Do you need to impress someone with a thoughtful gift that looks like you’ve spent ages choosing? There’s still time for a last minute dash to the bookshop to pick out a gorgeously bound book by an underestimated female author. Persephone Books is located in London’s Bloomsbury, and publishes titles mainly by women writers from the 20th century, many of whom are less known or entirely forgotten. Visit their incredibly stylish, cosy bookshop and talk to the staff who are very happy to recommend an excellent read.

In fact, any book you pick up there will be one that they endorse. As they highlight on their website, ‘we only publish books that we completely, utterly love.’ When I visited their shop, they suggested that I begin my Persephone journey with a book by the author Dorothy Whipple, who, I was told, enjoyed great success in her time but is less well known to the modern reader. Inside its sleek grey cover, each book has a unique colourful design, and comes with a free matching bookmark that is guaranteed to make someone very happy.