Join us at the book shop on the evening of Tuesday, April 30th to discuss the book The Mountains Sing by Mai Phan Que Nguyen. Fireside Book Club is always free, open to the public and welcoming of newcomers! Email Valerie to join the mailing list.

ABOUT THE BOOK: With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner's In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, set against the backdrop of the Việt Nam War. Trần Diệu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Nội, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Hồ Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that tore apart not just her beloved country, but also her family.

Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Việt Nam, The Mountains Sing brings to life the human costs of this conflict from the point of view of the Vietnamese people themselves, while showing us the true power of kindness and hope.

The Mountains Sing is celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai's first novel in English.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Born and raised in Việt Nam, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is the author of The Mountains Sing, runner-up for the 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the 2020 BookBrowse Best Debut Award, the 2021 International Book Awards, the 2021 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and the 2020 Lannan Literary Award Fellowship for Fiction. She has published twelve books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and has received some of the top literary prizes in Việt Nam. Her writing has been translated into twenty languages and has appeared in major publications, including the New York Times. She has a PhD in creative writing from Lancaster University. She is an advocate for the rights of disadvantaged groups in Việt Nam and has founded several scholarship programs, and she was named by Forbes Vietnam as one of twenty inspiring women of 2021.

Anesa Miller, author of the novel I Never Do This, will sign books in the shop on Sunday May 5th from 1-3 pm.

about the Book

This Rust Belt gothic novel presents the unforgettable voice of a young woman, LaDene Faye Howell, who finds herself in police custody recounting her story after her paroled cousin Bobbie Frank appears and engages her in a crime spree.

LaDene Faye Howell has spent her life in the small town of Devola, on an oxbow of the Muskingum River, in southeast Ohio. Her family is conservative and deeply religious, although another branch of the Howell clan are notorious criminals. When one of her outlaw relatives returns from prison, LaDene hopes the two of them may share an evening of fun, or even a spark of romance. Instead, Bobby Frank embroils her in kidnapping their old high school principal.

Taken into custody, LaDene recounts her misadventures in the form of a dramatic monologue. Pledging to "tell all in full truth so help me God," she hopes to keep herself out of jail and perhaps even soften Bobby's likely sentence. She aims to capture her listeners' sympathy by recounting a history she has never shared before: her teenage pregnancy and confinement at an unforgiving evangelical facility for wayward girls.

The heart of the story is LaDene's struggle to live as her own person while remaining true to her heritage and family loyalties. With country noir flair, it touches on spiritual abuse, addiction, family entanglements, and the disenfranchisement of women and young people in fundamentalist settings.

about the author

Anesa Miller is a native of Wichita, Kansas, a graduate of the University of Idaho, a long-term resident of Ohio, and recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Fellowship for creative writing. Her fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared widely, and her previous novel, Our Orbit, was a finalist in regional fiction in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Brandy Schillance, author of the novel The Framed Women of Ardemore House, will read from and sign her book in the shop on Sunday, May 12th from 1-3 pm.

about the Book

An abandoned English manor. A peculiar missing portrait. A cozy, deviously clever murder mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz.

Jo Jones has always had a little trouble fitting in. As a neurodivergent, hyperlexic book editor and divorced New Yorker transplanted into the English countryside, Jo doesn't know what stands out more: her Americanisms or her autism.

After losing her job, her mother, and her marriage all in one year, she couldn't be happier to take possession of a possibly haunted (and clearly unwanted) family estate in North Yorkshire. But when the body of the moody town groundskeeper turns up on her rug with three bullets in his back, Jo finds herself in potential danger--and she's also a potential suspect. At the same time, a peculiar family portrait vanishes from a secret room in the manor, bearing a strange connection to both the dead body and Jo's mysterious family history.

With the aid of a Welsh antiques dealer, the morose local detective, and the Irish innkeeper's wife, Jo embarks on a mission to clear herself of blame and find the missing painting, unearthing a slew of secrets about the town--and herself--along the way. And she'll have to do it all before the killer strikes again...

about the author

BRANDY SCHILLACE is the author of several works of nonfiction, including Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher. She is the creator of Peculiar Book Club, a twice-monthly live-streamed YouTube show. A former professor of English and gothic literature, she writes about gender politics and history, medical mystery, and neurodiversity for outlets such as Scientific American, Wired, CrimeReads, and Medium. She is also autistic, though has not (to her knowledge) been a suspect in a murder investigation.

Christine Martuch, author of Betty Cope, WVIZ and The Greatest Show on Air, will sign books in the shop on Sunday, May 19th from 1-3 pm.

about the Book

In the history of Cleveland television, there is no more formidable pioneer than Betty Cope.

From her entry-level position as a receptionist at WEWS in 1947, Cope rose up the ranks to become the producer of some of the area's most memorable early local programs. Together with a group of concerned citizens, she founded Cleveland's educational television station, WVIZ, in 1965.

Under her management, Channel 25 became one of the nation's largest producers of instructional classroom programming. Throughout Cope's twenty-seven-year tenure, WVIZ maintained high-quality programming standards, and she kept her station financially sound largely through the funds raised from the popular annual televised Auction. After TV, she embarked on a new career as an advocate of land conservation and park preservation.

Compiling original interviews and never-before-seen photos, author Christine Martuch tells story of one of Northeast Ohio's most remarkable women.

about the author

Christine L. Martuch is a retired metallurgical and materials engineer. She now works as a freelance writer and resides in Parma, Ohio.

Mike Petrello, author of Rock Shots, will sign books in the shop on Saturday, May 25th from 1-3 pm.

about the Book

ROCK SHOTS takes you inside the most iconic era of rock in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame City. It is a unique look at the heydays of the Cleveland rock and roll scene. The book is a chronological tour through over 110 concerts documented by more than 400 color concert photos, including 80 bands and 200 individual performers. Covering legendary concerts from 1974-1983, over 50 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees are shown in this book. A sampling of his concert photos can be viewed on www.mikepetrellophotography.com.

about the author

Mike Petrello was one of the most active and prolific concert photographers on the music scene in Cleveland, Ohio from 1974-1983. During this period, he attended over 200 concerts, photographed over 100 bands and compiled a catalog of over 15,000 color concert photos.

Valeri Furst & Kristy Steeves, author and illustrator of Milo & Oreo, are coming back to sign books in the shop on Saturday, May 1st from 1-3 pm. Milo and Oreo will also be in attendance!

about the Book

Friends come in all shapes and sizes. Like Milo and Oreo. One is a little dog and the other is a big horse. What fun things can they do together? Find out in this true story about friendship.

about the author

Author Valeri Furst is an award-winning journalist and communications professional who loves travelling, theatre, and horseback riding. Milo and Oreo’s relationship inspired her to write this book. She shares a house in Ohio with her husband Ron and Milo who often joins her to visit Oreo at the barn where they get lots of attention and biscuits. 

Illustrator Kristy Steeves is an international award winning photographer. She enjoys photographing people and animals. As a journalist, she has won four television Emmy awards. She enjoys traveling and has visited more than 50 countries around the world. Her favorite activities include scuba diving, snorkeling, swimming and spending time with her friends. 

Hughes Norton, author of The Rainmaker, will sign books in the shop on Sunday, June 2nd from 1-3 pm.

about the Book

A rollicking tell-all from golf super-agent, Hughes Norton, detailing everything from his life-changing work with Tiger Woods and Greg Norman to his thoughts on golf’s current money-grab era. The ultimate read for fans of Alan Shipnuck, Bob Harig, and Michael Bamberger.

When twenty-one-year-old Tiger Woods stunned the world by winning The Masters by a mind-blowing twelve strokes, the first thing he did was embrace the three most important people in his life: his father, his mother, and Hughes Norton.

At the peak of his career, agent Norton earned a million-dollar salary, flew to all corners of the world in first class, and enjoyed a lifestyle nearly as lavish as his A-list clients. That dizzying success, however, came at a high price. The seventy-hour work weeks, constant travel, and intense pressure—both from his players and their corporate partners—took Norton away from his family and ultimately led to divorce. At the same time, in an effort to protect his players and his career, he found himself making ethical and moral choices he would later regret. Soon, he realized he had made as many enemies as friends.

Now, in Rainmaker, Norton draws back the curtain on his meteoric rise and abrupt fall. With never-before-told stories and exclusive insights, he discusses what it was like being Tiger’s first agent, his time representing the narcissistic Greg Norman, and shining a bright light on his sudden—and controversial—ouster as the head of IMG’s Golf Division—a juggernaut he helped build. This is an engaging and unforgettable memoir that explores golf as never before.

about the author

HUGHES NORTON is best known as golf’s superagent for his work representing
giants of the sport such as Tiger Woods and Greg Norman. Twice named one of the
“Most Powerful 36 People in Golf” by Golf Digest. A graduate of Phillips Exeter
Academy, Yale University and Harvard Business School, he lives in Chagrin Falls,
Ohio.