Sarah Broadhurst, former Bookseller paperback previewer, has died, aged 78

Broadhurst began her book career with the Piccadilly bookshop Hatchards, hired by the then manager Peter Giddy to oversee its small paperback department. Though paperbacks had been around for nearly 30 years it wasn’t until the late 1950s that they were beginning to establish themselves as a real part of the publishing cycle, as a format for quality books as well as for pulp fiction. Broadhurst spearheaded the paperback revolution in Hatchards, establishing them as a format of choice for discerning readers, not just hardbacks’ poor cousin, before going on to open paperback departments in Debenham & Freebody and then Harrods.

In the mid 1970s Broadhurst took a break from the trade to drive across South America for four months before returning and setting up a book wholesaler and, as part of it, a resource for booksellers called Paperback Buyer which aimed to highlight the very best paperbacks for forthcoming publication. A few years later, in 1977, she married Tony Kingsford, the publisher of BBC Books. 

When the wholesaler folded, Publishing News founder Fred Newman bought the rights to Paperback Buyer and folded it into that magazine; but when in 1979 Broadhurst found herself pregnant for a second time and knowing that she wanted to find a job that would be fulfilling but enable her to work part-time and from home it was to The Bookseller that she turned, which had never given paperbacks a dedicated space before. Her ability to spot potential bestsellers before they were published meant her article quickly established a reputation as being the place publishes wanted their books featured and getting a spot as one of her ’ones to watch’ was seen as a marker of future success with Terry Pratchett, Joanna Trollope, Lee Child and Peter James among the many, many authors she recognised the brilliance of before they became bestsellers.

Heavily dyslexic and completely unable to fathom the QWERTY keyboard she wrote all of her articles by hand on the back of the paperback covers she received in great number each month which Tony Kingsford typed up for her. Tony’s ill health precipitated the family moving to Somerset where Broadhurst took on a smallholding of sheep and delighted in telling tales of shearing and lambing on her regular visits to publishers’ offices. She became a significant part of her local community and a longstanding love of theatre led to her taking on a role behind the scenes of her local amateur dramatic society, directing plays and pantomimes. When Tony died in 1996 Broadhurst lost not just her husband and great love but also her amanuensis—but having never missed an article and with a deadline looming found someone to type her articles who became a lifelong friend. 

Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller said: “Sarah was a one-off: recognising the format shift from hardbacks to paperbacks, she first fought for their space, and then consolidated it within the magazine with her on-point and often strident views. Our previewers make individual titles, but Sarah helped make an entire sector, as well as those authors and publishers who were perfectly suited to these new types of books and the readers they would appeal to. In that respect, for editors she was a dream contributor, and a real loss to the magazine when she left. More widely, many publishers and authors owe her a huge thanks, and I know this news of her passing will be received with great sadness.”

In her final column for The Bookseller Broadhurst reflected on her columns. "The chance to influence the masses, to take exciting books to open minds, to enthuse and bubble, to say: ’you have to read this.’ I couldn’t resist."

In her later years, she developed severe osteoporosis and she was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. She was fully bedbound for her final year. Born on 28th December 1945, Broadhurst died at home, on 12th March 2024, surrounded by her family, including her two daughters Katherine and Julia Kingsford, the latter’s husband Ed, and her grandchildren Theo and Magnus. In her final years, her daughter Julia noted, her greatest pleasure was in reading to them.