WE all dream of escaping to a paradise island – and a young Bradford woman has done just that, after landing a dream job in the Maldives.
Alice Spencer of Thornton is one of two ‘Barefoot Booksellers’ chosen to run a bookshop on a luxury island resort for the 2020/21 season. Currently, on sabbatical from her job as Senior Press Officer at Penguin Random House, she is settling into life on Medhufaru Island in the Maldives. She flew to the island’s Soneva Jani resort at the end of November to set up and run a bookshop there.
This is the first year that two positions for the paradise bookselling job have been created. Aislinn Shivakumar, a writer from Ireland is at Soneva Fushi on Kunfunadhoo Island to re-open a bookshop there for its third season.
Armed with a range of hand-picked books to entertain, educate and inspire, the Barefoot Booksellers’ role is to bring new creativity to the Soneva resorts by running creative writing classes and ‘book therapy’ sessions as well as hosting guest authors and events. The advert for the coveted job went viral in the summer when it was re-tweeted by the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon.
Launched in 2018, The Barefoot Bookseller is the brainchild of Sonu Shivdasani, the founder of Soneva, a chain of luxury resorts in the Maldives, and Philip Blackwell, CEO of Ultimate Library, a company working across the world to create bespoke book collections for hotels, resorts, and private clients.
When she landed the dream job, Alice, 27, ditched her house share and, with just a few weeks to prepare, flew out to the Maldives to embrace life on the white sand beach islands. She said: “After a turbulent year the last thing I imagined was that I’d be moving over 5,000 miles around the world to the Maldives to set up and run a bookshop. But if anything, this strange year made me want to jump into a new experience even more.
“Living on a desert island of sandy beaches and crystal waters is the stuff dreams are made of and I am so excited to be the first Barefoot Bookseller on Soneva Jani.
“Island life is hot and sandy, with a tight-knit group of staff and beautiful surroundings. I’m still in awe of the scenery a month in. The guests stay in villas built on stilts over the lagoon, and I live with the other hosts in accommodation on the island, hidden amongst the forestry and windy lanes. I’ve been working with teams on and off the island such as IT, engineering and the Ultimate Library team in London to get the bookshop open and we celebrated with a launch party for guests and hosts last week.”
Aislinn, 29, called the paradise job “a chance in a lifetime”. She added: “To work in a bookshop on a luxury resort in the Maldives, surrounded by incredible views, leading sustainability research and a fantastic cast of colleagues and guests. When I stumbled across the position in a group chat, I knew I had to apply.”
Soneva’s resorts offer “holistic encounters in luxurious and inspiring environments”. Soneva Fushi, Soneva Jani and Soneva in Aqua in the Maldives and Soneva Kiri in Thailand “combine luxury with a conscientious approach to sustainability”. Ultimate Library creates holiday book collections tailored to properties from beach hideaways to private yachts.
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