Monday I mentioned a BBC photo of a heartbreakingly huge pile of full bin-bags outside a bookshop in Hebden Bridge. Today I read in the Guardian:

Authors including Jon Ronson and Ian Rankin have joined efforts to help a bookshop badly hit by the floods that have swept the north of England. The Book Case in the West Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge was one of the businesses in the town wrecked when the town was hit by the severe rain battering the region.

Sam Missingham, head of events at publisher HarperCollins, and Yorkshire-based husband-and-wife author team Bob and Carol Bridgestock, who write crime fiction as RC Bridgestock, have been lobbying authors to provide signed copies of their books to sell in an auction to raise funds for the Book Case – and among those who responded to the call are fiction author Marian Keyes, Rebus author Ian Rankin and journalist Jon Ronson.

A series of eBay auctions have been the authors’ donations – and for precious collectors’ items donated by book lovers – to raise money for the Book Case, which has been in business for almost 30 years and hosts a local writers’ group, author readings and book signings.

…

Kate Claughan of the Book Case said on the shop’s Facebook page on Tuesday: “Obviously the last few days have been shocking and very difficult, but we have truly been amazed and overwhelmed by the support and solidarity from our customers and the wider publishing and writing community.”

The shop didn’t have flood insurance because Hebden flooded very badly three years ago.