Rhody Reader Box Book Signing with Christa Carmen of Beneath the Poet’s House on Saturday, December 14 from 2 to 4 pm

The Rhody Reader Box is a celebration of all things Rhode Island and it’s back for 2024, featuring Christa Carmen’s psychological suspense novel Beneath the Poet’s House, along with locally made products by Juniper Hill Apothecary, Jaffal Chocolates, and The Black Leaf Tea.

Meet the Author and Purchase signed copies! They make a great gift for the reader in your life.

About the Book

Unmoored by her husband’s death and suffering from writer’s block, novelist Saoirse White moves to Providence, and into the historic home of Sarah Helen Whitman, the nineteenth-century poet and spiritualist once courted by Edgar Allan Poe. Saoirse’s certain she’ll find inspiration in the quiet rooms, as well as in the tucked-away rose garden and forgotten cemetery at the back of the property.

Saoirse is immediately welcomed by an effusive trio of transcendentalists obsessed with Whitman, the house, and Whitman’s mystic beliefs. Saoirse, emerging from grief and loneliness, welcomes the idea of new friends taking her mind off the past—even as they hope to summon it. When she meets Emmit Powell, a charismatic and charming prize-winning author, Saoirse thinks she’s finally turned a corner.

Emboldened by new romance, Saoirse begins to write again and, through her writing, rediscover herself. But as old fears return, she finds that nothing about her new life is what it seems—and a secret she’s tried so hard to bury may not be the only thing that comes back to haunt her.

Praise

Beneath the Poet’s House is creepy and addictive. Carmen uses a gothic New England setting to explore art and magic and left me thinking that the things men do to women are far more terrifying than any conjuring. 
―Jessa Maxwell, author of The Golden Spoon and I Need You to Read This

Haunting and gorgeously told, Beneath the Poet’s House brings new life to the tumultuous romance and compelling lives of Edgar Allan Poe and Sarah Helen Whitman, all within a modern psychological suspense with a riveting plot that will enthrall readers. 
―Vanessa Lillie, USA Today bestselling author of Blood Sisters

Bram Stoker Award winner [Christa] Carmen weaves a captivating web of psychological suspense in her latest spine-tingler…For gothic mystery fans, this is a treat. 
―Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Christa Carmen lives in Rhode Island. She is the author of The Daughters of Block Island, winner of the Bram Stoker Award and a Shirley Jackson Award nominee, the Indie Horror Book Award-winning Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked, and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated “Through the Looking Glass and Straight into Hell” (Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror). She has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA from Boston College, and an MFA from the University of Southern Maine. When she’s not writing, she keeps chickens; uses a Ouija board to ghost-hug her dear, departed beagle; and sets out on adventures with her husband, daughter, and bloodhound–golden retriever mix. Visit her at christacarmen.com.

At the Event

Copies will be available for purchase at the event and in store, or purchase from our online shop.

The Rhody Reader Box features:
Beneath the Poet’s House and The Daughter’s of Block Island

Holiday Book Signing with Local Author & Photographer Traer Scott of Rescue Cats on Dec 7 from 1 to 3 PM

Support RI Authors & Makers, Come shop local with us this holiday season!

The perfect gift for cat lovers everywhere, Rescue Cats will delight and inspire with its collection of full-color, close-up portraits of cats and their stories of adoption, from the award-winning author of Finding Home and Forever Home.

About the Book

Celebrated animal photographer Traer Scott invites readers on a heartwarming journey into the lives of courageous rescue cats and kittens, captured in evocative images and remarkable stories. In these pages, you’ll meet:

• Forrest, a majestic Maine Coon who was born with an impairment and found on the street as a twelve-week-old stray. After finding the perfect home, he now goes kayaking and camping with his family.

• Linus, once a severely malnourished kitten weighing less than one ounce and given no chance of survival. After months of careful foster care, he grew to be a healthy and beloved pet.

• A litter of kittens, shown week by week, revealing how quickly they grow and change.

• And twenty more rescue cats whose inspiring stories of survival and resilience offer an irresistible celebration of compassion and second chances.

Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, Rescue Cats pays tribute to these amazing felines who have undergone remarkable transformations and found their forever homes while conveying the profound impact of rescue and adoption. For cat lovers, photography enthusiasts, and advocates for animal welfare, this joyful cat book is a poignant reminder that every rescue is a chapter in a larger story of compassion and redemption.

Praise

This joyful cat book is a poignant reminder that every rescue is a chapter in a larger story of compassion and redemption.
—Cattitude Daily

About the Author

Traer Scott is an award-winning photographer and author of fourteen books, including Shelter Dogs and Finding Home, specializing in animal photography, the human/animal bond, and conservation-themed fine art photography. Scott’s work has been exhibited around the world and appeared in National Geographic, Time, Vogue, Le Monde, Life, Der Stern, The New York Times Lens blog, and dozens of other national and international publications. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

At the Event

Copies will be available for purchase at the event and in store, or purchase from our online shop.

RESCUE CATS

Mystery thriller Authors in Conversation with Vanessa Lillie, Ana Reyes, and Tracy Sierra on Dec 5 from 6 to 7:45 PM

Meet and mingle with the authors, Be Part of a Lively Literary Discussion, and find your next great mystery thriller read at Ink Fish Books!

Tickets are $5 and include light refreshments, an author meet and greet, author discussion, and book signing.

Space is limited. PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS HERE.

Books will be for sale at the event, in store, or online.

About the Books

BLOOD SISTERS by Vanessa Lillie

There are secrets in the land.

As an archaeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Syd Walker spends her days in Rhode Island trying to protect the land’s Indigenous past, even as she’s escaping her own.

While Syd is dedicated to her job, she’s haunted by a night of violence she barely escaped in her Oklahoma hometown fifteen years ago. Even though she swore she’d never go back, the past comes calling.

What happens to the land happens to the women.

When a skull is found near the crime scene of her youth, just as her sister, Emma Lou, disappears, Syd knows she must return to Oklahoma. She refuses to let her sister, or the remains, go ignored as so often happens in cases of missing Native women.

But not everyone is glad to have Syd home. The search for Emma Lou puts Syd in the crosshairs of local drug dealers looking to build an empire and vengeful vigilantes policing the abandoned mines, while government officials silence tribal rights.

The truth will be unearthed.

The deeper Syd digs, the more she uncovers about a string of missing Indigenous women cases trailing back decades. To save her sister, she must expose a darkness in town that no one wants to face—not even Syd.

THE HOUSE IN THE PINES by Ana Reyes

Armed with only hazy memories, a woman who long ago witnessed her friend’s sudden, mysterious death, and has since spent her life trying to forget, sets out to track down answers. What she uncovers, deep in the woods, is hardly to be believed. . . .

Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they’d been spending time with all summer.

Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can’t account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer—the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.

At her mother’s house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father’s book that didn’t stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank’s cabin. . . .

NIGHTWATCHING by Tracy Sierra

A footstep on the stairs. A second to react. What happens next will determine everything.

Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise—old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs.

She sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway, shrouded in the shadows. Terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall. There they hide as the man searches for them, trying to tempt the children out with promises and scare the mother into surrender.

In the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm, to plan. Should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? But then she catches another glimpse of him. That face. That voice. And at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she’d feared, because she knows exactly who he is—and what he wants.

About the Authors

Vanessa Lillie is the author of the bestselling thrillers Little Voices, For the Best, and Blood Sisters. With fifteen years of marketing and communications experience, Vanessa was a columnist for the Providence Journal and hosts an Instagram Live show with crime fiction authors. She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma living on Narragansett land in Rhode Island.

Ana Reyes is the New York Times bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club pick The House in the Pines. She has an MFA from Louisiana State University and teaches creative writing. She lives with her husband in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Tracy Sierra was born and raised in the Colorado mountains. She is an attorney who currently lives in New England in an antique colonial-era home complete with its own secret room. When not writing, she spends time with her husband and two children. Nightwatching is her debut novel, and was selected as a Fallon Book Club pick.

At the Event

Copies will be available for purchase at the event and in store, or purchase from our online shop.

BLOOD SISTERS

THE HOUSE IN THE PINES

NIGHTWATCHING

Small Business Saturday Book Signing with Local Author Sara Shukla of Pink Whales on Nov 30 from 1 to 3 PM + Chocolate Tasting with Jaffal Chocolates from 3 to 5 PM

On Small Business Saturday, Local author Sara Shukla will sign copies of her Fictional Debut, Pink Whales—a hilarious coastal romp you won’t want to miss!

And Jaffal Chocolates will share their comforting yet minimally processed chocolate bars that are vegan, gluten-free, and made in Warren, Rhode Island, from only three simple ingredients.

Come shop local with us!

About the Book

Falling in with the cool moms of her preppy New England town might upend one woman’s life, in a sparkling and sharp-witted novel about marriage, escape, and deceptively tidy little lives.

Charlie is already feeling adrift when she relocates to an exclusive town in coastal New England with her mysteriously distant husband, Dev, and their young twins in tow. She hopes the move will recharge her stalled marriage, and she wants her kids to feel like they belong, even if she’s clearly a fish out of water herself. In a strange new world where summer is a verb and both the harbor and the partygoers are awash in a dizzying constellation of pinks and pastels, she’s never felt so confounded or alone. She’ll need more than a preppy handbook to find her way.

Then a trio of power moms—imposing, beautiful, and monogrammed—comes to the rescue, and Charlie clings to their attention like a life raft. As Dev pulls further away, Charlie dives into her newfound friends’ circle of yacht clubs, rivalries, and bizarre theme parties, hoping to find her sea legs. She even dares to cozy up to a hot, barefoot, and aggressively flirty local. But if she’s running from her problems at home, where exactly is she escaping to? Charlie is beginning to wonder. This ridiculous new normal—and her desire to be part of it—might just eat her alive.

Praise

“Pink Whales is a delicious, hilarious, voicey romp of a novel about Charlie, a wife and mother who doesn’t feel she belongs in her new home in preppy New England. Sara Shukla has an absolutely killer sense of humor, and the voice is pitch perfect. I adored it.”
—Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals and Rabbit Cake

“Pink Whales is a can’t-miss coastal romp where Charlie navigates the choppy waters of her new preppy town on a quest to save her marriage and bring her family together. I loved every page. Shukla has a gift for writing humor that hits deep while also exposing truth and the raw emotion that makes the story both relatable and unforgettable.”
―Rachel Barenbaum, author of Atomic Anna and A Bend in the Stars

“My house is a mess and my laundry piled to the ceiling, and it’s all Sara Shukla’s fault! I couldn’t put it down. Pink Whales lets you go places you’re not invited, drink more than you should, and escape to the beach on nearly every page—what’s not to like?”
—Christine Simon, author of Patron Saint of Second Chances

About the Author

Sara Shukla is an editor for WBUR’s Cognoscenti. You can find her writing at WBUR as well as the Los Angeles Review of Books, McSweeneys, and elsewhere. An alum of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator and the University of Virginia, she lives in Rhode Island with her family. Pink Whales is her debut novel.

At the Event

During Small Business Saturday, Ink Fish Books will celebrate with free giveaways, light refreshments, a food pop-up from 3 to 5 PM, and a book signing from 1 to 3 PM.

Copies will be available for purchase at the event and in store, or purchase from our online shop.

PINK WHALES

Photo Credit: Melissa Sepulveda.

Welcome the holiday season at Ink Fish Books with extended hours on Thursday, November 21 from 5-7 PM. Enjoy some early shopping with Vanessa Lillie who will be on hand to talk about her books and help you select your next great read or a book gift by dealing you a special Tarot card, plus enjoy mingling and light refreshments.

From the Shelf Book Group Discusses Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.

Join us on the last Sunday of each month at 11 AM to discuss the monthly pick.

Email us at info@inkfishbook.com for more information and to register.

Copies are available in store or online here.

Children’s Book Signing featuring Christopher Denise & Brie Rowey on Oct 27 from 1 to 5 PM During the Warren Walkabout

Ink Fish Books brings together two local children’s book creators—#1 New York Times best-selling author Christopher Denise with Knight Owl and Early Bird, and debut picture book author Brie Rowey with The Unmagical Little Witch. Both authors will meet their young fans and sign books on Sunday, October 27 at Ink Fish Books during the Warren Walkabout.

Rowey will appear from 1 to 3 PM. Denise will appear from 3 to 5 PM. Individually signed collectors prints will be given away to the first 15 people that purchase a copy of Knight Owl and Early Bird.

“Denise gives youngsters an old-fashioned story with an amusing twist and a cute-as-a-button protagonist that charms on every level. This will satisfy a wide range of readers, from Dragons Love Tacos fans to wannabe knights.” —Booklist, starred review

About the books

Knight Owl and Early Bird—Early Bird wants to be brave and protect the castle, just like Knight Owl. But she falls asleep on the job and then keeps her hero up during the day with her enthusiastic chattiness, well-meaning questions, and cheerful owl impersonations. But there are strange happenings in the forest, and soon Knight Owl and Early Bird find themselves in the throes of danger. Will these two learn to work together to keep themselves and the kingdom safe?  Caldecott Honor winner and New York Times bestselling creator Christopher Denise delivers another endearing medieval tale that shines with warmth and goodwill, and shows just how important teamwork is to saving the day. Recommended for young readers ages 4-7.

The Unmagical Little Witch—The charming picture book about a little witch who can't do magic—teaching young children the power in creating your own magic. Luna looks like a typical little witch. But one thing is missing . . . she reads spell books, brews potions, and collects crystals, but can’t do magic. Just as she’s starting to feel hopeless, she meets some creatures who ask for help from the little witch. Without a powerful spell or a magic wand, Luna must figure out another idea quick. She learns that sometimes hard work, creativity, and a bit of clever thinking is all the magic you need. Recommended for young readers ages 3-8.

About the Authors

Christopher Denise is the award-winning creator of Knight Owl, which was a Caldecott Honor Award winner, a #1 New York Times bestseller, and an ALA-ALSC Notable Book for Children, among many other honors. Christopher is also the illustrator of many critically acclaimed books for young readers, including Groundhug Day and Firefly Hollow.

Brie Rowey is a designer, engineer, and entrepreneur from Rhode Island. She graduated from Brown University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a M.S. in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship. The Unmagical Little Witch is Rowey's first children's book. She remembers the spark of imagination she felt when reading her favorite books as a child. She is inspired to recreate that magical feeling for others through her storytelling and illustrations.

At the event

Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store.

Or purchase from our online store:
Knight Owl (first book in the series)
Knight Owl and Early Bird (available Oct 15).

About the Warren Walkabout

Spend a fall Sunday exploring the historic waterfront town of Warren, Rhode Island, at this year's annual Warren Walkabout—a street-style festival that runs two consecutive Sundays on October 20, and 27 from 12 to 5 PM. Locals and visitors-alike are invited to enjoy all that Warren has to offer, from unique independent shops and boutiques featuring sidewalk sales, to cafes and eateries with food pop-ups, along with live music performances around town, and open artist studios featuring workshops with live demonstrations. On each Sunday afternoon from Main Street to Water Street and beyond, explore the unique local architecture, waterfront views, and the cozy charm of autumn’s colors while supporting local businesses and the community. Whichever transportation you choose—car, bike, bus or boat—there’s plenty of parking and pedestrian access. For more information visit discoverwarren.com.

East Coasting: The Ultimate Roadtripper’s Guide to New England Book Signing with Christine Chitnis on Oct 20 from 1 to 3 PM During the Warren Walkabout & the store’s 6th Anniversary Celebration

Discover the ultimate illustrated guide to roadtripping through historic New England, and the must-visit spots along the way, in this beautiful and useful travel book about our beloved region which is also one of the most visited areas in the country. A USA Today bestseller.

About the Book

This beautifully illustrated guide to roadtripping through New England spans Connecticut to Maine and explores inland destinations in Vermont, New Hampshire, weekend trips to the Berkshires, and even crosses over the Canadian border to Nova Scotia.

In the spirit of Danielle Kroll’s Pacific Coasting, East Coasting is a fun ride. All across New England, there’s so much to see and do—Mystic, Providence, Salem, Portland, must-visit museums, bookstores, fooderies, and more. Go antiquing in Stonington, CT. Take a quick ferry ride to Martha’s Vineyard. Visit Horseneck Beach, MA, on a glorious summer morning. A weekend getaway to Portland, ME, is a must, where you can feast your way through the city.

And is there any better time than autumn, when the whole of New England is alight with changing leaves. Unless it’s a beautiful snowy winter day in New Hampshire or Vermont, with its pristine beauty and opportunities for winter sporting. East Coasting is for those who reside in New England, who want to visit New England, who need a gift for someone who loves New England, and for armchair travelers alike.

About the Author

Christine Chitnis is a writer and photographer based in Providence, Rhode Island. As the bestselling author of East Coasting, Patterns of Portugal, and Patterns of India, and a contributor to publications including the New York Times, Elle, Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler, Christine has not only earned a reputation as a multi-talented storyteller, but also as a trusted strategist in the lifestyle publishing sector.

At the event

Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store. Or order online below.

East Coasting: The Ultimate Roadtripper’s Guide to New England

About the Warren Walkabout

Spend a fall Sunday exploring the historic waterfront town of Warren, Rhode Island, at this year's annual Warren Walkabout—a street-style festival that runs two consecutive Sundays on October 20, and 27 from 12 to 5 PM. Locals and visitors-alike are invited to enjoy all that Warren has to offer, from unique independent shops and boutiques featuring sidewalk sales, to cafes and eateries with food pop-ups, along with live music performances around town, and open artist studios featuring workshops with live demonstrations.

On each Sunday afternoon from Main Street to Water Street and beyond, explore the unique local architecture, waterfront views, and the cozy charm of autumn’s colors while supporting local businesses and the community. Whichever transportation you choose—car, bike, bus or boat—there’s plenty of parking and pedestrian access.

For more information visit discoverwarren.com or email info@inkfishbooks.com.

Ink Fish Books 6th Anniversary Celebration

The independent, woman-owned bookstore Ink Fish Books is celebrating its sixth year anniversary with book giveaways, a food pop-up with Empanada Assassin and book signing with local author Christine Chitnis, and of course—cake! Join us during the Warren Walkabout on October 20 during the hours of 1-3 PM to meet the author, eat gluten-free empanadas, and celebrate your neighborhood bookstore! We will be open from 12 to 5 PM.

Nashville-Based Author Rea Frey—IN EVERY LIFE—in Conversation with Vanessa Lillie on Oct 1 at 6 PM

An earnest exploration of a husband's dying wish for his wife to find a new love before he's even gone.

Tickets are $5 and include light refreshments, an author meet and greet, authors in conversation, and a book signing.

Space is limited. PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Books will be for sale at the event, in store, or online.

About the Book

Ben and Harper have had a rough start to their marriage. After a surprise late-stage cancer diagnosis, Ben comes up with one final wish for his wife: he wants Harper to find a new partner before he dies. Harper is resistant to this wacky plan. If she can't have Ben, then she doesn't want anyone. Finally, he lets it drop, but not before the New York Times sends a journalist to do a feature story about Ben's life . . . and his idea. When Harper opens the door, she is stunned to find the one man who got away. Or, the man she spent one perfect week with a decade ago and never saw again: Liam Hale.

Suddenly, Harper is faced with her ultimate what-if: What if Harper had ended up with Liam instead of Ben? What if she'd pursued life as an artist instead of teaching? What if it had all turned out differently? After making a wish, Harper wakes up to find herself in a parallel universe where her what-ifs become a reality. Is the grass really greener, or is she standing right where she should be, even as she inevitably faces the pain of losing the one she loves? Faced with two profoundly different paths, Harper must decide where her heart truly belongs.

IN EVERY LIFE is a compelling exploration of love, loyalty and life’s grand possibilities.

Praise

"A perfect tale of 'what if.' Frey broke my heart into a million pieces then tenderly put it back together with her deeply moving message that sometimes the truest way we can love someone is by letting them go." —Kate Robb, author of This Spells Love

"Seamlessly weaving together three timelines of ‘what is,’ ‘what was,’ and ‘what if,’ Rea Frey’s In Every Life is an incredibly relatable story for every woman who has ever faced an impossible situation and wondered what if she had made a different choice. Perfect for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Maybe in Another Life and the film Sliding Doors, Harper’s journey is an exquisite reminder that there are no coincidences and that life unfolds exactly as it is meant to." —Sara Goodman Confino, bestselling author of Don’t Forget to Write

About the Authors

Rea Frey is the award-winning, #1 bestselling author of several nonfiction books, domestic suspense, thriller, and contemporary fiction novels. Known as The Book Doula, Rea helps writers birth their stories into the world and has worked with numerous celebrities to ghostwrite their bestselling books. She is a Silver Falchion finalist, voted Chicago Reader’s Best Nonfiction Writer, and Pipeline's Book Adaptation winner. Her last novel, The Other Year, was a top 5 finalist for Target’s Book of the Year pick. Rea is a well-known book doula and has helped hundreds of first-time authors land agents, book deals, and become bestselling authors. She has been featured in US Weekly, Glamour, Hello Sunshine, Entertainment Weekly, Marie Claire, Shape, Writer’s Digest, Crime Reads, WGN, Fox News.

Vanessa Lillie is the author of the USA Today bestselling suspense novel, Blood Sisters. Her previous bestselling thrillers are Little Voices and For the Best. She also co-authored the #1 bestselling and ITW award nominated Audible Original Young Rich Widows, now in print, and the sequel, Desperate Deadly Widows. With fifteen years of marketing and communications experience, Vanessa was a columnist for the Providence Journal and hosts an Instagram Live show with crime fiction authors. She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma living on Narragansett land in Rhode Island.

At the Event

Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store. Or order online below.

Books by Rea Frey

IN EVERY LIFE
THE OTHER YEAR

Books by Vanessa Lillie

BLOOD SISTERS—paperback release is Oct 1!
YOUNG RICH WIDOWS

From the Shelf Book Group Discusses The LIfe Impossible by Matt Haig

The remarkable next novel from Matt Haig, the author of New York Times bestseller The Midnight Library, with more than nine million copies sold worldwide.

“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…”

When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.

Join us on the last Sunday of each month at 11 AM to discuss the monthly pick.

Email us at info@inkfishbook.com for more information and to register.

Copies are available in store or online here.

Actor and Author Marianne Leone—FIVE-DOG EPIPHANY: HOW A QUINTET OF BADASS BICHONS RETRIEVED OUR JOY—in Conversation with Ann Hood on Sep 27 at 6 PM

A new installment in best-selling author Ann Hood’s Gracie Belle imprint, actor Marianne Leone’s (The Sopranos) memoir explores how a bereaved couple and a pack of rescue dogs rediscovered joy.

Tickets are $5 and include light refreshments, an author meet and greet, authors in conversation, and a book signing.

Space is limited. PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Books will be for sale at the event, in store, or online. A portion of the book sale proceeds will be donated to benefit The Jesse Cooper Foundation.

About the Book

In Five-Dog Epiphany, Marianne Leone writes about the joy that can be summoned after a great loss, “when you look into the eyes of another damaged creature and know that your happiness is a mirror and an echo and a prayer, and that the little soul reflecting all that energy is happy too, at last.” This memoir is a moving and sometimes surprisingly funny exploration of grief and the mutual healing that can occur between rescue dogs and people who have experienced a soul-crushing loss. Leone and her husband, actor Chris Cooper, lost their only child suddenly in 2005. Jesse was seventeen, a straight-A student, and a brilliant poet, who was also quadriplegic and nonverbal except with the assistance of a computer.

When six-year-old Jesse miraculously blurted “dog” to Santa, Goody appeared on his bed on Christmas morning. Goody was followed by Lucky, Frenchy, Titi, and Sugar, all rescues adopted after Jesse’s passing. After Jesse’s death, Leone grew a tumor the size of her premature son at birth, her husband disappeared into dark acting roles (Breach, Married Life), and Leone fainted during the filming of a scene in The Sopranos where she is standing in front of her television son’s coffin.

This is the story of a bereaved couple and a pack of rescue dogs finding their way to a new life, everyone licking their wounds, both corporal and spiritual, and the rediscovery of joy.

Praise

“Five-Dog Epiphany is a marvel—a poignant and revelatory memoir about the profound relationship between humans and their canine companions. Marianne Leone writes about grief and dogs and love and healing in a voice that’s raw and lyrical, and utterly her own.” —Tom Perrotta, author of Tracy Flick Can’t Win 

“While reading this heartrending, often funny, and ultimately life-affirming memoir, I found myself thinking of the nonfiction masters Joan Didion and Patti Smith, for these are Marianne Leone’s peers. Written in lyrical, evocative prose that is as erudite as it is streetwise, this unforgettable memoir takes us unflinchingly into fathomless loss where the only lifeline may just be compassion for the suffering of other living creatures with whom we share this imperiled planet, dogs especially; Five-Dog Epiphany nourishes the soul as only genuine art can, by illuminating the simple yet elusive truth that love of all kinds holds the power to sustain and maybe even save us.” —Andre Dubus III, author of Such Kindness

About the Authors

Marianne Leone is an actor, screenwriter, and essayist. Her essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, Lit Hub, Ploughshares, Post Road, Bark Magazine, Coastal Living, Solstice, and elsewhere. She is the author of two memoirs, Jesse and Ma Speaks Up. She had a recurring role on HBO’s The Sopranos as Joanne Moltisanti, Christopher’s mother. She has also appeared in films by David O. Russell, Larry David, John Sayles, Nancy Savoca, and Martin Scorsese.

Ann Hood is the author of a dozen books of memoir and fiction, including the novels The Stolen Child, The Book That Matters Most, and The Knitting Circle, and editor of the anthologies Providence Noir, Knitting Yarns and Knitting Pearls. Hood is the imprint curator for Gracie Belle Books and lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and New York. Five-Dog Epiphany is the newest release on Gracie Belle Books.

At the Event

Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store. Or order online below.

Books by Marianne Leone

FIVE-DOG EPIPHANY Available for preorder. Pub date is Sep 3.

JESSE: A MOTHER’S STORY

MA SPEAKS UP

Books by Ann Hood

THE STOLEN CHILD

FLY GIRL

From the Shelf Book Group Discusses The WEDDING PEOPLE by ALISON ESPACH

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help us start anew.

It's a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamt of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe—which makes it that much more surprising when the women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns uproariously, absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is a look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

Join us on the last Sunday of each month at 11 AM to discuss the monthly pick.

Email us at info@inkfishbook.com for more information and to register.

Copies are available in store or online here.

BREATHE. WRITE. BREATHE. Author Talk for Creative Flow with Lisa Tener on Aug 13 at 6 PM

easy and fun practices to induce and sustain creative flow with Rhode Island’s Own Creativity Catalyst, Lisa Tener.

In this creative engagement talk with live demonstration, award-winning author, book coach, and creativity catalyst Lisa Tener will share how she uses mindful movement, visualization, and breathing practices to support her creativity, her overall well-being, and that of her clients—all from her newest book Breathe. Write. Breathe. : 18 Energizing Practices to Spark Your Writing and Free Your Voice.

This is a free event. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

About the Book

In this ground-breaking guide, award-winning author Lisa Tener revolutionizes the writing experience. New, seasoned, and aspiring writers will find a unique blend of practical exercises and innovative techniques to tap into your inner wellspring of creativity.

As Lisa leads you on a journey of self-discovery and transformation, you’ll harness the power of mindful movement and breath to free your authentic voice, silence your inner critic, and ignite your imagination like never before. Enjoy instant access to video training and audio meditations—via the convenience of QR codes—making the experience especially engaging.

Going beyond writing prompts, Breathe. Write. Breathe. promises to revitalize your writing process. Immerse yourself in its pages and prepare to witness your writing flow with unparalleled ease, your creativity soar to new heights, and your journey as a writer evolve into an enlivening adventure.

Praise

“Lisa Tener's Breathe. Write. Breathe. beautifully explains the essential connection between mindful breathing and regular writing. All writers, and especially the millions of blocked and resistant writers, will benefit from the simple, easy-to-follow practices eloquently described in Breathe. Write. Breathe. Highly recommended!” —Eric Maisel, author of dozens of creativity books, including Unleashing the Artist Within

“In . . . Breathe. Write. Breathe. . . . Lisa Tener offers a unique combination of breathwork and writing exercises aimed at enhancing creativity and promoting a sense of well-being. Inspired by her experiences in Qigong classes, where deep, mindful breathing led to profound creative insights, Tener integrates these practices to help writers overcome blocks and tap into their inner muse. For writers struggling with writer's block or self-doubt, these practices offer a playful [way to]...disrupt linear thinking patterns and unlock new creative pathways.” —Providence Monthly

About the Author

Award-winning author Lisa Tener is known for helping writers easily access creative flow and bring forth their best work. Lisa served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School’s CME publishing course for over a dozen years. Lisa holds two degrees from MIT and is certified by RP Qigong to teach Empowerments and Happiness Qigong. Her book The Joy of Writing Journal won five book awards.

At the Event

Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store.

Or order online below.

THE JOY OF WRITING JOURNAL 

BREATHE. WRITE. BREATHE. Available for purchase at the event, and hopefully soon online.

Coastal Summer Reads Author Panel with Jamie Brenner, Brooke Lea Foster, and Sara Shukla on July 23 from 5:30 to 7:45 PM

Meet and mingle with the authors and find your next great beach read!

It wouldn’t be summer in New England without the classic beach read, and on Tuesday, July 23 from 5:30 to 7:45 PM, Ink Fish Books will host a Coastal Summer Reads Author Panel with Jamie Brenner (A NOVEL SUMMER), Brooke Lea Foster (ALL THE SUMMERS IN BETWEEN), and Sara Shukla (PINK WHALES) to discuss themes of love, place, belonging, and the complex female relationships that each of their books share.

Tickets are $5 and include light refreshments, an author meet and greet, and book signing.

Space is limited. PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS HERE.

Books will be for sale at the event, in store, or online.

About the Books

A Novel Summer by Jamie Brenner

"With A Novel Summer, Jamie Brenner truly captures the essence of one of the world’s most beautiful beach towns—and I loved the bookstore setting. My only wish was that it was longer as I already miss the great characters she created. A triumphant new novel!" —Jeff Peters, Owner of East End Books

Author Shelby Albert found inspiration for her first novel while living in the picturesque shores of Provincetown on Cape Cod. When she comes to the town to celebrate her new bestseller, she is expecting a warm homecoming. But instead she is blindsided by the cold shoulders of friends and neighbors who feel exposed and betrayed.

Heartbroken, Shelby tries to move on and focus on her next novel. But then an unexpected opportunity arises: Her dear friend who owns the beloved Lands End bookshop needs help for the summer. Shelby reluctantly returns to the Cape to manage the store.

Back at the beach, Shelby sets her focus on the tiny seaside shop, getting lost in the stacks of steamy romance novels and dusty classics, and trying to right the wrongs of her past. With every page turned and every customer served, Shelby comes closer to gaining back the trust of those she hurt. But as her manuscript deadline nears, she is again forced to choose between her own success and a second chance at love and belonging.

All the summers in between by brooke lea foster

“A mesmerizing story of the complexities of female friendship and the yearning of women to live full lives. Foster depicts the 1970s with sensitivity and a rich command of detail, and as the pace picks up toward a perfectly executed denouement, you won’t be able to turn away.” —Beatriz Williams

When wealthy, impulsive summer girl Margot meets hardworking and steady local girl Thea in the summer of 1967, the unlikely pair become fast friends, working alongside one another in a record store and spending every spare moment together. But after an unspeakable incident on one devastating August night, they don’t see one another for ten years...until Margot suddenly reappears in Thea’s life, begging for help and harboring more than one dangerous secret. Thea can’t bring herself to refuse her beloved friend—but she also knows she can’t fully trust her either.

Unfulfilled as a housewife, Thea enjoys the dazzling sense of adventure Margot brings to her life, but will the truth of what happened to them that fateful summer ruin everything? Testing the boundaries of how far she’ll go for a friend, Thea is forced to reckon with her uncertain future while trying to decide if some friends are meant to remain in the past.

Set in the dual timelines of 1967 and 1977, All the Summers In Between is at once a mesmerizing portrait of a complex friendship, a delicious glimpse into a bygone Hamptons, and a powerful coming-of-age for two young women during a transformative era.

Pink whales by Sara shukla

“Pink Whales is a delicious, hilarious, voicey romp of a novel about Charlie, a wife and mother who doesn’t feel she belongs in her new home in preppy New England. Sara Shukla has an absolutely killer sense of humor, and the voice is pitch perfect. I adored it.” —Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals and Rabbit Cake

Charlie is already feeling adrift when she relocates to an exclusive town in coastal New England with her mysteriously distant husband, Dev, and their young twins in tow. She hopes the move will recharge her stalled marriage, and she wants her kids to feel like they belong, even if she’s clearly a fish out of water herself. In a strange new world where summer is a verb and both the harbor and the partygoers are awash in a dizzying constellation of pinks and pastels, she’s never felt so confounded or alone. She’ll need more than a preppy handbook to find her way.

Then a trio of power moms—imposing, beautiful, and monogrammed—comes to the rescue, and Charlie clings to their attention like a life raft. As Dev pulls further away, Charlie dives into her newfound friends’ circle of yacht clubs, rivalries, and bizarre theme parties, hoping to find her sea legs. She even dares to cozy up to a hot, barefoot, and aggressively flirty local. But if she’s running from her problems at home, where exactly is she escaping to? Charlie is beginning to wonder. This ridiculous new normal—and her desire to be part of it—might just eat her alive.

About the Authors

Jamie Brenner is the bestselling author of seven novels including The Forever Summer and Blush. She spends her winters writing in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and her summers visiting the beach towns that inspire her books.

Brooke Lea Foster is an award-winning author and journalist who has worked as a writer and editor at The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, The Huffington Post and the Washingtonian magazine. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Parents, PARADE,  The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, Psychology Today, among others. Her novels, Summer Darlings and On Gin Lane, were featured as top summer reads in People, named a top summer pick by Entertainment Weekly, and named one of Parade’s best books of summer. She writes the popular Dear Fiction newsletter and she's the author of three nonfiction books. All the Summers in Between is her third novel.

Sara Shukla is an editor for WBUR’s Cognoscenti. You can find her writing at WBUR as well as the Los Angeles Review of Books, McSweeneys, and elsewhere. An alum of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator and the University of Virginia, she lives in Rhode Island with her family.

At the Event

Space is limited and we want YOU to be there. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased in advance HERE.

Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store.

Or order/preorder online below.

A NOVEL SUMMER Available in paperback beginning July 16.

ALL THE SUMMERS IN BETWEEN Available beginning June 4.

PINK WHALES Available beginning June 4.

From the Shelf Book Group Discusses REAL AMERICANS by RACHEL KHONG

How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?

Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster, and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.

In 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than it provides answers.

In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance—a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.

Exuberant and explosive, Real Americans is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made? And if we are made, who gets to do the making? Can our genetic past be overcome?

Join us on the last Sunday of each month at 11 AM to discuss the monthly pick.

Email us at info@inkfishbook.com for more information and to register.

Copies are available in store or online here.

Art Night Open House + Author Talk & REading with R. Tripp Evans — THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING FURNISHED — June 27 at 6 PM & 7:15 PM

Exploring the lives of four bachelor designers, The Importance of Being Furnished: Four Bachelors at Home invites readers into the private worlds they created.

Spanning the Gilded Age to the Jazz Age, these fascinating interiors not only reflect the intimate lives of their owners—men whose personal stories have, until now, remained in the shadows—but they serve as monuments to the Queer shaping of the American home as we know it today. This book accompanies a major Historic New England exhibition of the same title, held at the Eustis Estate in Milton, Massachusetts (June 21-October 27, 2024).

Event Details

Join us for an open house from 5:30 to 8:30 PM during Bristol Warren’s Art Night, featuring two different author talks by award-winning historian of American art and design R. Tripp Evans, each drawn from his new book, The Importance of Being Furnished: Four Bachelors at Home.

At 6 PM, hear how collector Charles Pendleton (1846-1904) and architect Ogden Codman Jr. (1863-1951) harnessed eighteenth-century design to forge new identities for themselves, despite considerable odds.

At 7:15 PM, find out how writer Charles Hammond Gibson (1874-1951) and interior designer Henry Davis Sleeper (1878-1934) found love—and made it—in their homes.

Books will be for sale and signing between 5:30 and 8:30 PM.

About the Book

Meet Charles Leonard Pendleton, (1846–1904), the reclusive gambler who built one of the greatest furniture collections of his age, all for a house ultimately built on sand. Explore the aristocratic interiors of renowned interior decorator Ogden Codman, Jr. (1863–1951), whose ancestral home served as a laboratory for his enormously successful 1897 manifesto, The Decoration of Houses, even as it transmitted his forebears’ vices. Join the literary salon of writer Charles H. Gibson, Jr. (1874–1954), who made his Boston home a monument to personal ambition and his own, once heralded beauty—all while transforming himself into a campy caricature of his own “Boston Brahmin” class. And last, fall under the spell of Henry Davis Sleeper (1878–1934), the nationally recognized decorator who created his fifty-room seaside masterpiece, Beauport, for the love of the man next door.

Fully illustrated with color plates and period photographs, this book pays tribute to Oscar Wilde’s “gospel of beauty,” a cause these men promoted in a dazzling range of styles. By turns poignant, outrageous, and inspiring, the stories of these “surprisingly domestic bachelors” (as the press dubbed them) reveal the complicated depths beneath their homes’ brilliant surfaces.

Praise

“A fresh, important perspective on the turn of the 20th century. . . . Evans explores the male-driven ‘cult of curating’ that prized the individual expressiveness of personal taste in the bachelor house.” —Edward S. Cooke, Jr., the Charles F. Montgomery Professor of the History of Art, Yale University

About the Author

R. Tripp Evans is an award-winning historian of American art and design. He is a frequent public lecturer, professor of the history of art at Wheaton College, and serves as a collections consultant to historic house museums. In his more recent work, Evans has focused on the contributions gay men have made to the development of American style. His biography of the American painter Grant Wood considers the roles that Wood's sexuality and family life played in his art, and the complicated way his work—particularly, his iconic painting American Gothic (1930)—became a powerful vehicle for nationalist expression. Grant Wood: A Life won the National Award for Arts Writing.

At the Event

Make Ink Fish Books a downtown destination as you enjoy the vibrant art scenes in Warren and Bristol during Art Night. Visit open studios and galleries to see talks with artists, art demonstrations, and more! 

Ink Fish Books is a proud participant in Art Night Bristol & Warren.

Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store.

Or preorder online below.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING FURNISHED. Available beginning June 4.

Celebrate Young Readers Day with Authors & Illustrators Jamie Michalak, Hayley Rocco, John Rocco, and Marc Kuchner on Saturday, June 22 from 12 to 3 PM

Our very first Young Readers Day features some of Rhode Island’s best children’s book authors to sign copies of their newest releases.

Join us for our very first Young Readers Day featuring some of Rhode Island’s best children’s authors and illustrators, including author Jamie Michalak of the Joe and Sparky books, #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator John Rocco of Blackout and illustrator of the Percy Jackson series, author Hayley Rocco (in collaboration with John Rocco) of the Meet the Wild Things series, and author Dr. Marc Kuchner of his debut Cosmic Collisions series.

From 1:30 to 3 PM, we will host Expressions by Julie for free face painting, and we are excited to share that we will be serving Del's Lemonade for a sweet treat.

We will also celebrate the George Hail Free Library’s kids Summer Reading Program Kickoff Party on June 22 from 11 AM to 2 PM. Attend both events and be entered to win prizes! No purchase necessary.

Kicking off a series of humorous nonfiction picture books from the points of view of endangered animals, Hayley Rocco and John Rocco’s forthcoming Meet the Wild Things series will be available for preorder. Hello, I’m a Sloth (Book 1) and Hello, I’m a Pangolin (Book 2) introduce young readers to endangered species—and why they need protecting—in this clever, funny, and informative picture book series available beginning June 25. 

Recommended for ages 3 to 7.

About the Authors

Jamie Michalak is a former editor and the author of many children’s books. Her titles include the Frank and Bean early reader series, illustrated by Bob Kolar; the multiple-star reviewed Niki Nakayama: A Chef’s Tale in 13 Bites, co-written with Debbi Michiko Florence and illustrated by Yuko Kato-Jones; the Dakota Crumb: Tiny Treasure Hunter and Dakota Crumb and the Secret Bookshop: A Tiny Treasure Hunt, illustrated by Kelly Murphy; the Joe and Sparky early readers series, illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz; and Come On In: There’s a Party in this Book!, illustrated by Sabine Timm. When not writing, she can often be found singing off-key, drinking too much coffee, or hanging out with her two sons. Jamie lives in Barrington. For more info, drop by her website: jamiemichalakbooks.com.

John Rocco is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of many acclaimed books for children including Blackout, the recipient of a Caldecott Honor, and How We Got to the Moon, which received a Robert F. Sibert Honor and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Rocco is also known for illustrating the cover art for Rick Riordan's internationally bestselling series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, and The Trials of Apollo. He also created the illustrations for the #1 New York Times bestsellers, Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes. In addition to becoming an ambassador for Wild Tomorrow, he is also co-chair of the Children's Book Creators for Conservation (CBCC) group, which embarked on its first trip to South Africa together in October 2023. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife—and fellow co-founder of the CBCC—author Hayley Rocco.

Hayley Rocco is the author of How to Send a Hug, her first collaboration with her husband, John Rocco. Before dedicating herself to writing for children full-time, she worked as a publicist for several major publishers. She has five books launching in 2024 including Wild Places: The Life of Naturalist David Attenborough; and the first three books in Meet the Wild Things, a new series introducing young readers to endangered animals including: Hello, I'm a Pangolin; Hello, I'm a Sloth; and Hello, I'm a Quokka. In addition to becoming an ambassador for Wild Tomorrow, she is also co-chair of the Children's Book Creators for Conservation (CBCC) group, which embarked on its first trip to South Africa together in October 2023. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband—and fellow co-founder of the CBCC—author and illustrator, John Rocco.

Dr. Marc J. Kuchner is an astrophysicist, author, and science communicator who has published more than 110 professional papers in the peer-reviewed literature on topics including white dwarfs, gamma ray bursts, and supernovae, as well as articles for Astronomy Today, Physics World, and Scientific American. His debut book, Marketing for Scientists: How to Shine in Tough Times, was called by Neil deGrasse Tyson “the first of its kind.” Marc Kuchner is based in Rhode Island.

At the Event

Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store.

Or order/preorder online below.

FRANK AND BEAN: THE STINKY FEET MONSTER Available in paperback beginning June 18.

WILD PLACES: THE LIFE OF NATURALIST DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

HELLO, I’M A SLOTH  and  HELLO, I’M A PANGOLIN Available beginning June 25.

COSMIC COLLISIONS: ASTEROID VS. COMET

From the Shelf Book Group Discusses Table for Two by Amor Towles

From the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility, a richly detailed and sharply drawn collection of stories, including a novella featuring one of his most beloved characters.

The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as the bestselling novelist now turns to shorter fiction, in a collection of six stories and a novella featuring all the storytelling magic that has delighted his fans with six stories based in New York City and a novella set in Golden Age Hollywood.

In the New York stories, an elderly, widowed man secretly tapes concerts in Carnegie Hall, until the investment banker sitting next to him turns him in; a lawyer’s unadulterated joy in roller-skating in Central Park wreaks havoc on his marriage; a young man with literary aspirations begins to forge famous writers’ signatures at the antiquarian bookstore where he works; and a retired art appraiser becomes obsessed with tracking down a fragment of a renowned painting from the Italian Renaissance.

Table for Two closes with “Eve in Hollywood,” a noirish novella set against the glamour and grit of Hollywood’s golden age.

Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles’s canon of stylish and transporting historical fiction.

Join us on the last Sunday of each month at 11 AM to discuss the monthly pick.

Email us at info@inkfishbook.com for more information and to register.

Copies are available in store or online here.

An Evening with Ann Hood & THE STOLEN CHILD: An Author Talk & Book Signing on Friday, May 17 at 6:30 PM

Ann Hood—One of Rhode Island’s most beloved and acclaimed authors—will share stories and insights behind her latest novel the Stolen Child.

An unlikely duo ventures through France and Italy to solve the mystery of a child’s fate in this moving, page-turning novel from “a gifted storyteller” (People).

Join Ink Fish Books for an exclusive event with Ann Hood—one of Rhode Island’s most beloved and acclaimed authors—for a special evening to celebrate the release of her latest novel The Stolen Child.

Come and meet the author, mingle with readers over light refreshments, and find yourself mesmerized by Hood’s storytelling, her presence, and the comfort that is found when her fans gather together.

About the book

For decades, Nick Burns has been haunted by a decision he made as a young soldier in World War I, when a French artist he’d befriended thrust both her paintings and her baby into his hands—and disappeared. In 1974, with only months left to live, Nick enlists Jenny, a college dropout desperate for adventure, to help him unravel the mystery. The journey leads them from Paris galleries and provincial towns to a surprising place: the Museum of Tears, the life’s work of a lonely Italian craftsman. Determined to find the baby and the artist, hopeless romantic Jenny and curmudgeonly Nick must reckon with regret, betrayal, and the lives they’ve left behind.

With characteristic warmth and verve, Ann Hood captures a world of possibility and romance through the eyes of a young woman learning to claim her place in it. The Stolen Child is an engaging, timeless novel of secrets, love lost and found, and the nature of forgiveness.

“This is a lovely story about two artists meeting in the midst of WWI, a missing baby, and an intelligent, lost young woman helping an old man fix the mistakes of his past. I loved Nick and Jenny from the moment I met them, and had all my fingers crossed that they would find not only what they were looking for, but themselves.” — Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful

“Vividly peopled, intricately plotted, and gorgeously written, The Stolen Child is one of those all-consuming and big-hearted novels that explores what it means to be human – how to love, accept loss, transcend failures, and become the person you are meant to be. Reading Ann Hood  is like setting out on an adventure with a wise and trusted friend … you never want it to end.” — Adrienne Brodeur, author of Little Monsters and Wild Game

For Tickets

Space is limited. Reserve your tickets in advance. Admission price includes a copy of The Stolen Child and an exclusive bookmark.

Want an extra copy to give as a gift? Preorders will also receive an exclusive bookmark on publication day (May 7). Order additional copies here and select your pickup location as Ink Fish Books.

About the Author

Ann Hood is the author of a dozen books of memoir and fiction, including the best-selling novels The Book That Matters Most and The Knitting Circle, and editor of the anthologies Knitting Yarns and Knitting Pearls. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and New York.

How Authors Make Friends with Bookstores & Libraries — A Creative Engagement Talk with Faye D'Avanza of Library of Care on Thursday, May 2 at 6 PM

Gain insights into what makes the author–bookstore & author–library relationships thrive.

Bookstores and libraries are a writer’s best friend. But when a writer grows to become a published author, the relationship balance can change from fun-loving customer to awkward sales rep. And this makes sense because writers are taught to write books, not how to sell books. Fortunately, for readers, many authors are eager to learn how to meaningfully connect with bookstores and libraries to promote their book, expand their author brand, and contribute to the growth of more engaged communities.

In this talk you will

• gain clarity about the process of working with event staff at bookstores and libraries, including knowing what questions to ask them.

• learn the principles of community engagement and how it can help you tailor your focus when pitching bookstores and libraries about your work.

• understand the importance of an event pitch and why you need a media kit.

• gather insights and advice from a seasoned librarian and bookstore event marketer to help you become a more conscious and collaborative creative-community partner.

This is a free creative engagement talk for writers, published authors, supportive friends, and anyone interested in growing and nurturing their relationships in the book world.

Faye D’Avanza is a writer-editor, professional librarian, creativity gardener, and founder of Library of Care where she connects creative people, places, and ideas to grow more engaged communities. She is also the Marketing and Communications Event Coordinator at Ink Fish Books, and the former Community Engagement Librarian at Barrington Public Library. She passionately serves authors, artists, makers, healers, and other care-centered solopreneurs or small businesses alongside libraries, bookstores, cultural nonprofits, professional associations, and the publishing community. A former Rhode Islander, she now lives among the tourists, trees, and mountains of Asheville, North Carolina, where she publishes the indie newsletter Keeping Creative Time on Substack.

From the Shelf Book Group Discusses Homecoming by Kate Morton

“Morton's best yet.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Morton keeps the secrets coming, leading up to a powerful, emotional conclusion. This is storytelling at its finest.” —Booklist (starred review)

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek on the grounds of a grand country house, a local man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most baffling murder investigations in the history of South Australia.

Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for two decades, she now finds herself unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and is seriously ill in the hospital.

At Nora's house, Jess discovers a true crime book chronicling a long-buried police case: the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. It is only when Jess skims through its pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this notorious event—a mystery that has never been satisfactorily resolved.

An epic story that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, how we protect the lies we tell, and what it means to come home. Above all, it is an intricate and spellbinding novel from one of the finest writers working today.

Join us on the last Sunday of each month at 11 AM to discuss the monthly pick.

Email us at info@inkfishbook.com for more information and to register.

Copies are available in store or online here.

Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday, April 27 from 11 am to 5 pm

Independent Bookstore Day is a one-day national party that takes place at over 900 indie bookstores across the country on the last Saturday in April. 

It’s a book party you won’t want to miss!

You’re Invited!

Ink Fish Books, a woman-owned independent bookstore with a passion for books, food, and culture, opened in 2018 and is honored to be hosting its sixth Independent Bookstore Day.

Stop by from 11 AM to 5 PM to join in the fun with exclusive indie bookstore items, free books, raffles, including a signed copy giveaway of Jamie Brenner’s A Novel Summer, and the opportunity to search for the Golden Ticket with the winner receiving a free year of audiobook credits (12 credits) from Libro.fm.

Book Signing 1-3 PM

We’ll host a book signing from 1 to 3 PM with local author Christa Carmen of The Daughters of Block Island, an ingenious and subversive twist on the classic gothic novel, the mysterious past of an island mansion lures two sisters into a spiderweb of scandal, secrets, and murder.

“This compelling and atmospheric thriller pays homage to classic gothic novels while still adding something fresh to the beloved genre. An easy sell to fans of the Brontës but also those who enjoy the creepy, psychological suspense of Simone St. James.” —Booklist

Carmen lives in Rhode Island and is the two-time Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of The Daughters of Block Island, Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked, and the forthcoming Beneath the Poet’s House (available December 2024 from Thomas & Mercer).

Another guest to the party, who joins us for a book signing, is local author Jessa Maxwell of The Golden Spoon. A sharp and suspenseful thriller for mystery buffs and avid bakers alike, The Golden Spoon is “as addictive as bingeing your favorite culinary competition and as satisfying as a piece of your favorite cake” (Kellye Garrett, author of Like a Sister).

“This delicious combination of Clue and The Great British Bake Off kept me turning the pages all night!” —Janet Evanovich, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Maxwell is also the author of the forthcoming I Need You to Read This (available August 13, 2024 from Atria Books), and the author and illustrator of five picture books for children. Her comics and cartoons have been published in The New Yorker and The New York Times and her writing has been published in Slate, Marie Claire, and many others. Maxwell lives in Jamestown with her husband, two cats, and three-legged dog. 

Food Pop-Up 12-5 PM

Also joining us is Empanada Assassin for a food pop-up.

Come celebrate the joy of reading and the value of independent bookstores across the country.

Follow Independent Bookstore Day:

• Facebook at facebook.com/inkfishbooks AND at instagram.com/inkfishbooks

• Facebook at facebook.com/bookstoreday

• Twitter @bookstoreday

• Instagram @indiebookstoreday AND @inkfishbooks

• #bookstoreday

At the Event

Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store.

Or order online below.

THE DAUGHTERS OF BLOCK ISLAND

SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLOOD-SOAKED

THE GOLDEN SPOON

I NEED YOU TO READ THIS — preorder!

ANNUAL American Association of University Women (AAUW) AUTHORS LUNCHEON on SATURDAY, APRIL 20 from 11:30 AM to 2 PM

Featuring local women authors, and benefiting the Rhode Island Center for the Book.

Ruth Maille is a certified parent-relationship coach who has owned and operated a day care/preschool for 33 years. Her award-winning children’s books in her POWER OF SERIES address social-emotional topics.

Deborah Goodrich Royce is a former actress on All My Children and story editor. As an author, her newest psychological thriller is Reef Road. She and her husband helped restore The Ocean House in Westerly.

Maggie Jackson is an award-winning author and journalist known for her pioneering writings on social trends, particularly technology’s impact on humanity. Her most recent book is Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure. It was nominated for a National Book Award and was selected as a Must Read of the Next Big Idea Club.

Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event

Tickets available. Please make checks out to AAUW for $40.00 by April 12, and indicate if you want to reserve seating for yourself, several people, or a group. Mail to Rosemary Slocum, 127 Center Ave., Middletown, RI 02842. For more information call 401-849-6073.

2024 Bristol Bookfest featuring Moby Dick by Herman Melville on Saturday, April 6 from 9 to 5 pm

Ink Fish Books is proud to be a partner bookstore for this upcoming event with Bristol BookFest.

The 2024 Bristol BookFest is a free keynote talk and reception on Friday, April 5, at Colt School Auditorium (570 Hope St), and a paid day program of speakers and informal discussions on Saturday, April 6, from 9 AM to 5 PM inside the ballroom of Linden Place (500 Hope St).

Saturday’s speaker’s include:

• Declan Kielydr, director of exhibitions at the New York Public Library

• Richard H. Brodhead, professor emeritus of English at Yale University

• Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, associate professor of English and coordinator of the Maritime Studies Program at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point Campus and a long-time adviser at Mystic Seaport

• Cyrus R. K. Patell, professor of English at New York University and Global Network professor at New York University Abu Dhabi and a winner of NYU’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

• Robert Rocha, associate curator of Science and Research at the New Bedford Whaling Museum

The 2024 Bristol BookFest is a public humanities program, and is supported by the Friends of Rogers Free Library, Arts in Common, Linden Place, Rogers Free Library, Rogers Williams University, Bristol Art Museum, CC:S, Bank Newport, St. Michael's Episcopal Church, and various private donors.

For additional details, visit BristolBookFest.com or Facebook.com/BristolBookFest or email: hello@BristolBookFest.com.

Books will be for sale and signing at the event. 

To purchase copies in advance, please email info@inkfishbooks.com.

2024 Bristol Bookfest BookFest Opening Reception on Friday, April 5 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM

Ink Fish Books is proud to be a partner bookstore for this upcoming event with Bristol BookFest.

The 2024 Bristol BookFest is a free keynote talk and reception on Friday, April 5, at Colt School Auditorium (570 Hope St), and a paid day program of speakers and informal discussions on Saturday, April 6, from 9 AM to 5 PM inside the ballroom of Linden Place (500 Hope St).

Saturday’s speaker’s include:

• Declan Kielydr, director of exhibitions at the New York Public Library

• Richard H. Brodhead, professor emeritus of English at Yale University

• Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, associate professor of English and coordinator of the Maritime Studies Program at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point Campus and a long-time adviser at Mystic Seaport

• Cyrus R. K. Patell, professor of English at New York University and Global Network professor at New York University Abu Dhabi and a winner of NYU’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

• Robert Rocha, associate curator of Science and Research at the New Bedford Whaling Museum

The 2024 Bristol BookFest is a public humanities program, and is supported by the Friends of Rogers Free Library, Arts in Common, Linden Place, Rogers Free Library, Rogers Williams University, Bristol Art Museum, CC:S, Bank Newport, St. Michael's Episcopal Church, and various private donors.

For additional details, visit BristolBookFest.com or Facebook.com/BristolBookFest or email: hello@BristolBookFest.com.

Books will be for sale and signing at the event. 

To purchase copies in advance, please email info@inkfishbooks.com.

YOUNG RICH WIDOWS Book Launch Party with Vanessa Lillie, Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, and Cate Holahan on Wednesday, April 3 at 6:30 PM

The ‘80s are coming with the launch of Young Rich Widows, a "frothy fun" thriller set in 1980s Providence.

Grab your sequins and shoulder pads for a wild night at Ink Fish Books with all four coauthors plus themed drinks, best ‘80s dressed contest (with prizes!), and a playlist full of your crimped hair favs.

About the Book

The First Wives Club with ‘80s vibes and murders galore, Young Rich Widows is an over the-the-top, riotous thriller following four widows, each written by a different author, who find themselves at the center of a dangerous game when their four partners are killed in a plane crash and the women discover there was millions of dollars on-board—all missing, and all owed to a notorious mob boss (who just happens to have a pack of wolves hidden away in his monstrous mansion).

Cleverly written, expertly plotted, with pacing quicker than four widows on the run from the mob, Young Rich Widows is a cult-classic in the making—a wildly entertaining romp, perfect for fans of Stone Cold Fox and Jeneva Rose.

Initially released as an Audible original, Young Rich Widows will be published in trade paperback on April 2, 2024.

Praise

“Hands down the most original thriller you'll read all year. Laugh out loud funny, twisty and full of surprises.”

—Wendy Walker, international bestselling author of What Remains

“An ‘80s romp with big hair and even bigger secrets! Grab your popcorn and settle in for this incredibly fun and twisty read.”

—Jeneva Rose, New York Times bestselling author of You Shouldn't Have Come Here

About the Authors

Kimberly Belle is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of nine novels, including The Personal Assistant, The Marriage Lie, a Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist for Best Mystery & Thriller, and the coauthor of the bestselling Audible Original Young Rich Widows. Kimberly’s novels have been selected as Amazon Best Books of the Month and have been LibraryReads selections. Her books have sold over a million copies worldwide and been optioned for film and television. Belle divides her time

between Atlanta and Amsterdam.

Layne Fargo writes dark, dramatic stories that support women’s wrongs. She’s the author of the novels The Favorites, They Never Learn, and Temper, and coauthor of the bestselling Audible Original Young Rich Widows series. She lives in Chicago with her partner and their pets.

Cate Holahan is a screenwriter and USA Today bestselling suspense novelist, including, most recently The Darkness of Others, her sixth solo stand alone book and seventh published work. Her original film, Deadly Estate, premiered in March 2023 on Fox’s Tubi. Her second original film for Fox’s Marvista/Tubi recently finished filming. A bi-racial female writer of Jamaican and Irish descent, she is a member of The Author’s Guild, Sisters-in-Crime, and Crime Writers of Color. She graduated from Princeton University and has an MFA in Dramatic Writing/Screenwriting from NYU's Tisch.

Vanessa Lillie is the author of the bestselling thrillers Little Voices, For the Best, and Blood Sisters. With fifteen years of marketing and communications experience, Vanessa was a columnist for the Providence Journal and hosts an Instagram Live show with crime fiction authors. She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma living on Narragansett land in Rhode Island.

At the Event

Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store.

Or preorder online below.

YOUNG RICH WIDOWS

Come Visit Us at RI GFree Fest on March 23 from Noon to 6 pm

A curated selection of Gluten-Free cookbooks and lifestyle inspirations will be for sale at our vendor booth.

Come and say, “hi!” We’d love to hear what gluten-free foods you are cooking and eating right now.

Tickets for the first gluten-free festival in Rhode Island are sold out, but if you have tickets we look forward to seeing you at WaterFire Arts Center in Providence on March 23.

From the Shelf Book Group Discusses Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra

Unputdownable · Psychological Suspense · Horror · Tense · Gripping

“A nerve-shredding page-turner but also an ingenious guessing game and an absorbing account of a woman’s struggle to make her voice heard.” —Minnesota Star Tribune

A mother is forced to the breaking point when her life and the lives of her children are threatened by an intruder.

Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise—old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs.

She sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway, shrouded in the shadows. Terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall. There they hide as the man searches for them, trying to tempt the children out with promises and scare the mother into surrender.

In the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm, to plan. Should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? But then she catches another glimpse of him. That face. That voice. And at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she’d feared, because she knows exactly who he is—and what he wants.

Join us on the last Sunday of each month at 11 AM to discuss the monthly pick.

Email us at info@inkfishbook.com for more information and to register.

Copies are available in store or online here.

Elizabeth Gonzalez James — THE BULLET SWALLOWER — in Conversation with Grace Talusan on Feb 28 at 6:30 PM

Elizabeth Gonzalez James will discuss her literary magical realist Western, The Bullet Swallower—think Gabriel García Márquez, Larry McMurtry, and Carmen Maria Machado—with author Grace Talusan (The Body Papers).

About

Based on (mostly) true events, The Bullet Swallower is a magical realism western about violence and revenge, a story that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors, and whether it is possible to be better than our forebears.

In 1895 Antonio Sonoro is a fearsome bandido who sets off from his home in northern Mexico to rob a train in Texas with his younger brother. But when the robbery goes awry and the two brothers land in the crosshairs of the Texas Rangers, Antonio is launched into a quest for revenge that endangers both his family, and his soul.

In 1964 Jaime Sonoro, Antonio’s grandson, is Mexico’s favorite singing cowboy. But his comfortable life is disrupted when he discovers a book that purports to tell the entire history of his family beginning with Cain and Abel. Reading the book Jaime not only discovers the multitude of horrific crimes committed by his ancestors, but he realizes that these crimes have opened up a cosmic debt, and that he may be the next in line to repay it.

A family saga that’s epic in scope but compact in form, The Bullet Swallower tackles border politics, intergenerational trauma, and the legacies of racism and colonialism in a lush setting and stunning prose that evokes Cormac McCarthy and Gabriel García Márquez.

Praise

“This is a Western full of classic tropes, but it also surprises with its philosophical examination of generational trauma, justice and retribution, and racism and politics. The supernatural element ties together the timelines and the themes, adding resonance. With a powerfully drawn setting and viscerally convincing characters, James’s novel is a strong addition to any general fiction collection.”

—Library Journal, *starred review

“Her blending of fact and fantasy, magic and morality, and the weight of family history is a success, making The Bullet Swallower both a page-turner with impeccable pacing and a complicated narrative full of unexpected elements and deeper questions…more than just a fabulous western.”

—Sarah Beth West, Shelf Awareness

“Elizabeth Gonzalez James has taken the raw history of the Texas-Mexico borderlands, simmered it with her own epic family story and a dash of the uncanny, and produced a phantasmagoric guisado of a novel in which past and present, real and unreal, are blended together in perfect balance.”

—Stephen Harrigan, author of The Gates of the Alamo

The Author(s)

Elizabeth Gonzalez James is the author of the novels Mona at Sea (SFWP, 2021) and The Bullet Swallower (forthcoming Simon & Schuster, 2024), as well as the chapbook, Five Conversations About Peter Sellers (Texas Review Press, 2023). Her stories and essays have appeared in The Idaho Review, Southern Humanities Review, The Rumpus, StorySouth, PANK, and elsewhere, and have received numerous Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. She was Interviews Editor at The Rumpus, and a former contributor to Ploughshares Blog. Originally from South Texas, Elizabeth now lives with her family in Massachusetts.

Grace Talusan is the author of The Body Papers, which won the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant writing and the Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction. In 2022, she was awarded fellowships from United States Artists, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Brother Thomas Fund. She teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program at Brown University.

At the Event

Books by both authors will be available for purchase at the event and in store.

Or purchase online below.

MONA AT SEA

FIVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PETER SELLERS

THE BULLET SWALLOWER (preorder)

THE BODY PAPERS — Winner of The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, Grace Talusan’s critically acclaimed memoir The Body Papers, a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, powerfully explores the fraught contours of her own life as a Filipino immigrant and survivor of cancer and childhood abuse.

Author photo of Elizabeth Gonzalez James by Nancy Rothstein.

Boston.com Book Club Discussion — THE BULLET SWALLOWER — with Elizabeth Gonzalez James on Feb 26 at 6 PM (Virtual)

This will be a virtual event. More info coming soon!