Claire Lesobre (32) has always aspired to manage her own time and work. This dream of independence led her to open a bookshop in Creil, Entre les Lignes (Between the Lines), in January 2003, with her sister Anne (36), who was swept up in the project in her sister’s wake.

Claire and Anne spent more than a year carefully thinking through the project before resigning from their respective jobs and leaping into the unknown. Claire had worked in bookshops for five years, and so was familiar with the business. Anne left her job as a designer; she was the one who came up with the name and logo. For Claire, “We never dreamed we’d be able to make a living out of our passion for books. Luck played its part in guiding us to where we are today.” Opening day, first client: as first times go, it was an “unforgettable experience,” the moment the two sisters realized they had brought their project to fruition. Entre les Lignes is a 60-sq.m bookshop with over 10,000 books dedicated to French and foreign literature, crime fiction and young peoples’ literature. “We never expected such a fine reception from the people of Creil,” they exclaim. The closure of a previous bookshop turned the town center into a cultural wasteland. By setting up in Creil, they have filled the gap. “The town’s image is too often associated with social problems,” she explains. “By setting up here, we hope to disprove that idea.”

Claire refuses to consider books as expendable consumer products. The two sisters stand passionately for the idea of a local bookshop “with a human face.” For them, their profession is essentially one of meeting people and listening. By encouraging discussion and asking questions they can tailor their service to suit their customers. Claire concludes that “books are the meeting point for readers and authors, and we, the booksellers, are mere intermediaries.”