City of Books by Nicole Meier
May 30 at 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
$5
Nicole Meier, Bend resident and author of The Girl Made of Clay, The House of Bradbury, and The Second Chance Supper Club, returns with a new novel. Join us to celebrate the launch of her new book!
Inspired by the temporary shuttering of Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, City of Books charmingly explores a bibliophile’s fantasy: moving into a bookstore to stop it from closing.
Jo Waterstone knows what you should read next. She’s honed the skill of sizing up a person and recommending their next book in the decades she’s worked at Bruebaker’s Books. Her life has been shaped by the store, the bustle of customers exploring the stacks, and managing the eager staff. She can honestly say it’s the best job she’s ever had.
Then the store’s elderly owner, Mr. Bruebaker, suffers a stroke, and just like that Jo’s perfect job is on the chopping block. Mr. B’s daughters and the bookstore’s icy CEO think the time is right to close for good, and they order Jo to lock up. But she doesn’t know what she would be without Bruebaker’s—and besides, the place is an institution. So instead of following orders, she decides to take a stand: along with a few brave team members, she barricades herself in the store, trying to buy time until Mr. Bruebaker recovers and can speak for himself.
Living in a bookstore has a certain magic to it, but the quiet hours among the books throw the choices Jo has made in her life into sharp relief. As supporters—and detractors—start to voice their opinions about her actions, Jo will have to decide what, exactly, is worth saving.
Nicole Meier is an author and certified book coach. Her novels include The House of Bradbury, The Girl Made of Clay, and The Second Chance Supper Club. You can visit her website at www.nicolemeier.com or find her on Instagram: @nicolemeierwrites. She lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest in Bend, Oregon.
Molly Carroll, MA, LPC is a therapist, coach, published writer, speaker, and loving mom of two kids. Molly has been passionately working in education and mental health for 30 years. Molly published her artistic self-help journal Cracking Open: A creative journal for self-transformation and Trust Within: Letting Intuition Lead in 2015.
