Books in Concord, MA

On Friday I met a childhood friend in Concord, Massachusetts and then went to a reading and signing by Holly Thompson at the Concord Bookstore. The ghosts of Emerson, Alcott, and Thoreau sat down with us on the little white folding chairs to listen to Holly read from her new verse young adult novel called Orchards. Holly lives in Japan, south of Tokyo. It was the day of the earthquake, and she had learned, at least, that her husband was all right. Holly has a wonderful presence and reading voice. The novel is about a teenage girl who is sent off to spend time with her Japanese grandparents in order to help her make sense of the suicide of a friend. If you have read Ash, you know that Holly is able to get inside her characters and write about difficult subjects in a nuanced way. Holly has a great website: http://www.hatbooks.com