ONE of the authors included in a Swindon bookshop's window display which went viral has commented on the cheeky sight.

Bert's Books in Old Town juxtaposed copies of Prince Harry's new autobiography Spare with editions of Bella Mackie's darkly comic bestseller How to Kill Your Family.

After posting a photo of the display on social media on Tuesday, shop owner Alex Call's Tweet received 19,900 likes and more than 2.7 million views, along with much media attention from the local, national and international press as well as TV news outlets.

 

Bella Mackie herself responded to the tongue-in-cheek display on her Instagram page.

She wrote: "Thank you to the 8,000 people who’ve sent me this today. And thank you @bertsbooks, what an honour."

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Bella Mackie (@mackie_bella)

Her husband Greg James said: "I really hope Harry’s been sent this as many times as Bella has today. It’s complete genius."

 

James spread the word about Bert's Books to millions of listeners on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show on Wednesday morning, describing it as "an amazing independent bookshop" - a quote which now proudly adorns the chalkboard sign at the entrance.

 

He added: "Bert's Books were being very very cheeky. Lots of people were going 'oh, look at this, ooh, awkward, putting those two books together!'

"Bert's Books says 'we've just put our bestselling books in the window and people are making all sorts of wild assumptions and connections'. Yeah, you know exactly what you're doing, cheeky chops."

The Adver spoke to Alex Call about his unexpected Internet fame.

He said: "It's bonkers, bizarre and a bit bemusing, to be honest. I was not expecting that sort of reaction, it's clearly struck a chord with people.

"Bella joked that she might have to give me some of her royalties for the week.

"We have now sold out of Spare and had to order more copies in due to people requesting it, and sold a lot of How to Kill Your Family as well.

"More people know the shop exists now so hopefully it will lead to more regular customers."