Shop girl diaries - Emily Benet

"The new It-Girl, Emily Benet, does for chandeliers what Bridget Jones did for publishing"

Shoppers, suitors and chandeliers make up Emily Benet's comic world. Selling light bulbs in her mother's London shop conceals her burning ambition to become a writer. Till-side accounts of the general public's desire for retail therapy and light switches form the backdrop to Benet's well-lit tour of the credit crunch, as the shop faces closure and the real life transition from retail assistant to published writer all comes true, with some salsa dancing thrown in for good measure.

Charming, scatty and endearing, Benet's diary reveals more about Britain's current climate than diamante fittings might suggest. This new book is an adaptation of Benet's hugely popular Shop Girl Blog and already has thousands saying she's the new Bridget Jones, but with one difference: she's a real life shop assistant in a very real shop.

In a uniquely quirky account Benet tells us about being young, having literary dreams and loving lamps. The independent lighting shop is the co-star of this tale, as mother and daughter try to close down but just can't seem to manage it due to a loyal following of colourful and bizarre customers.

Emily's writing is simultaneously bittersweet, laugh out loud funny and impossibly moreish - luckily the 'Shop Girl Diary' is handbag-sized so you'll never have to be without it. With specially-commissioned short films and an enormous Facebook push this gift book is the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who shops and anyone who doesn't.