Latest News

Shelf Awareness for Friday, July 18, 2025


HarperOne:  The Lucky Ride: A Novel Full of Opportunity by Yasushi Kitagawa, translated by Takami Nieda

Severn House: A Special Interest in Murder by Mette Ivie Harrison

Oxford University Press: Gotham at War: A History of New York City from 1933 to 1945 by Mike Wallace

St. Martin's Press: The Lucky Egg: Understanding Your Fertility and How to Get Pregnant Now by Dr. Lucky Sekhon

 Flatiron Books: The Last Wish of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson

News

Liberation Station Bookstore, Raleigh, N.C., to Reopen Next Year

Liberation Station Bookstore, a Black-owned children's bookstore that closed in 2024 due to racist harassment and threats, will reopen next year in Raleigh, N.C., WRAL News reported.

Victoria Scott-Miller in the space that will be the new Liberation Station.

Owner Victoria Scott-Miller and her husband have found a space within Montague Plaza, a 15,000-square-foot building dedicated to housing Black-owned businesses, and they are aiming for a Juneteenth 2026 reopening. They have launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with the reopening and have already raised more than a third of the $60,000 goal.

"I'm grateful that we had an opportunity to step back," Scott-Miller told WRAL. "And that we had a community that loved us so much they allowed us to rest. They allowed us to pause and reimagine what it could look like, not only the bookstore but our own personal safety. Coming back has been that of a revival, honestly." 

Scott-Miller founded Liberation station as an online and pop-up store in 2019 after having difficulty finding children's books for her sons that featured Black characters. She opened a bricks-and-mortar store in 2023, but less than a year later announced that persistent harassment and threats made the store's continued operation untenable.

At the time, Scott-Miller wrote that the closure "certainly won't mark the end of Liberation Station Bookstore. There is so much more work to be done."


BINC: Stand with Book and Comic Stores--Buy a limited edition t-shirt!


Spellbound Books Arrives in Eagle Mountain, Utah

Spellbound Books, a mobile bookstore selling new and used titles, debuted earlier this month in Eagle Mountain, Utah, the Daily Herald reported.

The bookstore, which is built from a 7×16 foot trailer, can be found six days per week at its regular location at 3726 E. Campus Dr.; it also makes pop-up appearances at other spots in the Eagle Mountain area. Owner Liz Moore sells general-interest titles, particularly in the romance, fantasy, and thriller genres, along with a variety of bookish gifts and merchandise.

Moore described herself as a lifelong reader and told the Daily Herald she decided to open a bookstore after taking a break from a job that she no longer found fulfilling. She chose to go with a mobile bookstore because there would be less overhead and the ability to travel to readers was appealing.  

Moore noted that her husband "is the one who pretty much built the whole trailer out, along with some friends and some family that have helped. So I've had a good support system in getting us started."

The shop's first day in business was July 5, and Moore recalled there was an "hour-long wait in the line on the grand opening day, which was really exciting."


GLOW: Tor Books: The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan


B&N to Open New Bookstore in Abilene, Tex.

On July 23, Barnes & Noble will open its new bookstore in the Shops at Abilene at 3417 Catclaw Dr., Abilene, Tex. Author Monica Garner is cutting the ribbon and signing copies of her book, Summer on Cape May (Kensington). The 20,000-square-foot store also features a B&N Café.

"We are very pleased to open this beautiful new Barnes & Noble in Abilene," B&N said. "Texas hosts more Barnes & Noble bookstores than any other state--and yet the nearest to Abilene is over 150 miles away. We are proud to add Abilene to the new fleet of Barnes & Noble bookstores we are opening across the country."


Michelle Aielli Named AWP Executive Director

The Association of Writers & Writing Programs has named Michelle Aielli as its executive director, effective July 1. Aielli has been serving as interim executive director since September 2024.

Michelle Aielli

The AWP board of directors voted unanimously to approve the appointment. Chair January Gill O'Neil said, "Michelle has shown outstanding leadership, skill, and commitment throughout her time as interim director and her service on the board of directors. I'm excited for the new path forward under her guidance."

Aielli has more than 25 years of experience in the book industry, most recently as v-p and publishing director of Hachette Books at Hachette Book Group. Previously, she served as director of publicity for Little, Brown, among other roles within Hachette Book Group and other publishing houses. 

Aielli commented: "It has been an honor to work as interim director alongside AWP's staff and board of directors, a small but mighty team committed to advancing the literary arts. As we navigate a rapidly shifting cultural, political, and technological landscape, I am dedicated to ensuring AWP remains a source of support and connection for writers, writing programs, and the broader literary community."


Obituary Note: Leah Jordan

Leah Jordan, co-owner and founder of Pearl's Books in Fayetteville, Ark., died on July 14.

Leah Jordan

Daniel Jordan, her husband and co-owner of Pearl's Books, wrote on social media that she "was the spark and driving force behind making this place come together. I have always been a little hesitant to jump into new things, but her energy, enthusiasm, and courage are infectious. She loved this store with her whole heart, and put so much love and care into everything about it: paint color, chalk signage, shelf talkers, hiring wonderful people, rugs, furniture and fixtures, it was all Leah. If there's something you love about Pearl's, you can thank Leah."

Jordan also thanked the Pearl's Books staff, writing: "I owe a huge thanks to the beautiful folks who work here who have kept this place going while Leah has been sick. Hallee, Darinda, and Amanda have been here from the start. Julia, Schuyler, Robin, Marinna, and Justin have been added to staff and I can’t imagine Pearl’s being the place it is without each of their influence."

"Pearl’s is a legacy that proves that Leah’s love for reading, community, and Fayetteville particularly will live on long after her physical body," Jordan continued. "I love you all so much."

Per 5NewsOnline, other Arkansas independent bookstores offered tribute to Leah Jordan. 

Dickson Street Bookshop, also in Fayetteville, wrote of Jordan: "Our book-loving community just suffered a huge loss. And our hearts are broken for Daniel and our sweet friends at Pearl's. Please support them whenever you can. May Leah's legacy live on for many, many years to come." 

"Our hearts are heavy with the loss of a true powerhouse in the Northwest Arkansas literary world," Bookish in Fort Smith, Ark., wrote. "Her passion built more than just a bookstore; it built a haven for readers. Our book community is better because of the work Leah did. To the Pearl’s Books family: as we mourn alongside you, we will celebrate the incredible life of Leah. We will be thinking of you during this difficult time."

A memorial service for Jordan will be held this afternoon at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a preferred charity in Leah Jordan's name.


Notes

Image of the Day: Michael Ansara at Harvard Book Store

Michael Ansara (center) signs his memoir, The Hard Work of Hope (Cornell University Press), at the launch event at Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass. He was joined in conversation by Archon Fung (left), professor at Harvard Kennedy School and director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance.


Notes from the American Booksellers Association: Wi2026 Planning; Q4 Marketing Calendars

Pittsburgh prep. A group from the ABA visited Pittsburgh, Pa., recently, preparing for the next Winter Institute, which will be held in the Steel City February 23-26 next year. See pictures here. Booksellers can still apply for a Winter Institute 2026 scholarship but need to do so by July 24.

Marketing calendars for the fourth quarter listing holidays and observances and suggestions for booksellers on how to tie into them are now available. Included is everything from National Cookbook Month to Picture Book Month to longtime gems like Small Business Saturday/Indies First.

Booksellers have until August 7 to order the 2025 Best Books for Young Readers catalogs.


Next Page Books, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mentioned in Stephen King's New Novel

Next Page Books in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is featured in Stephen King's new novel, Never Flinch, published May 27 by Simon & Schuster.

Per CBS2Iowa, a customer went into Next Page Books to let the staff know that on page 205 of Never Flinch, the store supplies a driver and car for one of the characters.

"I would love to have a driver," wrote store owner Bart Carithers on Facebook. "But I'm afraid that's beyond my means. In another life. As for appearing in King's latest, that's pretty phenomenal."


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Aisling Rawle on Good Morning America

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Aisling Rawle, author of The Compound (Random House, $29, 9780593977279), a GMA Book Club pick.


Movies: The Things We Leave Unfinished

Screenwriter Arash Amel (A Private War, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) will adapt Rebecca Yarros's 2021 romance novel The Things We Leave Unfinished, which Lionsgate has optioned, into a film, Deadline reported. Todd Lieberman will produce through his company Hidden Pictures.

"I am so thrilled to work with this incredible team at Lionsgate and Hidden Pictures to adapt The Things We Leave Unfinished for the big screen!" Yarros said. "This is my favorite book that I've written and it's a very special story to me, so I couldn't be more excited to see it come to life in Arash Amel's capable hands." 

Amel commented: "From the moment I read The Things We Leave Unfinished, I was swept away by its epic romance, cinematic scope, and emotional depth. Rebecca Yarros has created something truly special, and from our very first meeting, it was clear we connected over a shared vision. Teaming up with Todd Lieberman, who is second to none in guiding heartfelt and meaningful stories for the big screen, has been a natural creative alignment, and in Lionsgate we've found the ideal home for a tale of love and heroism on this scale. I can't wait to bring this sweeping love story to life for audiences around the world."



Books & Authors

Awards: George Washington Finalists; Branford Boase Winner

Finalists have been selected for the $50,000 2025 George Washington Prize, which honors "the year's most outstanding works on America's founding era, particularly those that deepen public understanding of early American history" and is sponsored by George Washington's Mount Vernon, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and Washington College. The finalists will discuss their books at an event at George Washington's Mount Vernon on August 12, and the winner will be announced at a gala dinner in New York City on October 8.

The finalists:

Jane E. Calvert, for Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson (Oxford University Press)
Francis D. Cogliano, for A Revolutionary Friendship: Washington, Jefferson, and the American Republic (Harvard University Press)
Michael D. Hattem, for The Memory of '76: The Revolution in American History (Yale University Press)
Tyson Reeder, for Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison's America (Oxford University Press)
Cara Rogers Stevens, for Thomas Jefferson and the Fight against Slavery (University Press of Kansas)

Lindsay Chervinsky, executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library, said, "The finalists are the best of rigorous and thoughtful history, written with delightful prose, compelling storytelling, and an eye to why history matters today. These books give us a better understanding of the founding era and our current moment, as only the best history can do."

James Basker, president and CEO of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, said, "These insightful and thought-provoking works highlight the complexities of America's founding and the struggles of its key figures. From John Dickinson's foundational role in the Revolution to Thomas Jefferson's contradictory stance on slavery, each book offers a fresh, nuanced perspective on the moral, political, and social challenges that shaped the early republic."

Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold director of the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College, said, "In the two decades since the first George Washington Prize was conferred in 2005, the award has honored an extraordinary range of works that shed new light on previously neglected histories. The 2025 roster of nominees shows that we are still experiencing a golden age of original scholarship on our nation's founding era."

---

Margaret McDonald and her editors, Alice Swan and Ama Badu, won the 2025 Branford Boase Award for Glasgow Boys. The award honors the author and editor(s) of a debut novel for young people. The author gets £1,000 (about $1,340) for the win, and she and the editors receive engraved trophies.

Chair of judges Julia Eccleshare, co-founder of the award, called the book "a deeply moving story shaped by the struggles against class and poverty.... Despite all, Margaret McDonald's characters are full of hope and the story is refreshingly strong and bold, too."

McDonald said, "Alice and Ama treated Banjo and Finlay as I do myself, which is as real people. I worked on every single aspect of Glasgow Boys with Alice and Ama, and it wouldn't exist as it does today without them, truly. Glasgow Boys is a piece of my soul and to have it recognized in this way is unbelievably special, but also to have my incredible editors Alice and Ama recognized for the magnificent work they did, taking such care of Banjo and Finlay, is more than half of the joy."


Reading with... Susan Wiggs

photo: Yvonne Wong Photography

Susan Wiggs has been telling stories ever since she was old enough to talk, scribbling on paper while dictating dramatic narratives to her parents and siblings. She still scribbles on paper, writing each book in longhand, but eventually, the scribbles become novels that blend heart, history, and humanity with vivid settings and unforgettable characters who navigate love, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit. She's the author of more than 50 novels; Wayward Girls (Morrow, July 15, 2025) is a life-affirming novel based on a true story of six girls in a Catholic reform school in 1960s Buffalo, N.Y.

Handsell readers your book in about 25 words:

A wrenching but life-affirming novel based on a true story of when six girls from a Catholic reform school in 1960s Buffalo reunite decades later to seek justice.

On your nightstand now:

The new REI catalog, a Seabourn cruise brochure, a jar of Kanberra hand lotion, and an overflowing e-reader. Also, The Girls of Good Fortune by Kristina McMorris. It's brand new, and heartbreakingly wonderful--a harrowing but hopeful survival story of a half-Chinese woman who awakens in Portland's notorious Shanghai Tunnels, drugged and about to be shipped off as forced labor.

Favorite book when you were a child:

You Were Princess Last Time by Laura Fisher. Susie, nine years old and a tomboy, is taunted when she cuts off her long, beautiful braids. It struck fear into my heart, since I was a tomboy with long, beautiful braids.

Your top five authors:

Octavia Butler. Kindred was assigned reading in school, and I ended up devouring everything I could get my hands on for her unique takes on power, survival, race, and gender.

Jodi Picoult. She has a remarkable ability to capture authentic teenage voices without relying on stereotypes. She excels at portraying the intense emotional landscape of adolescence--social pressures, bullying, first love, parental conflicts, academic stress, and power dynamics. And she's fearless about tackling controversial topics.

Diane Ackerman. Her narrative nonfiction takes an interdisciplinary approach, no matter the topic. Her sensuous, deep curiosity and personal observations make her eminently readable, regardless of the topic.

E.B. White. A writer's writer who writes with clarity and simplicity, precision of language, gentle humor, and emotional depth.

Alice Walker. The sheer, stunning power of her prose knocked me over the first time I read her, and it still does. When I finish an Alice book, I often flip back to the beginning and read it all over again.

Book you've faked reading:

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. When it became a global phenomenon, I tried it, because I wanted to participate in conversations about the book. I ended up letting fans of the book fill me in on what I'd missed.

Book you're an evangelist for:

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne is a classic saga that spans decades. It will make you laugh out loud. It will break your heart and piss you off as it explores homosexuality in Ireland, the influence of the Catholic Church, and the AIDS crisis. Ultimately, it will introduce you to Cyril, one of the most beloved characters you'll ever meet.

Book you've bought for the cover:

A 1970s-era paperback of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, published before the movie came out. I bought it with my allowance at Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris, where we lived, and I couldn't stop staring at those tough, brooding boys on the cover.

Book you hid from your parents:

None. Not a single one. My mom was a reader for the library acquisitions team, and she would often give us challenging books to read and report on, never worrying that we'd be harmed by a book. When I was nine or 10, she gave me a book which depicted two boys kissing, and when I asked her about it, she just said, "Oh. Must be a typo." And that was it. I figured it out on my own.

Book that changed your life:

The Diary of Anne Frank. I was 13 when I read it, and it showed me how one writer's authentic words can touch millions. I was already a writer, but that was the book that made me resolve to make writing my life.

Favorite line from a book:

" 'Where's Papa going with that ax?' said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."

This is probably the most effortlessly effective opening of a novel I've ever read, because it encompasses the entire theme, trajectory, and drama of the novel--the power of friendship and family, the inevitability of mortality, and the transformative impact one individual can have on many. When I was in graduate school, I wrote an entire paper on the first 88 words of this novel. Can you guess the title? (Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.)

Five books you'll never part with:

The Four-Minute Mile by Sir Roger Bannister--he signed it when I met him. Lovely gentleman.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle--autographed when she visited my classroom in the '80s. She was Meg in the flesh--brilliant, awkward, honest, and honorable.

The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice--autographed with a special message to me.

The Silver Wolf by Alice Borchardt--Anne's older sister, who was one of my dearest friends.

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, which was initialed by my grandmother, my mom, me, and my daughter (we initial the books we've shared). I think it's the only book all four of us have read.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman. One of those books that you weep over and think about for days.

What made you tackle Wayward Girls, a novel that is markedly different from previous works?

When I posted a photo of a historic walled complex in Buffalo to a Facebook group called "Buffalore," I didn't expect the deluge of comments that flooded in with anecdotes about the notorious Good Shepherd Institute, where girls were sent to for "reform" by a strict order of nuns. I knew then that there were stories to be told, and I got to work on Wayward Girls.

As a child, I remember more than one babysitter who "went away," a euphemism for girls sent away when they became pregnant. Many were pressured against their will to surrender their parental rights. Others were told falsely that their babies didn't survive. Between 1945 and 1973, an estimated 1.5 million to 4 million women in the U.S. lost their children to irregular adoption.

The more I learned, the more deeply I felt the pain and rage of these young women. Their stories ignited my imagination, and Wayward Girls became one of my most personal and involving novels to date. I hope my passion for this topic touches readers' hearts, and I look forward to sharing it with the world.


Book Review

Review: No Ordinary Bird: Drug Smuggling, a Plane Crash, and a Daughter's Quest for the Truth

No Ordinary Bird: Drug Smuggling, a Plane Crash, and a Daughter's Quest for the Truth by Artis Henderson (Harper, $29.99 hardcover, 240p., 9780358650270, September 2, 2025)

In June of 1985, a small private plane, a Piper Cub, crashed on its owner's property in northern Georgia. The pilot, Lamar Chester, was killed. His only passenger, his five-year-old daughter, AJ, sustained severe injuries but lived. In death, Lamar escaped prosecution as a marijuana smuggler. His widow, hoping to protect her child, removed the young AJ from the life she'd known, isolating them from family and friends who had been involved in the smuggling business. AJ grew up to be Artis Henderson (Unremarried Widow), who spent decades turned away from her father's story, interpreting her mother's silence as shame. Her eventual readiness to examine the truth of her father's life, their brief but loving relationship, and his end has resulted in No Ordinary Bird: Drug Smuggling, a Plane Crash, and a Daughter's Quest for the Truth, which combines investigation and personal excavation in a searing, moving memoir.

In their few years together, Lamar made a strong impression on his youngest child, one that has been enriched by her later research. She remembers him as a loving and beloved father, and deeply charismatic, although his attitudes toward women in particular appear problematic through a modern lens. Henderson is thoughtful about such judgments, and careful in considering her father's upbringing as a factor in his life. And a wild life it was, with an early marriage yielding three surviving children and one lost; divorce and remarriage; and a colorful career as a pilot, smuggler, and ostentatious party boy in 1970s Miami. Increasing profits and outward success allowed Lamar to acquire ever-more-impressive possessions, and he became involved in ever-more-risky ventures, until he faced federal prosecution and the plane crash that killed him.

Henderson's work is both investigatory and personal: "I'm grappling with this story as much as I'm reporting it." She loved her father, sympathizes with the demons he faced, and remembers a childhood of "uncomplicated happiness. My father made me feel safe and protected." She trusts that there was a time when, "to him, the line between the good guys and the bad guys was still very clear," but also realizes that he made choices that endangered his family and, she concludes, led to his own death. No Ordinary Bird is a loving portrait that benefits from the nuance of understanding that, as Lamar liked to say, "you can't tell the good guys from the bad guys." It is both research-based inquiry--involving travel to Miami, Georgia, Colombia, Nicaragua, Iran, and beyond--and also a memoir of family, love, and risk. Henderson excels at the subtlety required by such a story, and her telling is intriguing, painful, and cathartic. --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia

Shelf Talker: A daughter's study of her father's life and death artfully reveals intrigue, astonishing slices of world history, and a loving but flawed man.


Powered by: Xtenit