Recently my man and I attended the Vancouver Writers Festival’s first Books & Brunch event, which was held on Granville Island. It was the perfect mix of books and food, with brunch served and eaten while Shelley Wood gave a talk about her new book Quintland.

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Quintland tells a fictionalised story of the Dionne quintuplets, five girls born in Canada who were taken by the government and raised as a kind of tourist attraction. While the girls themselves are very real, the story is told from the point of view of people around them, including the nurse who was there when they were born. Wood, with her background in journalism, did loads of research for this book and it was fascinating to hear her talk about these five girls. She even had an amazing vintage scrapbook that someone had given her as a gift that a fan of the Dionne sisters had made, full of original clippings.

I made sure to grab a copy and have Woods sign it, and I’m looking forward to reading it at some point soon.

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It was a beautiful warm, Spring day, so I felt like wearing gingham. It always has a vintagey, Summer picnic feel to me, which I love. This skirt is from Collectif, and was a steal when I bought it on sale while I still lived in London.

Teamed with leopard print flats, a waist cinching belt, and tortoise shell hoop earrings. These amazing cat eye sunglasses are from Betty and Veronica, who you know I love so much. (Discount code HERMIONE15 for 15% off)

It felt like the perfect start of the warmer days, and it was fun to wander around the market afterwards. If you like the sound of this, Vancouver Writer’s Festival have decided to hold these brunches quarterly, so get on their mailing list to hear about the next one.