You are officially invited to our yearly summer kickoff for book lovers - Ladies of Summer! This year, please join us on Thursday, June 25th at Wee Burn Country Club for refreshments and a lively panel of authors. We are delighted to have Kimberly McCreight, and Hannah McKinnon, and Emma Straub taking the stage this year! Here's a little preview of their fabulous books:

Gretchen Falk knows she lives a charmed life with her devoted husband Richard. She urges him to not join his college friends on a climbing trip to Mount Kilimanjaro, where talented artist Frankie is unexpectedly the only woman trekker.

Two weeks later, Frankie’s apartment is soaked in blood, Richard has been charged with murder, and Gretchen tries to convince everyone of Richard’s innocence. Someone Else’s Husband is the sweeping and suspenseful story of two women on a collision course with love—and with each other—in which no one is right and everyone is very, very wrong.

Holly takes over the historic Cranberry Inn on Cape Cod from her grandmother with the goal of turning a profit with some strategic improvements, including a fabulous new dining offering from her talented chef Greta. When their first bridal client arrives, chaos follows in her wake and unexpectedly reintroduces Holly to her first love, Ben, who is back in town for the summer. Then there’s Ezra, the Inn’s next door neighbor with a heavy secret in his heart. Can Holly pull everyone together to ensure that the beloved Cranberry Inn will survive another summer?

Thousands of Boy Talk’s biggest fans join them on the American Fantasy cruise ship for a nostalgic trip to the 90s. Annie, here on a lark to appease her sister, unexpectedly reconnects to a long-submerged part of herself. Is one of the band members to thank for her renewed sense of possibility? Packed with laugh-out-loud reflections on fame, aging, and marriage, American Fantasy is a story that shows us real passion is never truly lost, that what we love makes us who we are, and that deep meaning can sometimes be found in a sea of screaming fans.

Doors open at 6:30 pm and tickets include a glass of wine and snacks. Our Ladies will talk about their newest novels followed by an audience Q&A and signing. The books will be available for purchase at the event, or you can pre-purchase them with our new bundled ticket option. Tickets are on sale now. This is one of our favorite events of the year and I hope to see you there!

I also want to wish my colleagues and our patrons (and my mom - hi Mom!) a very happy and celebratory Mother's Day. There are a few new babies in the extended Barrett family so we have to enlarge that joyous umbrella to include Grandmother's Day and Great-Grandmother's Day, too! Sally as always has assembled an unparalleled collection of cards around and Yvette has a great Mother's Day gift guide in her star turn with our friends at the Chamber. She and I very much enjoyed Five and I'm working through the ARC of The Fire Agent. I trust that my kids will give me the gift of A Minute To Myself to read for Mother's Day.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mallory

New in Fiction

New in Non Fiction

Upcoming Events at Barrett

Barrett Bookstore x Hot Takes

We are pleased to be the exclusive bookseller for Hot Takes, coming to the Westport Playhouse on Wednesday, May 13th. A women’s wellness symposium designed to cut through the noise and empower women navigating through an evolving midlife health journey, Hot Takes features a marketplace from 6 - 7 pm followed by guest speakers Dr. Rachele Pojednic, Dr. Shieva Ghofrany, Dr. Katie Takayasu, Gayle Greenberger, MS, ED., LPC, and Dina Aronson. We are supporting the hot topics covered at this symposium with a selection of curated women’s wellness titles. Click here to buy tickets.

Upcoming Partner Events:

• Eve J. Chung at Darien Library on May 17th
• Christina Baker Kline at Darien Library on May 26th
• Laura Zigman at Friends of Fairfield Library Literary Luncheon on May 27th
• Allison Pataki at Mather Homestead Garden Tea on June 4th

Browse our entire event calendar here.