Upcoming event

  The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Please join us on Sunday, September 25 at 3pm as we welcome Cambridge-based author Vanessa Diffenbaugh, reading from The Language of Flowers.

The novel, called "lucid and lovely" by the Wall Street Journal, has been a favorite among the bookshop staffers who've had the pleasure to read it.

A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.

Having spent her childhood in the foster-care system, Victoria Jones is adept at using the Victorian language of flowers to convey her grief, mistrust, and solitude. She is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.

Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. Soon Victoria must decide whether it's worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness. 

Magical new fiction

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 

  

"The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway-a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love-a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart."

Mark your calendars for October 16, when author Erin Morgenstern visits the Concord Bookshop!

New fiction from award-winning author

On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry 

From the two-time Man Booker shortlisted author of The Secret Scripture comes a magnificent new novel that is the story of the twentieth century in America.

A favorite memoir, now in paperback

Wait for Me: Memoirs by Duchess of Devonshire Deborah Mitford 

  

Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, is the youngest of the famously witty brood of six daughters and one son that included the writers Jessica and Nancy. Deborah's effervescent memoir Wait for Me! chronicles her remarkable life, from an eccentric but happy childhood roaming the Oxfordshire countryside, to tea with Adolf Hitler and her sister Unity in 1937, to her marriage to Andrew Cavendish, the second son of the Duke of Devonshire. Her life changed utterly with his unexpected inheritance of the title and vast estates after the wartime death of his brother, who had married "Kick" Kennedy, the beloved sister of John F. Kennedy. Her friendship with that family would last through triumph and tragedy.

Intertwined stories - one told in words, one in elaborate pictures

 Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick 

Playing with the form he created in his trailblazing debut novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick once again sails into uncharted territory and takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey.

Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.

Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories - Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures - weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry. How they unfold and ultimately intertwine will surprise you, challenge you, and leave you breathless with wonder. Rich, complex, affecting, and beautiful - with over 460 pages of original artwork - Wonderstruck is a stunning achievement from a uniquely gifted artist and visionary.

New in Our Signed Books Gallery

 The Schoolmaster's Daughter by John Smolens

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon on Sunday, when John Smolens presented his latest novel, The Schoolmaster's Daughter.

This novel, set during the American Revolution, explores a family torn apart - Abigail Lovell's schoolmaster father is an outspoken loyalist and prominent figurehead in the community, she and her two brothers engage in acts of espionage to undermine the British forces in Boston. 

While battles scenes at Concord, Lexington, and Breed's Hill are historically accurate, Smolens has written a historically plausible story about the Lovell family. Indeed, John Lovell, the patriarch of the family, was the headmaster of Boston's Latin School, and a staunch loyalist, as is the character Smolens created.

Signed copies are on our fiction shelves.

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 The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

We have signed first editions of one of this week's book picks - Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus!

In Our Window

 Concord Elder Services, Inc.

Concord Elder Services, Inc. offers the Concord Adult Day Health Program, a safe, structured day time environment with meals, specialized care, socialization, and therapeutic activities.

Their Concord Center provides Adult Day Health and Alzheimer Day Care Services to frail elders and disabled adults who reside in Concord and surrounding communities. If you are interested in receiving more information about the Concord Center, services offered, or program eligibility, contact 978-318-0046.