Bring home a new book and a friend when you join Wholesome London Club monthly book swap.
By Aliyah Difia Rahma
It was a cloudy Thursday when Pitcahaya Pergchoei, or Peach, arranged her books in the outdoor seating area at the Alexandra Palace. Despite the unpredictable weather, her spirit doesn’t budge to continue with the event.
To Peach, it was a little bit disappointing because she thought the sun would be out, yet the attendees were still eager to do their monthly book swap event.
Peach founded the Wholesome London Girls Club in January 2025, a women-only community based in North London that is creating a safe space for women to share and make friends while bonding through wholesome activities.
Peach, who just moved to London last year for a job, reveals how hard it is to make friends. “I started off by going to so many events last year, just to figure out who’s out there,” she said.
Peach spent her years moving all over the world due to her parents job. Credit: Aliyah Difia Rahma
“I live in North London, which kind of makes it hard, because every event that I found is either in the South or on the other side,” she added.
That gap prompted her to create the Wholesome London Girls Club, where women across North London could connect and take part fun activities together.
After only five months, the community is growing rapidly and something that Peach still couldn’t believe. With over 300 followers on Instagram and 40 people on the WhatsApp community.
“I still doubt myself, thinking ‘will people come?’. It’s things like ‘oh I want to do it this day’ and maybe it’s not a good day,” she said.
“It’s constantly like being a doubter of your own planning. I just have to tell myself ‘don’t listen to it, don’t listen to that and just do it.’
”I think it’s the art of showing up, if people like you then people will show up.”
The book swap attendees starting get familiar with the books. Credit: Aliyah Difia Rahma
Balancing a full-time job is also another big hurdle that Peach had to endure during these past few months. An experience coordinator, she coordinates different events for students in universities and helps them land work placements to improve their employability. Even with her work, she still managed to find time for the Wholesome London Girls Club.
Over the past five months, the community has held different types of events, such as Sip & Paint for Valentine’s Day, Walk & Talk at Finsbury Park and their marquee monthly event: book swap.
Attendees are encouraged to scan the QR code in the standee to not miss any update about the Wholesome London Girls Club upcoming event. Credit: Aliyah Difia Rahma
Peach said that the idea for the book swap came from herself, looking at the books that she hasn’t read which were starting to pile up.
“I want it (book swap) to be the sisterhood of the traveling books…I want them to feel you’re passing on a book, a memory, a lesson that you learned from reading the book to the next person.”
“I’m hoping they either take a new book home or find a new friend that shares the same passion with you and just make new connections.”
The attendees and their books choices. Credit: Peach Pergchoie
The book swap is a popular event by the club and the tickets are always sold out each month.
Lisa Hilton, a 39-year-old primary school teacher from Haringey, has attended the book swap three times since its inception. Hilton saw the event advertised on Eventbrite and decided to go for it.
”There’s a lot of book clubs in London, but not a book swap, so it feels a little bit different.
“I’m quite introverted,” Hilton explained. “So, it’s nice to have something to talk to people about.”
How does it work?
When you come to the event, you will need to bring a book you want to swap, one book is the minimum but you could bring as many as you want. Don’t worry – you don’t need to pay anything to participate in the book swap!
Then you need to write the summary of why someone should come home with this book on a post-it note. This could be how you feel about the book, book tropes or reasons why someone might like it.
The book selection for the May book swap with their notes. Credit: Aliyah Difia Rahma
Before starting, the group is divided into two, where you present your book while listening to what others have to say about theirs. Once everybody in the group finishes, participants can browse all of the books on the table – not just the one from their group.
Presenting your books is the time to tell your group why like the book or why that book might be something that interest them. Credit: Aliyah Difia Rahma
Finally, it’s the swap. Everyone draws a number, which signifies the order of picks the book.
Another group presenting the books they brought. Credit: Aliyah Difia Rahma
What if the book that you want is taken by someone else?
There’s something called ‘steal’ where you can steal the book from someone else. There’s no limit to stealing a book, but the book can only be stolen twice. Once a second person stole the same book, the book is locked with whoever last stole them.
This has been the ritual for the past couple of months for Peach and some of the others there, connecting and conversing about things beyond books.
Timeline of the Book Swap by The Wholesome London Girls Club. Infographic Credit: Aliyah Difia Rahma
“There’s like a solid seven girls that kept coming back, which makes me so happy. Like, wow they really enjoy the event,” Peach said happily.
“There are people that I met on the first book swap that we just became really close friends after this,” said Peach.
“Like we would actually go out and get pizza and hang out. I think it really makes a difference, meeting people in real life and bond.”
One of their previous book swap at Bubba Oasis in Islington. Credit: Peach Pergchoei
Another regular, Khadija Rashid, 26, a high school biology teacher from East London, decided to attend a second time after liking the previous ones.
“It was nice to talk to people who enjoyed reading and then get their opinion on books that they really enjoyed and it’s nice to be able to share that,” said Rashid.
Not only those who kept coming back, but there were a lot of people who came to the swap for the first time.
Oluloni Akoba-Ajibolu, nicknamed Lulu, is a 29-year-old teaching assistant saw this event on Instagram ads and decided to try it out.
”I love it (the book swap)…although I came from South East London…definitely cannot wait for the next one,” Lulu said with excitement after coming home with a new book.
Another first-timer, Natasha Mitchell, 29 and an office admin assistant from Waterloo, also saw the event on Instagram and thought it would be nice to come down after a full day of work.
Hilton from earlier said: “There’s always a good variety every month, it’s good to have some books that you don’t normally pick up.”
Let’s take a listen to what the attendees picked up this month below.
What’s next?
For a community that was only created this year, the growth for Wholesome London Club has been quite rapid. With sold-out ticket reservations every month for the book swap, the community never runs out of new people to talk to.
“It’s a start of what I envisioned,” Peach said regarding the growth of this community. “I want to make it really big, there’s a lot of them in London but I really want to focus more in the North London area to be a community where girls in their 20s or 30s can make friends, meet new people and build connections.”
If this is something that’s up your alley, check out their @wholesomelondonclub on Instagram so that you don’t miss any updates about their upcoming events.
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