Bristol woman offers "escapism" through Bishopston book swap
Olivia Clements says the reaction to her "Little Library" has been insane
Last updated 9th Feb 2021
A Bristol woman who's set up a book swap in her front garden says the reaction she's received has been insane.
Last Friday (05/02) Olivia Clements shared a photo on Twitter of her "Little Library" consisting of a book cabinet outside her house.
To date her Tweet has been shared almost two thousand times and has drawn attention from across the world.
"It's been insane, it's been insane and really, vastly vastly positive," she tells us.
"In that first 24 hours it got something like 10,000 likes which is insane.
"I've gone from my best Tweet having something like 20 likes to suddenly I'm on 14 and a half thousand, like what's going on there?"
Olivia's initial tweet sparked an international thread, with people from across the globe then sharing photos of their own book swaps.
Examples include others across Bristol and the UK, plus some across Europe and the rest of the world.
"It has just been wonderful and people have been so excited about it," Olivia says.
"I've had people from Canada and Italy sending me pictures of theirs.
"So yeah it has been a bit mad but really lovely to see everyone get so excited about it."
Olivia, who works as a bookseller herself, hopes her Little Library can help promote reading as a way of dealing with the pandemic.
"Reading has, it's always been such a wonderful way to escape and I think this past year as well, everyone needs a bit of escapism.
"While things are so stressful and tense for so many people if they can sit on the sofa, pick up a book and spend two hours at Hogwarts, why not?"
You can find Olivia's book swap outside her home on Elton road in Bishopston.