How Does Your Local Bookstore Stay In Business During The Pandemic?

The Norwich Bookstore in Vermont Offering Book Order Pick Ups

© The Norwich Bookstore

COVID-19 has disrupted just about everything and adjusting to a new normal has been challenging for everyone. Some independent bookstores have come up with creative ways to stay in business during these “difficult times,” although their hours of operation may be limited.

Across New England, some stores are able to continue business via mail order and leaving their local customer purchases outside their door for pick-up. And some can deliver to their local customers. An online presence and the ability of staff to locate books for their customers has kept things moving.

Owl & Turtle in Camden, ME offer book home delivery service, media mail shipping, and curbside pick-up, waiving fees wherever possible.

© Owl & Turtle Bookshop Cafe

Until social distancing has been lifted in our communities, make use of your local bookstore’s website (and Indiebound.org) to place book orders. Be sure to check your bookstore’s website or Facebook page for their updates before calling.

Annual Newburyport Literary Festival

streaming live on April 25th and May 3rd

With the situation changing daily, author events and other social gatherings have been cancelled, but some authors and writing teachers are holding their events virtually. The Annual Newburyport Literary Festival will be held via the Internet, streaming live on April 25th and May 3rd.

To be sure your local bookstore will still be in business once usual operating hours return, please consider purchasing a store gift certificate or making a donation to a shop that is struggling.

award-winning, woman-owned independent bookstore, located in Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA

One local store in need of funding right now is the award-winning, woman-owned independent bookstore located in the Boston, MA neighborhood of Jamaica Plain – Papercuts JP.

Kate Layte opened Papercuts in 2014 after a decade working in the book industry. Her shop also publishes under their house imprint, Cutlass Press. The recent expansion of the store combined with the pandemic threatens their ability to remain open. Check them out online.

Continue to practice safe social distancing, wear a mask, and wash hands frequently!

New Book Recommendations -- Pages of History

We hope all are keeping well and making time to stay connected to family and friends. Here are a few recent updates to our lists of Recommended Authors; these are especially for those who are interested in history. We’re pleased to be including these excellent writers and recommending their new books!

Freedom Calling and The Edge of Freedom

by Dana Vacca

Rhode Island author, Dana Vacca, has recently published the second novel in her Freedom Calling Series, set in the American Civil War. The first book, Freedom Calling, is an inspiring story of two escaped slaves overcoming and prevailing in the face of adversity. Their determination to leave the war-torn South is felt in this page-turner filled with suspense, danger, forbidden romance, and a voyage at sea.

The sequel, The Edge of Freedom, continues their story with authentic, accurate history — a tale of violent loss and strong bonds of love that plumb the depths of heart and soul.

When the Irish Invaded Canada

by Christopher Klein

Massachusetts author Christopher Klein’s latest book, When the Irish Invaded Canada, is the untold story of Irish-American revolutionaries who, shortly after the American Civil War organized what sounds like a whiskey-inspired dream: to hold the British province of Canada hostage and ransom it for Ireland’s independence! Read to find that they were very serious, indeed…

Christopher is the author of four books and frequently contributes to History.com and many history-related magazines. He also gives informative talks, many of which can be found online.

Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project

by Jack Mayer

From Vermont, author Jack Mayer’s Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project is more than a Holocaust history. The book documents a group of young women -- students from Kansas who, upon learning the incredible and nearly forgotten story of Irena Sendler, write and perform a play re-enacting her heroism and compassion toward the children of the Warsaw ghetto.

The students later learn that Irena Sendler survived the war and is still alive. They contact her, begin a friendship, and go on to inspire and instill hope for future generations. After performing their play in Poland, Irena Sendler is brought to the attention of the Polish government, proclaimed a national hero, and nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Sixty percent of the royalties from the sale of Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project by Jack Mayer are donated to the Irena Sendler/Life in a Jar Foundation. The foundation promotes Irena Sendler’s legacy and encourages educators and students to emulate the project by focusing on unsung heroes in history to teach respect and understanding among all people, regardless of race, religion, or creed.

Skiing with Henry Knox: A Personal Journey Along Vermont’s Catamount Trail

Sam Brakeley

Vermont author and trail builder, Sam Brakeley’s Skiing with Henry Knox is the result of a personal crossroads in his relationship with his girlfriend. In completing the Catamount Trail, a 330-mile long ski trail running across Vermont from the Massachusetts border to Canada, he reached his decision, and shares his story.

In 1775, Knox undertook a similar winter journey, while retrieving dozens of artillery pieces from the recently captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain and dragging them 300 miles through snow and cold to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to help George Washington drive the entrenched British army from Boston.

Knox faced his own challenges in love, leaving behind a young pregnant wife. By exploring Knox's eighteenth-century physical and emotional journey while undertaking his own twenty-first-century trip on the Catamount Trail, Brakeley reminds us that history has many lessons to offer the living.

Please locate and order these books from your local bookstore or online via Indiebound.org.