Former Waterstones bookseller's romance goes viral

A tweet from theatre data analyst Victoria O'Brien showing how she met and married former Waterstones bookseller Jonathan O'Brien has gone viral with over 24,000 favourites.

On Sunday (17th July), Victoria O'Brien

a picture of herself and Jonathan O’Brien on their wedding day alongside a tweet from 2012 in which she wrote: “Well I’m in love with whoever is manning the @WstonesOxfordSt account. Be still my actual beating heart.”

The tweet has since gone viral with 7.7k retweets and 24k favourites.

Dear reader, I married him #noreally #yeahidunnohoweither pic.twitter.com/OKuosKzdJL

— Victoria (@VictoriaOB_)

Dear reader, I married him #noreally #yeahidunnohoweither pic.twitter.com/OKuosKzdJL

— Victoria OB (@VictoriaOB_) July 17, 2016

Victoria O’Brien told The Bookseller that the response to the tweet has been "absolutely lovely". She said: "Friends keep contacting us to say it's been really nice to have some good news for a change and we're so happy strangers are happy for us. It's just top!”

Speaking about how they met, Victoria O’Brien said: “We both eventually met after I brought doughnuts into the Waterstones Plaza store after we exchanged a few tweets. Then I went on tour for a few months. We went on a date to a cocktail bar when I came back, and Jonathan brought me a copy of The Wizard of Oz which was rather lovely!”

Jonathan O’Brien, who was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2015, added: "It's brilliant. I've had a few things with work attract this sort of response but it's nothing compared to it happening personally. It's been really lovely having so many people be happy for a pair of internet strangers."

The tweet was featured on Twitter's Moments section which features the "best stories" happening on Twitter, curated by Twitter.

Jonathan O'Brien was also shortlisted for Young Bookseller of the Year at the Bookseller Industry Awards in 2013. O'Brien currently works on the social media for innocent drinks.