A Walking Book Crawl by Medway Author and Comedian Zahra Barri

Medway Book Crawl: A Full and Comprehensive Guide

By Zahra Barri Comedian and Author of Daughters of the Nile

Part 2

Continuing our book crawl, pop into Eastgate House, a seventeenth century town house which boasts as many historic stories as it does rooms and in the gardens of the house stands Dickens’ Swiss Chalet, used by the author as his study at his home at Gad’s Hill Place. Ooooh fancy!!

Craving more literary masterpieces we continue to find them at….

Rochester Library, Rochester High Street

And chat to the best librarian I’ve ever met, Sylvia! (Also, long haired Jack is very nice too). This place hosted my interview at Medway River Literature Festival and Syliva was beyond helpful. She helped me erect and later deconstruct my seven- foot Daughters of the Nile banner, which I do not think was in her job description. Cheers Sylvia! And Jack tells me his favourite book is The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. (I could make a joke here about him being able to read but not count but I’ll let him off). I personally have borrowed a lot of Margaret Atwood and Zadie Smith and attempted Tolstoy.

Saying goodbye to Sylvia and Jack, and paying your overdue library bill because you never can and never will finish War and Peace for now its time to head back onto the high street, and spend some time away from the high street doing a detour of the famous cathedral, vis-vis The Vines – an old winery for drunk monks and now a fantastic place to picnic for all manner of religiously invested wine drinkers, and if its summer, and the day of the week is a Thursday or Friday you can also head to the simply delectable gardens of Restoration House. Restoration House- takes its name from the stay of King Charles II on the eve of the Restoration. It is also the Satis House of Dickens’ “Great Expectations”, the home of Miss Havisham. You simply cannot escape this literature led high street! But perhaps you’re craving literature a little less classic a little more cutting edge, colourful, cartoonish, dare I say… comic?

End your Rochester Book Crawl at:

Ready Set Comics, Rochester High Street

They’ve moved to what was Hairstyle Avenue (possibly the greatest shop name ever because you start humming Electric Avenue as you walk past it) but now its Ready Set Comics which is as shop names go, also very good. It implies that their comics are so good you race through them, voraciously. And you do! They also sell Disney/Marvel Merch too. WIN.

Now, it’s time for you to get some fresh air, you’re pretty drunk now on words alone so enjoy a meander from the Rochester High Street onto the Intra High Street before heading onto Chatham High Street and onto….

Book crawl: Chatham High Street Part 3 coming in April 2025.

In the interim why not visit one of the ‘highlight books’ at the recent Medway River Literature Festival.

Purchase: Daughters of the Nile by Zhara Barri is published by Unbound.