July 2019
April 1, 2021
Come visit us! We have appointments available for personal shopping every day of the week.

Our booksellers have some great reads to recommend to you.

Finally in Paperback!

You've been waiting and so have we-- pick up a paperback copy of your best friend's favorite read to find out what the hype has been about
For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life--until the unthinkable happens.

Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

New Releases
Perfect for spring reading


“A WONDERFULLY WRITTEN FIRST NOVEL, FULL OF NUANCE AND HUMOR AND STRANGENESS…”
— THE NEW YORK TIMES
Brood: A Novel By Jackie Polzin

An exquisite new literary voice--wryly funny, nakedly honest, beautifully observational, in the vein of Jenny Offill and Elizabeth Strout--depicts one woman's attempt to keep her four chickens alive while reflecting on a recent loss

Over the course of a single year, our nameless narrator heroically tries to keep her small brood of four chickens alive despite the seemingly endless challenges that caring for another creature entails. From the forty-below nights of a brutal Minnesota winter to a sweltering summer that brings a surprise tornado, she battles predators, bad luck, and the uncertainty of a future that may not look anything like the one she always imagined.

Intimate and startlingly original, this slender novel is filled with wisdom, sorrow, and joy. As the year unfolds, we come to know the small band of loved ones who comprise the narrator's circumscribed life at this moment. Her mother, a flinty former home-ec teacher who may have to take over the chickens; her best friend, a real estate agent with a burgeoning family of her own; and her husband whose own coping mechanisms for dealing with the miscarriage that haunts his wife are more than a little unfathomable to her.
MORE THAN 85 RECIPES TO CREATE FLAVORFUL AND BEAUTIFUL LAYERS, LOAFS, BUNDTS, AND MORE
Zoë Bakes Cakes: Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Favorite Layers, Bundts, Loaves, and More By Zoë François
 
Cake is the ultimate symbol of celebration, used to mark birthdays, weddings, or even just a Tuesday night. In Zoë Bakes Cakes, bestselling author and expert baker Zoë François demystifies the craft of cakes through more than eighty-five simple and straightforward recipes. Discover treats such as Coconut–Candy Bar Cake, Apple Cake with Honey-Bourbon Glaze, and decadent Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake. With step-by-step photo guides that break down baking fundamentals—like creaming butter and sugar—and Zoë’s expert knowledge to guide you, anyone can make these delightful creations. 
 
Featuring everything from Bundt cakes and loaves to a beautifully layered wedding confection, Zoë shows you how to celebrate any occasion, big or small, with delicious homemade cake.
THE LATEST INSTALLMENT IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING MYSTERY SERIES
The Consequences of Fear: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
By Jacqueline Winspear

October 1941. While on a delivery, young Freddie Hackett, a message runner for a government office, witnesses an argument that ends in murder. Crouching in the doorway of a bombed-out house, Freddie waits until the coast is clear. But when he arrives at the delivery address, he’s shocked to come face to face with the killer.

Dismissed by the police when he attempts to report the crime, Freddie goes in search of a woman he once met when delivering a message: Maisie Dobbs. While Maisie believes the boy and wants to help, she must maintain extreme caution: she’s working secretly for the Special Operations Executive, assessing candidates for crucial work with the French resistance. Her two worlds collide when she spots the killer in a place she least expects. She soon realizes she’s been pulled into the orbit of a man who has his own reasons to kill—reasons that go back to the last war.

As Maisie becomes entangled in a power struggle between Britain’s intelligence efforts in France and the work of Free French agents operating across Europe, she must also contend with the lingering question of Freddie Hackett’s state of mind. What she uncovers could hold disastrous consequences for all involved in this compelling chapter of the “series that seems to get better with every entry” (Wall Street Journal).
AVAILABLE NOW
Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore By Patric Richardson, Karin B. Miller

Patric Richardson, aka the "Laundry Evangelist,” reveals his revolutionary methods for cleaning clothes—and making laundry loads more fun.

Doing laundry is rarely anyone’s favorite task. But to Patric Richardson, laundry isn't just fun—it's a way of life. After years of running Laundry Camp at the Mall of America for thousands of eager learners, he's ready to share his tips, tricks, and hacks—bringing surprise and delight to this commonly dreaded chore.

Sorting your laundry? It's not all about whites and darks. Pondering the wash cycles? Every load, even your delicates, should be washed using express or quick-wash on warm. Facing expensive dry cleaning bills? You'll learn how to wash everything—yes everything—at home. And those basically clean but smelly clothes? Richardson has a secret for freshening those too (hint: it involves vodka, not soap).

Changing your relationship with laundry can also change your life. Richardson’s handy advice shows us how to save time and money (and the planet!) with our laundry—and he intersperses it all with a healthy dose of humor, real-life laundry stories, and lessons from his Appalachian upbringing and career in fashion.

Laundry Love will make you wonder why you ever stressed about ironing, dry cleaning, or (god forbid) red wine spills on your new couch. No matter the issue, Richardson is here to help you make laundry miracles happen—wrinkles and stains be damned.
A STIRRING MEDITATION ON BLACK PERFORMANCE IN AMERICA
A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance By Hanif Abdurraqib

At the March on Washington in 1963, Josephine Baker was fifty-seven years old, well beyond her most prolific days. But in her speech she was in a mood to consider her life, her legacy, her departure from the country she was now triumphantly returning to. “I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too,” she told the crowd. Inspired by these few words, Hanif Abdurraqib has written a profound and lasting reflection on how Black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture. Each moment in every performance he examines—whether it’s the twenty-seven seconds in “Gimme Shelter” in which Merry Clayton wails the words “rape, murder,” a schoolyard fistfight, a dance marathon, or the instant in a game of spades right after the cards are dealt—has layers of resonance in Black and white cultures, the politics of American empire, and Abdurraqib’s own personal history of love, grief, and performance.

Abdurraqib writes prose brimming with jubilation and pain, infused with the lyricism and rhythm of the musicians he loves. With care and generosity, he explains the poignancy of performances big and small, each one feeling intensely familiar and vital, both timeless and desperately urgent. Filled with sharp insight, humor, and heart, A Little Devil in America exalts the Black performance that unfolds in specific moments in time and space—from midcentury Paris to the moon, and back down again to a cramped living room in Columbus, Ohio.
FIFTEEN WRITERS FROM REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT FAMILIES WRITE ABOUT THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO FOOD, COOKING, AND EATING
What We Hunger for: Refugee and Immigrant Stories about Food and Family By Sun Yung Shin


Eating is an intimacy bound with language, family, and migration. Travel far and near with fifteen gifted writers from immigrant and refugee families as they share their flavorful, luminous stories.

Food can be a unifier and a healer, bringing people together across generations and cultures. Sharing a meal often leads to sharing stories and deepening our understanding of each other and our respective histories and practices, global and local. Newcomers to the United States bring their own culinary traditions and may re-create food memories at home, introduce new friends and neighbors to their favorite dishes, and explore comforting flavors and experiences of hospitality at local restaurants, community gatherings, and spiritual ceremonies. People coming to Minnesota from all over the globe must adapt to different growing seasons and to the regional selections available at corner stores and farmers markets. All of these experiences yield stories worth sharing around Minnesota cook fires, circles, and tables.
New in Paperback

Upcoming virtual book events
Discover and new books from the comfort of your own home
Outside the Margins: The Speculative Fiction Book Club discusses Vanished Birds--Tuesday, April 6, 2021
--6:00pm

A mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman, changing both of their lives forever.  

I expected many things from this trip. I did not expect a family.

A ship captain, unfettered from time. A mute child, burdened with unimaginable power. A millennia-old woman, haunted by lifetimes of mistakes. In this captivating debut of connection across space and time, these outsiders will find in each other the things they lack: a place of love and belonging. A safe haven. A new beginning.

But the past hungers for them, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this makeshift family apart.  

All the Children Are Home: A Novel By Patry Francis--Monday, April 19, 2021
--7:00pm

Set in the late 1950s through 1960s in a small town in Massachusetts, All the Children Are Home follows the Moscatelli family—Dahlia and Louie, foster parents, and their long-term foster children Jimmy, Zaidie, and Jon—and the irrevocable changes in their lives when a six-year-old indigenous girl, Agnes, comes to live with them.

When Dahlia decided to become a foster mother, she had a few caveats: no howling newborns, no delinquents, and above all, no girls. A harrowing incident years before left her a virtual prisoner in her own home, forever wary of the heartbreak and limitation of a girl’s life.

Eleven years after they began fostering, Dahlia and Louie consider their family complete, but when the social worker begs them to take a young girl who has been horrifically abused and neglected, they can’t say no.

Body of Stars: A Novel By Laura Maylene Walter--Tuesday, April 20, 2021
--7:00pm

Celeste Morton has eagerly awaited her passage to adulthood. Like every girl, she was born with a set of childhood markings—the freckles, moles, and birthmarks on her body that foretell her future and that of those around her—and with puberty will come a new set of predictions that will solidify her fate. The possibilities are tantalizing enough to outweigh the worry that the future she dreams of won't be the one she's fated to have and the fear of her “changeling period”: the time when women are nearly irresistible to men and the risk of abduction is rife.
 
Celeste's beloved brother, Miles, is equally anticipating her transition to adulthood. As a skilled interpreter of the future, a field that typically excludes men, Miles considers Celeste his practice ground—and the only clue to what his own future will bring. But when Celeste changes, she learns a devastating secret about Miles's fate: a secret that could destroy her family, a secret she will do anything to keep. Yet Celeste isn't the only one keeping secrets, and when the lies of brother and sister collide, it leads to a tragedy that will irrevocably change Celeste's fate, set her on a path to fight against the inherent misogyny of fortune-telling, and urge her to create a future that is truly her own.

Cheese, Wine, and Bread: Discovering the Magic of Fermentation in England, Italy, and France By Katie Quinn in conversation with Jen Phanomrat-- Tuesday, April 27, 2021 -- 5:00pm

Join Katie Quinn in-conversation with food YouTuber and podcaster Jen Phanomrat to celebrate the publication of Katie’s new book, Cheese, Wine, and Bread: Discovering the Magic of Fermentation in England, Italy, and France! Plus, Katie will demo her Cheddar Brownies recipe from the book during the event.


** Purchase your copy of Cheese, Wine, and Bread: Discovering the Magic of Fermentation in England, Italy, and France through Next Chapter Booksellers to gain entry to this event

Email riley@nextchapterbooksellers.com with proof of purchase.
Save the date!
Independent Bookstore Day is back
April 24th
Independent Bookstore Day is fast upon us and after this past year, we are thrilled to be continuing to put books in the hands of readers.

See the exclusive offers and merchandise Next Chapter Booksellers will be offering this year
Libro.fm will offer free audiobooks for shopping at local bookstores on Independent Bookstore Day  

When customers spend $15 in-store or virtually at any independent bookstore between April 24th and April 26th, they will get a free audiobook from Libro.fm.

Customers who submit their purchase details between 4/24 and 4/26 (a form will be added to libro.fm/ibd on 4/24) and will get to select from 10-12 new and bestselling audiobooks, which will be revealed early in April.
Roadmap Passport

Visit us on Independent Bookstore Day and get your passport stamped to earn an exclusive discount

Take 20% off any book in the store. Coupon valid May 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021. Cannot be combined with other discounts.
Exclusive Limted Editition Independent Bookstore Day releases from Stephen King, Kawai Strong Washburn, and Jeff Vandermeer
Thanks for reading
all the way to the end.

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--all of us at Next Chapter Booksellers