BLEAK HOUSE BOOKS,

one of Hong Kong’s last independent English-language bookshops, has announced it will close this month. Married couple Albert Wan and Jenny Smith, who founded the San Po Kong shop in 2017, will shut its doors for good on October 15. In a blog post, Wan explained “with great sadness” that the closure was due to him and his family leaving Hong Kong, adding that he had not tried to sell the business so as to maintain the “unique character, voice and mission” it had developed over its four years of trading. Instead of a clearance sale or closing party, unsold books will be donated to other independent shops or institutions that need them, while Wan promised it would not be the last chapter for Bleak House. “There are many things I still want to do and say and, of course, many more books I’d still like to share with everyone,” he wrote, adding: “It is not the end of our journey.”