Hello and happy Friday! After the mid-summer weather preview we experienced this week, it looks like the long weekend will be best spent indoors with a new book. Lucky for you, I've collected a handful of new staff recommendations from our wonderful booksellers.

For those of you with young readers in your house, my 7 year old Eamon just finished Bravepaw by L. M. Wilkinson. He is a big fan of animals on adventures and said he really liked the main character Titch and her magical staff. We are both excited for the sequel coming out in September!

The bookstore is closed Monday in observance of Memorial Day but will happily restock our To Be Read pile on Saturday and Sunday.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mallory

What We've Been Reading Recently

Whistler by Ann Patchett

Daphne Fuller is 53 when she runs into her former step-father at the museum. Having not seen him for over forty years, the only memories of Jonathan that she has are of a traumatic car accident and a swift divorce from her mother. By reconnecting with him, Daphne returns to her past and uncovers long buried secrets and regrets. Whistler is an engrossing, poignant new novel by the master storyteller of Bel Canto, The Dutch House, and Tom Lake. - Libby

Whistler is coming to our shelves on June 2nd!

Five by Ilona Bannister

Five strangers are waiting on a train platform. One of them will die in the next few minutes. A fourth wall-breaking narrator takes us through the lush and often heartbreaking backstories of the five main characters while interrogating the reader about how we judge others. Who can know what someone is going through? Who can discern whether someone is a Good Person or a Bad Person? And should they die for it? This would be a fantastic book club selection. - Mallory

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

After Tilly’s young husband, Joe, dies from cancer she receives a message from her local bookstore that she has a package waiting for her. It turns out that Joe has left her 12 months of books inscribed with personal letters to help her navigate the year ahead of her. From cookbooks to camping guides, Tilly is forced to explore new experiences and come to terms with her grief and learn to move forward in both life and love. Clever, sad, funny and uplifting, the book is an ode to bookstores, bookworms and the power of a great book to heal us; more than 70 books are referenced! - Robin

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

This wonderful novel features history teacher Artie Dam, whose story explores the dialectic that while each person's life is a private thing, we share unexpected moments of deep connection. A wonderful, deeply layered novel from one of my favorite authors. - Sheila

The Golden Boy by Patricia Finn

Stafford and Agnes have retired to a luxury estate in Maui, both grimly resigned to life in a paradise where neither feels fully at home.But, their lives are turned upside down when Stafford is named guardian to four children he didn't know existed -- the grandchildren of his late childhood friend. This discovery brings him back to his hometown where he is forced to address the tragedy of his past and how to make things right. This beautiful book will have you chuckling over the jabs between a couple that have been together forever and crying over the growth one can make later in life. - Brianna

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

Birdie travels to visit her sister Frances, newly married into the Tartt family. She accompanies Frances to her volunteer work at the Orphanage where she meets Meg, an 11 year old convinced her mother will return to claim her. Birdie and Meg’s lives move along in parallel as Meg is adopted (sort of?) and Birdie learns about the Tartt’s true financial situation. When everything seems to be going wrong for both of them, a mysterious woman arrives in town and concocts a plan to turn everything around. - Mallory

The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann

We all know Henry VIII's many jettisoned wives. This debut novel is a great story that starts with Anne Boleyn hours after her beheading. She escapes her coffin, sews her head back on, and sets out on a journey of revenge. - Yvette

Last One Out by Jane Harper

Ro Crowley has returned to this dying Australian town for the annual memorial for her son Sam. Questions about his mysterious disappearance 5 years earlier on his 21st birthday have never been answered. It has broken her marriage and there is an undercurrent of distrust among the remaining villagers. The ending is a stunner. - Dorothy

The Fire Agent by David Baerwald

Ernst Baerwald is born to Jewish aristocrats, educated by German intelligentsia, then tutored by a former samurai, he’s recruited as a spy with the cover as a businessman leveraging his language and hospitality skills as a sort of cultural attaché. Across three continents and two world wars, one man - the author’s grandfather - inspired this genre-blending epic of historical fiction, espionage thriller, love triangle, biography, and sometimes textbook. - Mallory

The Fire Agent's official publication date is June 2, but we had a few copies delivered early and they're on our New Fiction shelf!

New in Fiction

New in Non Fiction

Ladies Of Summer Tickets On Sale Now!

Please join us for our favorite night of the year - Ladies Of Summer!

Kimberly McCreight, Hannah McKinnon, and Emma Straub are our stars of this literary night out. They wrote a fabulous trio of stories - a Manhattan-based thriller, a cozy love story set on Cape Code, and a bunch of boy band fans in midlife aboard the cruise ship American Fantasy.

Tickets are on sale and includes a glass of wine and light bites to enjoy on Wee Burn's beautiful terrace. The first thirty purchases of the bundled ticket includes a VIP placement in the signing line. Tell your book club and grab your reading buddies for a book-lovers night out.

Calling all golf fans!

Upcoming Partner Events:

• Christina Baker Kline at Darien Library on May 26th
• Laura Zigman at Friends of Fairfield Library Literary Luncheon on May 27th
• Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney at Darien Library on June 2nd
• Allison Pataki at Mather Homestead Garden Tea on June 4th
• Debra Curtis at Fairfield Library on June 8th
• Chris Sweeney at Darien Library on June 10th
• Lisa Feiner at Darien Library on June 17th

Browse our entire event calendar here.