A huge thank you to the fabulous Christina Baker Kline for the incredible presentation of her new book “The Foursome”! She always manages to find the most unique historical fiction stories to tell…stop by BookTowne for a signed copy…
@bakerkline@briellelibrary
So EXCITED to ANNOUNCE, LISA JEWELL with BookTowne at The Algonquin Theatre! 🎭 TICKETS in BIO or BookTowne.com. Say you’ll be there for this incredible night. (The part of Hugo in the book this evening, will be played by our very own BRODY the Westie!)
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#1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone Lisa Jewell brings her “thrilling, chilling” (Chris Whitaker) suspense to this shocking new thriller about a lost dog, a missing woman, and a house of long buried secrets.
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Jane Trevally is walking her dogs on her country estate when a small white terrier appears, alone and with no sign of the teenaged girl he’d been staying with nearby. When the teenager is reported missing, Jane offers to return the dog to his registered owner, hours away in London. Arriving at a run-down house called Thornwood in the deepest backwaters of Hampstead, she is immediately on alert—because Jane has a dark history with this house.
The man who answers the door is not the man that Jane remembers from her past. He is cagey, and claims to know nothing about the missing teenage girl. Then, through the window of the house, Jane catches a glimpse of a haunted-looking woman.
Conjuring her memories from twenty-five years ago, Jane knows this unsettling house holds the key—to the missing teenager, to her own traumatic story, and to the dark secrets of the past.
@lisajewelluk
BookTowne has always and will continue to rally for the forgotten art of letter writing! Here at the store we have loved and hand-sold books that letter writing is the key to friendship developing! (Love & Saffron by Kim Fay is one of our favorites!). We loved having Virginia Evans here last spring to talk about her book The Correspondent which became a huge, grass-roots effort, New York Times Bestselling HIT!
JOIN OUR CORRESPONDENCE CLUB.
We’d love for you to be a part of our inaugural Correspondence Club.
Here’s how it will work.
Starting today: Write a letter and address it to BookTowne (171 Main St. Manasquan NJ 08736 attn: Correspondence Club). Have fun, tell us a little about yourself. Passions, favorite books/genres, family/children, your town, clubs you belong to, sports you like to play…everything that makes YOU…YOU! (Make sure your RETURN MAILING ADDRESS is somewhere in/on your letter)!
**Deadline for Correspondence Letters: MAY 31st.
June 1st: Come into BookTowne. We will hand you an unopened letter from a member that has written in to be a part of the club. You can take it home and start your correspondence! Our store continues to nurture writing skills with a nice selection of stationary, journals, Pigeon Post and writing utensils!
BookTowne will discount whatever writing material(s) you choose from our store (or use anything you have on hand already).
July/August/September: These are the months to write your letters back and forth….cultivate a friendship, get to know that other person on the other side of the pen! Write as often as you would like. (We suggest at getting at least 3 letters written over the 3 months…MORE if possible, would be amazing!)
October: A Correspondence Party date (date to be announced) will be set here at BookTowne….where everyone involved can come and meet your correspondent face-to-face!
BookTowne is thrilled to have Lisa See at the Algonquin Theatre. Join us. TKTS in Bio or BookTowne.com
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From beloved New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, the story of three Chinese women whose unexpected friendship helps them survive and, despite the odds, thrive, in the turmoil of post-Civil War Los Angeles.
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In 1870, three Chinese women arrive in the small, dusty, and violent pueblo of Los Angeles. Dove, the bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar, is entrancing and innocent. These characteristics should bring her great rewards, beginning with her arranged marriage to a much older merchant. Petal, the big-footed daughter of peasants, has grown up hungry and with dirt between her toes. In a moment of desperation, Petal’s father sells her to buy money for rice seed, and she is loaded onto a ship to the Gold Mountain—America—where she is once again sold. Moon is married to a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. She is educated, speaks fluent English, and has been endowed with a face of great beauty, yet her failed footbinding as a child has left her with a limp that lessens her value in the eyes of many.
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Each woman has her own desires. Dove wants to love and be loved, Petal desires freedom, and Moon seeks justice. Together they face a larger society that wishes them not one ounce of good will. Anti-Chinese sentiment is strong in Los Angeles, and this eventually leads to the Night of Horrors during which all three women are challenged in ways they could not have imagined. Brought together by hardship and heartbreak, they must use their bravery, endurance, and ability to “eat bitterness” to discover their voices, find freedom, and connect through solace and friendship. Together they are daughters of the sun and moon.
@lisasee_writer@manasquanchamber
Next week, join BookTowne @briellelibrary as we welcome back Christina Baker Kline to the Jersey Shore. She will be talking about her new historical fiction novel THE FOURSOME….which is very personal to her.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline comes a boldly original reimagining of the astonishing true story of two sisters in nineteenth-century North Carolina — Kline’s own distant relatives — who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam.
When Eng and Chang Bunker arrive in Wilkes County in 1839, they’re not just a curiosity—they’re a sensation. Everyone is eager to learn whether the salacious rumors about them are true. Within months, the twins have opened a general store, bought land, and begun building a plantation. Now, word has it, they’re looking for wives—and in a place that thrives on gossip and legacy, their ambitions set the community on edge.
Sarah and Adelaide Yates, daughters of a once-prominent local family brought low by scandal, are drawn into their orbit. Bold, beautiful Adelaide sees in the twins’ fame a chance to reclaim her future. Sarah, quiet and observant, isn’t so sure. When the twins’ lives become entangled with theirs, they must navigate loyalty, longing, and identity in a world where everything—including race, class, and gender—is rigidly defined.
Spanning five decades and unfolding against the backdrop of a fractured nation hurtling toward war, The Foursome is both intimate and epic: a story of love and constraint, identity and reinvention. With piercing insight and emotional precision, Kline brings to life a forgotten chapter of American history and the complex, boundary-defying marriages at its center.
@bakerkline
WOW! BookTowne’s Poetry night with Project Write Now….was a soul stirring event! The planned authors were a-maze….and the writing workshop and audience volunteers that shared their on the spot writing was A-maze…..the hearts and souls that were exposed tonight …was A-MAZE…thanks to all that attended and all those that shared!
@projectwritenow@disarmingdarling@mainstreetgallerynj@blushthepoet@brainonshamrox@meredithavakian
