2024 has a lot to live up to (and make up for)

Happy New Year, dear friends.

Our desire - and technical ability - to know everything, everywhere and at once, has all but done away with the concept of surprise. So the message of abdication delivered to millions of Danes with a barely perceptible ‘gotcha’ smile by a queen who has so flawlessly served her country for 52 years was a welcome experience, one that sent shock waves through all homes and gatherings, and reminded us that not everything need last forever.

At 6:05 PM on December 31, 2023, an elegant and eloquent woman stepped down gracefully from an actual throne with a final message of - and call for - understanding, rapprochement, union and humanity, and the gasp of astonishment felt simultaneously as a release of breath held for most of 2023.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark did not herself choose, nor was she elected for the role that would define her life. Yet, she succeeded with deference and respect where most leaders, who very much choose for themselves and are indeed elected, fail.

The monarchy is in many ways and for many reasons, a relic of the past, albeit an extremely popular one, so the job awaiting King Frederik X is an awesome one. In a time when monarchists of the past (and present) face being outnumbered by a growing number of republicans of the future, it is more than ever a role that calls for serious reflection, one that can do much good in polarized times, but also risks falling flat and making itself redundant if it doesn’t realize the pitfalls alongside its potentials.

Obviously, the peaceful passing of the baton in an equally peaceful country of 6 million, means next to nothing in a world on fire, but it has given us all a much needed moment of pause before we embark on what we can only hope will be a better year.

With nearly 50% of the world’s population heading to the polls this year, 2024 will be a year of huge consequence to us all. There will be drama, there will be horror, there will be comedy and there will, hopefully, be joyful resolution and relief, and some of us will be right there in the front row popcorn in hand watching, commenting, shaking our heads and steadying our hands.

Through it all, we will continue to curate, care and challenge through that genius tool of enlightenment: the book. We hope to engage and entertain, and plan to ensure that Books & Company, as it enters its 15th year of existence, remains a hub of insight, inclusion, consideration and kindness.

I enter 2024 with immense gratitude to all our customers, so many of whom have become ‘customer friends’, for all your incredible support, AND to the amazing team of colleagues without whom there would be no Books & Company, and who make it an absolute joy to show up for work every day.

Thank you, and all the very best for 2024!

Isabella