Dear Gentle Reader,

This Saturday at 11am, we welcome one of our favorite authors, Annie Hartnett, who will discuss her novel The Road to Tender Hearts. When we say favorite, we are referencing multiple staffers who love Annie’s prose; this darkly comic and warm-hearted novel is about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death—by the beloved author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals. “A miraculous novel—an actual and spiritual road trip you won’t forget.”—John Irving

On Sunday at 2pm we welcome the NC Poetry Society back for our monthly event. This month we host Chapman Hood Frazier and Ralph Earle.

Can you believe it’s almost June? On Sunday, June 1st at 2pm our favorite cowboy mystery writer, Craig Johnson, is back with his latest, Return to Sender. When Blair McGowan, the mail person with the longest postal route in the country of over three hundred miles a day, goes missing the question becomes—where do you look for her? The Postal Inspector for the State of Wyoming elicits Sheriff Longmire to mount an investigation into her disappearance, and Walt does everything but mail it in. Posing as a letter-carrier himself, the good sheriff follows her trail and finds himself enveloped in the intrigue of an otherworldly cult. This is a ticketed event, so in order to attend, buy your copy of Return to Sender from McIntyre’s for you and a friend to join us in the Fearrington Barn.

Wednesday, June 4th is our event with Abraham Verghese for the paperback release of The Covenant of Water. Ticketsare moving quickly, and we expect to sell out. Our books for this event have arrived, so if you are so inclined to pick up your book ahead of time, feel free to stop by the store. We will give your book with a bookmark/ ticket. If you, like Keebe, have a propensity to misplace things, there’s always the option of picking up your book on the way to the Barn the night of the event.

Tickets are on sale for the Summer Our State Book Club shindig, which will meet in the Fearrington Barn on Thursday, June 26th at 7pm. Joining author Wiley Cash and Our State Editor in Chief Elizabeth Hudson are Clyde Edgerton and Bland Simpson. Rumor has it there may be a jam session of sorts…

For aficionados of Jellycats stuffed animals, our summer order arrived. Quantities are quite limited, so when they are gone, they are gone…

Book Club Night was last Thursday. Come this fall, we are changing it up. In October we will be offering two options: a Thursday evening get together as well as a Friday morning presentation. More info to come in August, but we also wanted to share some from the list of books we complied from attending clubs that they particularly enjoyed. Check out the books we recommended (along with the list of books we presented) on the Staff Recs table.

Horse by Geraldine Brooks
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Violetta by Isabel Allende
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
The Antidote by Karen Russell
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly
Love and Saffron by Kim Fay

The Usual Suspects,

Pete, Johanna, Sarah G., Tyler, Amy, Sarah C. and Keebe