October is a major month for book releases. This week on the 6th, Barbara Kingsolver's newest Partita and Nathan Philbrick's The Rush hit our shelves, as well as a long-awaited sequel to The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger's Life Out Of Order. A few of us have read Partita and Kingsolver fans will not be disappointed by this tale of Livia, who escapes a difficult childhood with a scholarship to train as a pianist.

Thirteen years ago on October 13th, I married my wonderful husband John. This year I'm celebrating our anniversary by welcoming some of my favorite books of the year onto our shelves. You've heard me go on and on about the marvelous Luna, Phoenix, Queen for weeks, but attendees at our Julie Orringer event will also be able to purchase some October 13th releases. Notably, Bonnie Garmus' new novel Peck & Peck on the 13th and I liked it better than Lessons In Chemistry. I'm nost excited to enthusiastically recommend Amanda FitzSimon's An An American Girl: How a Billion-Dollar Doll and Its Unlikely Founder Changed Girlhood Forever.

I devoured this extensively researched history of Pleasant Rowland and American Girl, a line of dolls with books intended to teach girls about American history that seminally became a part of American history. This is a love letter to American Girl, but with plenty of tough love as well. I was born a year before the Pleasant Company’s founding and felt misty-eyed nostalgia for my 90s childhood while intellectually revisiting a company (and a society) that made plenty of mistakes.

I had a Samatha and an Addy, and I modeled as Samantha for one of their charity fashion shows. Beyond American Girl, FItzSimons includes cultural references from my deeply beloved New Moon magazine to Delia’s catalog (more accurately known as dELiA*s). Above all, this book made me want to book a table for three at an American Girl cafe to sit down with my Grandy and Mom to discuss this in depth. I want to hear their perspectives as the adults in my life who purchased my dolls, sewed matching girl + doll outfits, and encouraged my loves of history, dressing up, and reading.

The best part of the book is the reporting about Pleasant Rowland. Notoriously press-averse, I came away from this book in awe of this singular woman who "girlbossed" before the term existed with a perfectionistic hand. Despite her missteps, the company and brand would not have achieved the meteoric heights without her at the helm. 

The best summation comes from the epilogue (I'm quoting from an uncorrected advanced copy so this final text may differ from the published version): “A (toy) meant to teach girls about different historical periods also serves as an invaluable artifact of the time in which the dolls were created: an era of girl power, class anxiety, a racial reckoning, affluenza, and a reimagining of the telling of American history.” 

If you're excited for an American Girl book but are looking for fiction, Fiona Davis helmed the first "American Girl Legacy" novel about an adult Samantha Parkington, called Samantha: The Next Chapter, also coming out on 10/13.

I'm excited to see so many of you on Tuesday to welcome Julie Orringer and Sloane Crosley to the store. This week, we got in a big batch of ACOTAR swag and welcome anyone excited to return to Velaris to join us at our midnight release party for A Court of Splintered Harmony! Fans of our Publisher's Rep Night... scroll down and save the date!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mallory

Julie Orringer + Sloane Crosley

New Fiction

New Non Fiction

Upcoming In-Store Events

Join us around town at these Partner Events

Browse our entire event calendar here


• Preppy Kitchen's John Kanell at Darien Community Association on October 19
• Sophie von Oertzen Williamson at Darien Library on October 22