when I have a day off, it has been a long time since I went, and this has inspired me to make the effort.

*Many thanks to Netgally and the publishers for a copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*

I have been to Hay Festival several times but this book is an excellent insight into how all those bookshops and book towns came into being. The author has diligently researched the complex story behind Richard Booth and the operations around book dealing. It's an interesting tale and one that would have me being very wary around book dealers in particular. I now know why there were so many books in Hay on Wye and yet why many rare books were not.