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Store Hours
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Mon - Wed 9:30 - 6:00
Thursday 9:30 - 9:00
Friday 9:30 - 6:00
Sat 9:30 - 5:00
Sun Noon - 5:00
Open 24/7 online at:
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Greetings! It's time for our mid-week reminder: Mark your calendars for these upcoming events: - Thursday, May 2 - Julie Wu presents The Third Son
- Thursday, May 16 - The Sun Magazine discussion group
- Sunday, May 19 - Ted Reinstein presents New England Notebook: One Reporter, Six States, Uncommon Stories
A full list of scheduled events is on the sidebar of this newsletter. Remember, if you're unable to attend an event, but would like a signed/inscribed copy of the featured book, just call us to make arrangements. This week's newsletter features books from around the world - an amusing cat who thinks he's a French philosopher; true crime from colonial Peking; an ode to Ireland's Great Blasket Island; and a novel that toggles between missionaries in 1920s China and a woman in present-day London. We've added lots of wonderful books to our Signed Books Gallery - first editions, history, memoir, and novels. Mother's Day is just around the corner ...
Take a peek in the community window to learn more about the upcoming auction at the Concord Art Association.
We look forward to chatting with you in the Bookshop -- when you come in to take a closer look at an item mentioned here, please tell us "I saw it in the newsletter" and let us know what you're reading now.
Comments are always welcome via email to
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Our next event, Thursday: novel set in post-war occupied Taiwan
The Third Son by Julie Wu
Join us on Thursday, May 2 at 7pm, when Julie Wu reads from and signs The Third Son. This is a story of love and freedom set in postwar occupied Taiwan and in America at the dawn of the space age.
Set in a tumultuous and violent period of Taiwanese history - as the Chinese Nationalist Army lays claim to the island and one autocracy replaces another - and the fast-changing American West of the late 1950s and early 1960s, The Third Son is a richly textured story of lives governed by the inheritance of family and the legacy of culture, and of a young man determined to free himself from both.
In Saburo, author Julie Wu has created an extraordinary character who is determined to fight for everything he needs and wants, from food to education to his first love. This is a sparkling and moving story; it will have readers cheering for a young boy with his head in the clouds and his feet firmly on the ground.
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Henri, the philosophic video star, is also an accomplished author!
Henri, le Chat Noir: The Existential Musings of an Angst-Filled Cat by William Braden
This is a fun feline-centric gift book with a collection of photos and quotes from Henri, the existential cat who has shared his ennui with millions of viewers of his short films and has an impressive social media following.
Henri's short films parodying French film noir from the perspective of a disenchanted housecat have been viewed by more than 4.5 million people and he has become an internet sensation - each day, tens of thousands of people watch the videos featuring Henri's French philosopher laced commentary.
Author/creator William Braden holds a degree in creative writing and attended the Seattle Film Institute. He is a professional videographer, enjoying his Henri-related ventures.
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True crime in the last days of colonial Peking - now in paperback
Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French
A riveting true-crime tale that presents the thrilling account of a murder in 1937 China that caused an international media sensation. Chronicling an incredible unsolved murder, Midnight in Peking captures the aftermath of the brutal killing of a British schoolgirl in January 1937. The mutilated body of Pamela Werner was found at the base of the Fox Tower, which, according to local superstition, is home to the maliciously seductive fox spirits. As British detective Dennis and Chinese detective Han investigate, the mystery only deepens and, in a city on the verge of invasion, rumor and superstition run rampant. Based on seven years of research by historian and China expert Paul French, this true-crime thriller presents readers with a rare and unique portrait of the last days of colonial Peking.
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Love letter to a vanished way of life
- now in paperback
On an Irish Island: The Lost World of the Great Blasket
by Robert Kanigel
A sparkling history of the remarkable Great Blasket Island - a remote Irish outpost nearly untouched by time in the first half of the twentieth century - and the adventurous men and women who visited it and were inspired by it.
Robert Kanigel tells us the story of this wildly beautiful island off the west coast of Ireland, notable during the early twentieth century for the vivid communal life of its residents and the unadulterated Irish they spoke. With the Irish language rapidly vanishing throughout the rest of Ireland, Great Blasket became a magnet for scholars and writers, linguists and playwrights, drawn there during the Gaelic renaissance to study and to learn. As we follow these visitors - among them John Millington Synge, author of the classic drama The Playboy of the Western World - we become immersed both in the fascinating culture of the 150 or so islanders who, tucked away from the rest of civilization, kept alive an entire country's past, and in the newcomers and island dwellers alike who would bring the island's remarkable story to the larger world.
Robert Kanigel is the author of six previous books. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Grady-Stack Award for science writing. His book The Man Who Knew Infinity was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
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Novel toggles between 1920s missionary China and 21st-century London
A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson
"Present and past meld into an exploration of conflicting traditions ... impressive . . . An intriguing window into the difficulties of those who attempt to reach across cultural barriers."
--Publishers Weekly, boxed review
In 1923, missionaries Eva English and her sister, Lizzie, travel to the ancient city of Kashgar on the Silk Road. Lizzie is on fire with her religious calling, but Eva, with her green bicycle and a commission from a publisher to write A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar, is ready for adventure.
In present-day London, a young woman finds a man sleeping outside her front door. The next morning, the bedding she lent him is neatly folded and there is an exquisite drawing on her wall. Tayeb, in flight from his Yemeni homeland, befriends Frieda, and, when she learns she has inherited the contents of an apartment belonging to a dead woman she has never heard of, they embark on an unexpected journey together.
A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar interweaves the unforgettable stories of Frieda and Eva - and the ways in which they challenge and negotiate the restrictions of their societies as they make their hard-won way towards home - and explores the fault lines that appear when traditions from different parts of an increasingly globalized world crash into each one another.
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In our signed books gallery ...
The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Emperor's Children, a masterly new novel: the riveting confession of a woman awakened, transformed and betrayed by a desire for a world beyond her own.
Told with urgency, intimacy and piercing emotion, this brilliant novel of passion and artistic fulfillment explores the intensity, thrill - and the devastating cost - of embracing an authentic life.
Signed First Editions of The Woman Upstairs are on our shelves - and save the date of Friday, June 7, when Ms. Messud will read from her novel at the Bookshop!
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Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Hackett Fischer
Acclaimed historian David Hackett Fischer visited the bookshop and signed many of his works, including Washington's Crossing, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize.
Mr. Fischer's signed books on our shelves include:
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Inspirational memoirists Margaret Roach
and Katrina Kenison
We enjoyed an afternoon of readings and conversation - and delicious cake - with memoirists Katrina Kenison and Margaret Roach.After signing books for their audience, they graciously signed additional books for those who were unable to attend the event:-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Clover House by Henriette Lazaridis Power 
We had a wonderful evening with Henriette Power - she read from her novel, The Clover House, and took questions from the audience - ranging from the inspiration for The Clover House, real-life influences, her writing process, and how she spends her "free" time.
The Clover House is a moving novel of the search for identity, the challenges of love, and the shared history that defines a family ... set in the gorgeous backdrop of Patras, Greece, and toggling between the present-day Carnival season and WWII.
Signed editions of The Clover House are in the Bookshop!
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In our window
The Concord Art Association: "Paint the Town"
Join us for our fifteenth annual fundraising auction.
We will showcase 36 artists in our Live Auction and
over 50 artists in our Silent Auction.
Paint the Town preview show, May 9 - 17, 2013.
Paint the Town auction, May 18, 2013.
For more information and to obtain tickets, visit The Concord Art Association website, or phone 978-369-2578.
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