Labor Day Loyalty All Weekend Long
2022-09-03 - 2022-09-05 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Take 10% off storewide if you’re on our loyalty list – and if you’re not, you can sign up quickly on checkout to get the discount! Offer good Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Have a happy and safe Labor Day weekend.

Southern Lit Spectacular!
2022-09-04 14:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
GRAB YOUR TICKETS HERE!
This will be THE event of the season at Main Street Reads – four incredible authors, four seriously amazing books, UNPLUGGED at the wonderful James Dean Theatre, followed by a book signing and private reception for ticket holders back at the bookstore!
Dramatic readings and conversations with these wildly popular, award-winning novelists will be the centerpiece of this Southern Lit Spectacular at 2 p.m. Sept. 4 at the James Dean Theater right up the block from us.

The program will include The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare by Kimberly Brock, The Cicada Tree by Robert Gwaltney, One Good Mama Bone by Bren McClain, and the all-new edition of Gradle Bird by JC Sasser. A portion of book sales will benefit the Timrod Library.

General tickets include a gift certificate to use towards any of the books and a souvenir program signed by all the authors, as well as food and drink at the signing reception following the performance! VIP tickets include seating in the first five rows and one each of ALL four books. Seating is limited – reserve your tix today!

Meet the Authors
Kimberly Brock is the bestselling author of The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare (Harper Muse) and her award-winning debut, The River Witch. Eleanor Dare spent three weeks on The Southern Independent Booksellers Bestseller List. A former actor and special needs educator, in 2014, Kimberly founded Tinderbox Writer’s Workshop, a transformative creative experience for women in the arts. Kimberly has served as a guest lecturer for many regional and national groups, including The Women’s Fiction Writer’s annual conference and The Pat Conroy Literary Center. She lives near Atlanta with her husband and three children. www.kimberlybrockbooks.com
Robert Gwaltney, award-winning writer of southern fiction, is a graduate of Florida State University. He resides in Atlanta Georgia where he is an active member of the literary community. By day, he serves as Vice President of Easter Seals North Georgia, Inc., Children Services, a non-profit supporting children with disabilities and other special needs. Robert’s work has appeared in such publications as The Signal Mountain Review and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. Robert also serves as Prose Editor for The Blue Mountain Review. His debut novel, The Cicada Tree, was awarded the Somerset Award for literary fiction. www.robertlgwaltney.com
Bren McClain is the author of the critically acclaimed debut novel, One Good Mama Bone, from Pat Conroy’s Story River Books. described as “Charlotte’s Web for grown-ups.” It won the 2017 Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction and the 2018 Patricia Winn Award for Southern Literature. It was also named Pulpwood Queen 2017 Book of the Year, a 2017 Great Group Reads by the Women’s National Book Association, and a Southeastern Independent Booksellers (SIBA) Okra pick. She is at work on her next novel, TOOK, which was named gold medalist in the 2016 William Faulkner –William Wisdom Novel-in-Progress. Bren makes her home in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. www.brenmcclain.com
J.C. Sasser started her professional career at age twelve, working as a dishwasher, waitress, and cook at a truck stop off Georgia’s I-16. Over her life, she’s worked as an envelope licker, tortoise tagger, lifeguard, Senate page, model, editor, water-polo coach, marine biologist, plant grower, software consultant, and 6-Sigma Black Belt. Her debut novel, Gradle Bird, won the 2018 Southern Book Prize and the IBPA’s Benjamin Franklin award for Best New Voice in Fiction, and was a finalist for the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction. She currently lives in the south Georgia woods in an old WWII barracks with her husband, Thomas, their two sons, T.C. and Robert Esten, and dogs Boo Reedy and Batman. www.jcsasserbooks.com
Meet the Books
The fate of the world is often driven by the curiosity of a girl. What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke remains a mystery, but the women who descended from Eleanor Dare have long known the truth lies in what she left behind: a message carved onto a large stone and the contents of her treasured Commonplace Book. Brought from England on Eleanor’s fateful voyage to the New World, her book was passed down through the fifteen generations of daughters who followed as they came of age. Thirteen-year-old Alice had been next in line to receive it, but her mother’s tragic death fractured the unbroken legacy and the Dare Stone and the shadowy history recorded in the book faded into memory. Or so Alice hoped.
In the waning days of World War Two, Alice is a young widow and a mother herself when she is unexpectedly presented with her birthright: the deed to Evertell, her abandoned family home and the history she thought forgotten. Determined to sell the property and step into a future free of the past, Alice returns to Savannah with her own thirteen-year-old daughter, Penn, in tow. But when Penn’s curiosity over the lineage she never knew begins to unveil secrets from beneath every stone and bone and shell of the old house and Eleanor’s book is finally found, Alice is forced to reckon with the sacrifices made for love and the realities of their true inheritance as daughters of Eleanor Dare.
In this sweeping tale from award-winning author Kimberly Brock, the answers to a real-life mystery may be found in the pages of a story that was always waiting to be written.
“Some things in this world are meant to burn …” The summer of 1956, a brood of cicadas descends upon Providence Georgia, a natural event with supernatural repercussions, unhinging the life of Analeise Newell, an eleven-year-old piano prodigy. Amidst this emergence, dark obsessions are stirred, uncanny gifts provoked, and secrets unearthed.
During a visit to Mistletoe, a plantation owned by the wealthy Mayfield family, Analeise encounters Cordelia Mayfield and her daughter Marlissa, both of whom possess an otherworldly beauty. A whisper and an act of violence perpetrated during this visit by Mrs. Mayfield all converge to kindle Analeise’s fascination with the Mayfields.
Analeise’s burgeoning obsession with the Mayfield family overshadows her own seemingly, ordinary life, culminating in dangerous games and manipulation, setting off a chain of cataclysmic events with life-altering consequences—all of it unfolding to the maddening whir of a cicada song.
A novel of courageous parental love and the instructive, healing bonds that form between humans and animals. Set in early 1950s rural South Carolina, One Good Mama Bone chronicles Sarah Creamer’s quest to find her mama bone, after she is left to care for a boy who is not her own but instead is the product of an affair between her husband and her best friend and neighbor, a woman she calls Sister. When her husband drinks himself to death, Sarah, a dirt-poor homemaker with no family to rely on and the note on the farm long past due, must find a way for her and young Emerson Bridge to survive. But the more daunting obstacle is Sarah’s fear that her mother’s words, seared in her memory since she first heard them at the age of six, were a prophesy, You ain’t got you one good mama bone in you, girl.
When Sarah reads in the local newspaper that a boy won $680 with his Grand Champion steer at the recent 1951 Fat Cattle Show & Sale, she sees this as their financial salvation and finds a way to get Emerson Bridge a steer from a local farmer to compete in the 1952 show. But the young calf is unsettled at Sarah’s farm, crying out in distress and growing louder as the night wears on. Some four miles away, the steer’s mother hears his cries and breaks out of a barbed-wire fence to go in search of him. The next morning Sarah finds the young steer quiet, content, and nursing a large cow. Inspired by the mother cow’s act of love, Sarah names her Mama Red. And so Sarah’s education in motherhood begins with Mama Red as her teacher.
But Luther Dobbins, the man who sold Sarah the steer, has his sights set on winning too, and, like Sarah, he is desperate, but not for money. Dobbins is desperate for glory, wanting to regain his lost grand-champion dynasty, and he will stop at nothing to win. Emboldened by her lessons from Mama Red and her budding mama bone, Sarah is committed to victory even after she learns the winning steer’s ultimate fate. Will she stop at nothing, even if it means betraying her teacher?
A wildly inventive novel that stretches the boundaries of what it costs to love and be loved. Sixteen-year-old Gradle Bird has lived her entire life with her Grandpa, Leonard, at a seedy motel and truck stop off Georgia’s I-16. But when Leonard moves her to a crumbling old house rumored to be haunted by the ghost of Ms. Annalee Spivey, Gradle is plunged into a lush, magical world much stranger and more dangerous than from the one she came.
Here she meets Sonny Joe Stitch, a Siamese fighting fish connoisseur overdosed on testosterone, a crippled, Bible-thumping hobo named Ceif “Tadpole” Walker, and the only true friend she will ever know, a schizophrenic genius, music-man, and professional dumpster-diver, D-5 Delvis Miles. As Gradle falls deeper into Delvis’s imaginary and fantastical world, unsettling dangers lurk, and when surfaced Gradle discovers unforeseen depths in herself and the people she loves the most.
Gradle Bird is an unusual tale of self-discovery and redemption that explores the infirmities of fatherly love, the complexities of human cruelty, and the consequences of guilt, proving they are possible to overcome no matter how dark and horrible the cause.

Meet the Author: Dana Ridenour - The Lexie Montgomery FBI Series
2022-09-10 11:00 - 13:30 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
On Saturday, September 10th we’re thrilled to welcome lowcountry author and former FBI agent Dana Ridenour, architect behind the Lexie Montgomery FBI Series!
Dana is the award-winning author of Behind The Mask, Beyond The Cabin, and Below The Radar. She is a retired FBI agent who spent most of her career as an FBI undercover operative infiltrating criminal organizations including the Animal Liberation Front, the subject of her new book, Below The Radar. The characters from her novels are in development for television.
Join us – free and open to all – treats will be served! Learn more about Dana and her work at www.danaridenour.net

A Special Meet the Author: Yasmin Angoe - They Come at Knight
2022-09-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
You’ll all remember last year’s wonderful signing and book club with Yasmin Angoe’s Her Name is Knight. Now comes They Come at Knight and Yasmin will be here LIVE on Tuesday, September 13th (prior to our thriller book club). We’ll then discuss the book at October’s Thrill in the ‘Ville!
At 7 p.m. there’ll be a Zoom meeting to invite everyone in from coast to coast to meet Yasmin and learn more about the book! Zoom info to login: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81733528743?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 817 3352 8743 Passcode: [REDACTED]
Yasmin Angoe’s They Come at Knight is the heart-pounding second installment in the Nena Knight series about an intrepid female assassin who will stop at nothing to protect her family.
For elite assassin Nena Knight, eliminating dangerous players on the world stage is part of the job. The Tribe, a powerful business syndicate in Africa, ensures that she has those opportunities. But for Nena, the Tribe is more than just her employer; it’s an organization that supports the African people—until it turns on itself.
As Nena embarks on a new mission, a violent siege by a paramilitary group throws the Tribe into chaos, and mysterious acts of violence plague the Tribe’s territories. As the attacks escalate, Nena suspects a different kind of enemy at play: someone on the inside, determined to undermine the Tribe’s leaders.
As this new threat closes in on her own family, Nena enlists a team to root out the danger. But as she gets closer to the truth, she will have to risk everything to protect the future she holds dear—even if it means facing off with an enemy she never expected.

Yasmin Angoe is the author of the critically acclaimed Her Name Is Knight, first book in the Nena Knight trilogy. She is a first-generation Ghanaian American and the recipient of the 2020 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Emerging Writers of Color. Her Name Is Knight came in #1 on multiple Amazon Bestseller charts and is an Editor’s Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense.
Yasmin is a nominee for the Anthony Awards for Best First Book and the AAMBC Awards for Debut Author of the Year. Her work has received numerous recognitions, Best Of lists, and a Library Journal Starred Review. Her book has appeared in Woman’s World Book Club, POPSUGAR, Nerd Daily, the Washington Independent Review of Books, Oprah Daily and other platforms. Yasmin is a former educator and received a Kirkus Review calling Her Name Is Knight, “A parable of reclaiming personal and tribal identity by seizing power at all costs”.

Thriller Book Club: The It Girl by Ruth Ware
2022-09-13 18:30 - 20:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Join us for Yasmin Angoe’s book release and stay on to discuss The It Girl by Ruth Ware! Treats served, open to all…
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the “claustrophobic spine-tingler” (People) One by One returns with an unputdownable mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend’s murder.
April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.
Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends–Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily–during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead.
Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder.
“The Agatha Christie of our generation” (David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author) proves once again that she is “as ingenious and indefatigable as the Queen of Crime” (The Washington Post) with this propulsive murder mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Banned Books Week: Read Dangerously!
2022-09-18 10:00 - 2022-09-24 18:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Banned Books Week (Sep. 18-24 this year) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. The week spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or restriction in libraries and schools. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.
We’ll have a special display with tons of banned books that are often surprising, with incentives for banned book purchases, so stop on by!

"Living Large" Book Club: The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
2022-09-20 18:30 - 20:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Free and open to all, our Living Large book club is for those great books we ALL should be reading. You’ll love this one!
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK – “Delightful . . . [a] captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded.”–The New York Times Book Review
“A marvelous fiction about the power of language to elevate or repress.”–Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of People of the Book
Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means “slave girl,” begins to collect other words that have been discarded or neglected by the dictionary men.
As she grows up, Esme realizes that words and meanings relating to women’s and common folks’ experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words. To do so she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages.
Set during the height of the women’s suffrage movement and with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. Inspired by actual events, author Pip Williams has delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary to tell this highly original story. The Dictionary of Lost Words is a delightful, lyrical, and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language to shape the world.

Meet the Author: Judi Lauren - Jordie & Joey Fell From the Sky
2022-10-01 13:00 - 15:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Twin brothers Jordie and Joey have never met their parents. Maybe it’s because they aren’t from this planet?
When another kid at school tried to force Jordie to show him the “crop circles” on his back that prove he’s an alien, it was Joey who took the kid to the ground. And when the twins got kicked out of their foster home because Joey kissed the other boy who lived there, it was Jordie who told him everything would be okay. And as long as Jordie and Joey are together, it will be. But when the principal calls their current foster mother about a fight at school, the boys know she’ll be done with them. And, from spying in their file, they also know they’re going to be separated.
Determined to face the world side by side rather than without one another, Jordie and Joey set off to find their birth parents. From Arizona to Roswell to Area 51 in the Nevada desert, the twins begin a search for where they truly belong. But Jordie’s about to discover that family isn’t always about the ones who bring you into the world, but the ones who help you survive it.

Judi Lauren has been reading since she could first hold a book. Following her passion for working with words, she began writing books for kids and teens about family, friendship, and surviving impossible things. When not writing, she spends time editing for Radish Fiction and thinking about her dream job: working in a tiny bookshop in a rainy city.

PQ Book Club: Orchid Blooming by Carol Van Den Hende - VIRTUAL
2022-10-06 18:30 - 20:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
We loved Goodbye Orchid, now comes Orchid Blooming and we’ll have Carol join us via Zoom (participants will all join via Zoom that evening…)
A childhood tragedy followed her into adulthood. Will she ever trust in happiness again? If you like heart-warming characters overcoming trauma, then you’ll adore award-winning Carol Van Den Hende’s emotionally satisfying page-turner.
Zoom Details:
Topic: Orchid Blooming Book Club
Time: Sep 29, 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87937134418?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 879 3713 4418
Passcode: [REDACTED]

8th Summerville Dream Machines Auto Show
2022-10-08 09:00 - 15:00
Lowcountry Muscle Car is holding their 8th Annual Summerville Dream Machines Open Auto Show at Hutchinson Square on Saturday, October 8th from 9:00am to 3:00pm. The event will support The Summerville Miracle League.
The Lowcountry Muscle Car is a non-profit auto club dedicated to everything fast. From vintage American muscle cars and trucks, to home-built custom street rods, to today’s high-tech performance vehicles. Big block or small block, Ford, Chevy or Mopar…

October Thriller Club: They Come at Knight
2022-10-11 18:30 - 20:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
FREE AND OPEN TO ALL!
Yasmin Angoe’s They Come at Knight is the heart-pounding second installment in the Nena Knight series about an intrepid female assassin who will stop at nothing to protect her family.
For elite assassin Nena Knight, eliminating dangerous players on the world stage is part of the job. The Tribe, a powerful business syndicate in Africa, ensures that she has those opportunities. But for Nena, the Tribe is more than just her employer; it’s an organization that supports the African people—until it turns on itself.
As Nena embarks on a new mission, a violent siege by a paramilitary group throws the Tribe into chaos, and mysterious acts of violence plague the Tribe’s territories. As the attacks escalate, Nena suspects a different kind of enemy at play: someone on the inside, determined to undermine the Tribe’s leaders.
As this new threat closes in on her own family, Nena enlists a team to root out the danger. But as she gets closer to the truth, she will have to risk everything to protect the future she holds dear—even if it means facing off with an enemy she never expected.
Yasmin Angoe is the author of the critically acclaimed Her Name Is Knight, first book in the Nena Knight trilogy. She is a first-generation Ghanaian American and the recipient of the 2020 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Emerging Writers of Color. Her Name Is Knight came in #1 on multiple Amazon Bestseller charts and is an Editor’s Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense.
Yasmin is a nominee for the Anthony Awards for Best First Book and the AAMBC Awards for Debut Author of the Year. Her work has received numerous recognitions, Best Of lists, and a Library Journal Starred Review. Her book has appeared in Woman’s World Book Club, POPSUGAR, Nerd Daily, the Washington Independent Review of Books, Oprah Daily and other platforms. Yasmin is a former educator and received a Kirkus Review calling Her Name Is Knight, “A parable of reclaiming personal and tribal identity by seizing power at all costs”.

Living Large Bookclub: The Book Haters Book Club!
2022-10-18 18:30 - 20:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
FREE AND OPEN TO ALL!
“This sparkling novel starts with high energy and unique characters that move from one surprise to another.” —Ann Garvin, USA TODAY bestselling author
All it takes is the right book to turn a Book Hater into a Book Lover…
That was what Elliot–the beloved co-owner of Over the Rainbow Bookshop–believed before his untimely passing. He always had the perfect book suggestion for the self-proclaimed Book Hater. Now his grief-ridden business partner, Irma, has agreed to sell the cozy Over the Rainbow to condo developers.
But others won’t give up the bookshop without a fight. When Irma breaks the news to her daughters, Bree and Laney, and Elliot’s romantic partner, Thom, they are aghast. Over the Rainbow has been Bree and Laney’s sanctuary since childhood, and Thom would do anything to preserve Elliot’s legacy. Together they conspire to save the bookshop, even if it takes some snooping, gossip and minor sabotage.
Filled with humor, family hijinks and actual reading recommendations, The Book Haters’ Book Club is the ideal feel-good read. It’s a love letter to everyday heroes–those booksellers and librarians dedicated to putting the right books in the right hands every day.

Third Thursday: Hutchinson "SCARE"
2022-10-20 17:30 - 20:30 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Join in the fun as Summerville turns our Historic Downtown into a special Halloween Marketplace with artisans, specialty foods, eclectic shop, and entertainment, live on Hutchinson Square!

Saturday: No Tricks and All Treats
2022-10-29 10:00 - 13:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
From 10 a.m – 1 pm, trick or treaters can enjoy treats all around the downtown area from the farmers market to Hutchinson “Scare” — bring the wee ones – we’ll have plenty of options (one cauldron nut/dairy free!)

Happy Halloween and Trick or Treat!
2022-10-31 10:00 - 18:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
We’ll have free treats for trick or treaters… we also still have 50% off Halloween titles available, most for under $5 – a great alternative to that sugar overdose. Enjoy our spooktacular decorations, sales on Harry Potter titles and more!
Wearing a costume? Take your selfies with a spooky book or two!

Book Launch: The Virus by Nicole Seitz!
2022-11-05 11:00 - 13:30 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
We’re thrilled to welcome the lowcountry’s own wildly popular Nicole Seitz. (If you haven’t read The Cage Maker – it’s one of our favorite books in the store!) Now, she has a YA series that’s making waves – you won’t want to miss this chance to grab signed copies of Nicole’s adult and YA titles on November 5th (just in time for holiday gift giving!

About The Virus

Faith, not fear, should spread like a virus. A new day has dawned. Those without the mark are considered a virus to be cleansed from the Global Union. Pets are being targeted to lead the enemy to their owners in hiding. When the students of Heaventree receive their new assignments, Cornelius questions his ability to lead a team into danger. How can he trust his teammate, Atlys, after she showed her lack of loyalty in the building challenge? And does his mentor, Mr. Deal, truly understand these end times, or is he in over his head?
Flare, Corn’s sister, is growing closer to Josh, and has been tasked with protecting Heaventree’s invisible dome. Can she truly use her creative gifts to keep her friends safe and the campus hidden? Filled with pet rescues, ancient books, and hidden passageways, Book 2 of the House of Heaventree series is a page-turning continuation of The Firstborn. In The Virus, war rages just beyond the walls of Heaventree, while the students battle within for faith, trust and unity.

About the Author

Nicole Seitz is a writer, editor, educator, illustrator and artist. She paints the covers of her novels and teaches visual arts and creative writing at a local Christian school. She was inspired to begin writing a series for teens with a Christian worldview, one that would spark their interest in Biblical prophecy as well as encourage endurance and perseverance.
Seitz is the author of two YA novels, The Firstborn and The Virus (House of Heaventree Books 1 and 2) as well as seven adult novels: The Cage-maker; Beyond Molasses Creek; The Inheritance of Beauty; Saving Cicadas; A Hundred Years of Happiness; Trouble the Water; and The Spirit of Sweetgrass.
She is also the editor of When You Pass Through Waters: Words of Hope and Healing from Your Favorite Authors and coeditor of Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy.
Nicole graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and has a degree in Illustration from Savannah College of Art & Design. Visit her website at www.nicoleseitz.com for more information.

Oktoberfest on the Square!
2022-11-05 12:00 - 18:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
RESCHEDULED FROM OCTOBER 1st – The Summerville Oakbrook Rotary Club and the Summerville Evening Rotary Club are presenting their annual Summerville Rotary Oktoberfest – stop by the store to see all the newest fall titles!
This is a family-friendly event with games, music, food and beer. Located in Hutchinson Square right across the street. Admission is FREE, and they’ll have food and beverages available for purchase. Learn more at https://summervilleoktoberfest.com/

Thriller Book Club November: Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
2022-11-08 18:30 - 20:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Join us to chat about the new and amazing thriller from Gillian McAllister, Wrong Place, Wrong Time– We’ll bring the treats – you bring the community!

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER – A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK
“It’s perfection, every word, every moment. A masterpiece . . . One of the best books I’ve ever read.” –Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Absolutely AMAZING. The plot is astonishing–original and ingenious. But it’s much more than that; the love Jen has for her son and her husband is beautiful. The stakes are so high because they’re so meaningful.” –Marin Keyes, internationally bestselling author
“A brilliantly genre-bending, mind-twisting answer to the question How far would you go to save your child?” –Ruth Ware, #1 New York Times bestselling author
From UK bestselling author Gillian McAllister comes an astonishing, compulsively twisty psychological thriller about a mother who witnesses her teenage son stab a man and then seizes on an unconventional way to try to save him, deemed “clever, original, and so addictive it should come with a warning” by Alice Feeney, bestselling author of Rock Paper Scissors
Can you stop a murder after it’s already happened?
Late October. After midnight. You’re waiting up for your seventeen-year-old son. He’s past curfew. As you watch from the window, he emerges, and you realize he isn’t alone: he’s walking toward a man, and he’s armed.
You can’t believe it when you see him do it: your funny, happy teenage son, he kills a stranger, right there on the street outside your house. You don’t know who. You don’t know why. You only know your son is now in custody, his future shattered.
That night you fall asleep in despair. All is lost.
Until you wake . . .
. . . and it is yesterday.
And then you wake again . . .
. . . and it is the day before yesterday.
Every morning you wake up a day earlier, another day before the murder. With another chance to stop it. Somewhere in the past lies an answer. The trigger for this crime–and you don’t have a choice but to find it . . .
“Another ingeniously plotted genre-bender… McAllister succeeds in making us care, and the result is a tour de force.” — The Guardian
“This entertaining look at motherhood and memory will resonate with many. — Publishers Weekly

Book Signing: Cheryl Oliver's Ghosts of the Hunley
2022-11-12 13:00 - 15:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Join us for an exciting signing and conversation about the Hunley with author Cheryl Oliver, and grab a copy of her newest work, Ghosts of the Hunley!
This book is the first of a series related to the men of the H.L. Hunley Submarine, the first submarine to sink an enemy ship. In this book it covers the life story of Horace Lawson Hunley, and the first people in his life that made a difference in his plan to build a submarine.
Some of them are as follows: His friend Robert Ruffin Barrow who helped finance the submarine. Hunley’s friend and co-worker Francis Hanson Hatch. The first commander John Scott of his fishboat submarines Pioneer. Others have written of the submarine.
This series is about the men involved in making the sub a reality, whether by financing, building, designing, seeking, advising, approving, writing letters, or diary entries. Each book in the series includes crew members of the submarine and all of those who had a hand in making the H.L. Hunley become a reality.
Cheryl Oliver was born in Arlington, Virginia and grew up where local news was National news. She graduated from Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. Cheryl is a speaker, historian, genealogist; and a member of the DAR, UDC, Descendants of Jamestown, Virginia, and applied to Colonial Dames. Her first ancestor came over to Virginia in 1608. Other ancestors came in 1617, some settled in Virginia and some in the Carolinas, and branched out to all the other southern states.
Cheryl has lived in South Carolina for well over 12 years. She lives in Summerville where she enjoys being in warm weather and activities with Tim. Cheryl enjoys gardening, visiting historical sights and nature. She is a professional genealogist and a member of the National Genealogical Society. She is a member of the UDC and participates in UDC activities. She has been involved with the SCV, and participates in the Magnolia Cemetery Ghost Walks, the H.L. Hunley Memorial Services, Confederate Memorial Services throughout the south, several parades in South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia. She enjoys attending and participating in reenactments and has been a speaker at many SCV camps and other groups throughout the south. Her books have become popular, and her greatest joy is educating and sharing history.

November Living Large Bookclub: Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese
2022-11-15 18:30 - 20:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
We’re looking forward to chatting about Hester this month! Open to all and treats will be served. Grab Hester at our 10% off book club price! NOTE: See below for downloadable discussion guide!
Named a Most Anticipated Book for Fall by Goodreads – Washington Post – New York Post – Buzzfeed – PopSugar – Business Insider – An October Indie Next List Pick – An October LibraryReads Pick
A hauntingly beautiful–and imagined–origin story to The Scarlet Letter. —People
WHO IS THE REAL HESTER PRYNNE?
Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced them to flee Glasgow for a fresh start in the New World. But only days after they’ve arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic–leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country, forced to make her way by any means possible.
When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows–while she is an unusually gifted needleworker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward’s safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which?
In this sensuous and hypnotizing tale, a young immigrant woman grapples with our country’s complicated past, and learns that America’s ideas of freedom and liberty often fall short of their promise. Interwoven with Isobel and Nathaniel’s story is a vivid interrogation of who gets to be a real American in the first half of the 19th century, a depiction of the early days of the Underground Railroad in New England, and atmospheric interstitials that capture the long history of unusual women being accused of witchcraft. Meticulously researched yet evocatively imagined, Laurie Lico Albanese’s Hester is a timeless tale of art, ambition, and desire that examines the roots of female creative power and the men who try to shut it down.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE DISCUSSION GUIDE

Third Thursday: Jewel Sweeney Signing The Sacred Christmas Tree
2022-11-17 17:30 - 20:30
This month’s Third Thursday theme is “Hero Recognition” and here at Main Street Reads we’ll have our own local hero, Jewel Sweeney with her newest release, The Sacred Christmas Tree, a children’s book about – you guessed it – SUMMERVILLE, our special town in the pines.
We’ll also be giving you a first sneak peek of holiday titles available this season… don’t miss a fun-filled evening in your amazing downtown.

Monday Main Street Writes
2022-11-21 18:30 - 20:30 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
For the inner writer in all of us, our regular Monday evening writers group – growing every week and sharing some incredible talent!
Join us via the Zoom link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83115591753?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 831 1559 1753
Passcode: [REDACTED]
If you’d prefer to send your pages in advance (no more than 2 single-spaced or 4 double spaced, you can email them to mainstreetreads@gmail.com — and we’ll share w/the group. On entering the meeting you’ll be given a link to a Google doc of words so you can follow along.
Want to see samples from this incredible group? Visit https://mainstreetwrites.com/

Black Friday and Small Biz Saturday: Big Wins for Readers!
2022-11-25 - 2022-11-26 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
‘Tis the season to shop small!
Join us this Black Friday AND Small Business Saturday (November 26-27th 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.) for deals, steals and lots of local holiday spirit!
Here’s a sneak peek at store happenings and specials for you, with plenty more taking place all around the square all day long:

10% off ANY in-store purchases
Free Main Street Reads tote for all purchases over $50
Free treats all day long for our shoppers
Free gift wrapping
Free personal shopping (we’ll help you put together the perfect package, wrap it and have it ready for pickup when convenient for you!)
PLUS: Free SHIPPING on any purchase at our ONLINE BOOKSHOP HERE!

Not just books – we have lots of delightful items to pair with your purchases, from candles to literary teas, socks to tee-shirts, and of course, some amazing, decadent, delicious chocolate!

Monday Main Street Writes: Writers Group
2022-11-28 18:30 - 20:30 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
For the inner writer in all of us, our regular Monday evening writers group – growing every week and sharing some incredible talent!
Join us via the Zoom link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83115591753?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 831 1559 1753
Passcode: [REDACTED]
If you’d prefer to send your pages in advance (no more than 2 single-spaced or 4 double spaced, you can email them to mainstreetreads@gmail.com — and we’ll share w/the group. On entering the meeting you’ll be given a link to a Google doc of words so you can follow along.
Want to see the stellar work from this incredible group? Visit https://mainstreetwrites.com/

Wednesday Stories on the Square
2022-11-30 09:30 - 10:00, 2022-12-07 09:00 - 09:30 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Join us every WEDNESDAY morning at 9:30 a.m. for “Stories on the Square, our outdoor storytime adventure – kids of all ages welcome! Treats served and student discounts to ALL attendees!
Storytime at Main Street Reads has become one of our featured events, held outside to ensure proper social distancing. We have lots of chairs for younger listeners, hoola-hoops for distancing and plenty of juice boxes and fruit snacks to munch while they listen.
In case of inclement weather, storytime moves inside – we move the furniture and place the hoops and chairs on the floor – we do ask that strollers park outside!

Meet the Author: Don Best Signing The Third Promise
2022-12-03 11:00 - 13:00
Don Best will be back with us for the second book in his Rivers Wild series – fans will remember his first in the series, The Gravedigger’s Dream, a fan favorite at Main Street Reads…

The Third Promise, part two in the Rivers Wild series, brings us the spellbinding conclusion to The Gravedigger’s Dream.
In the heart of the Amazon, where even hope despairs, Zé Licata has an extraordinary dream—to overthrow the tyrant, lead his village out of poverty, and provide a future for his gifted son. When a corrupt official humiliates him and steals the money, Zé becomes so embittered that he vows to kill the man, enlisting the help of a cold-blooded witch.
Into this dark and dangerous cauldron steps Mick O’Hannon, the most unlikely missionary the Amazon has ever seen. Brash and jolly and a bit naive, Mick unwittingly splits the village into angry factions and sparks an epic struggle between good and evil.
Hanging in the balance is Zé’s embattled soul! This is the Brazil that few have ever seen. The spirit of the rainforest laid raw and unadorned.
From Puerto Rico to Paraguay, from Rio de Janeiro into the wilds of the Amazon, Don Best has lived the adventures of an expatriate writer and Christian missionary. With his wife and colleague, Elizabeth, Don now explores the teeming jungles of South Carolina. Learn more and watch the new book trailer at www.donbestauthor.com.

Booksigning: Whatever Happens Probably Will by John MacIlroy
2022-12-04 13:00 - 15:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Join us for a special signing while you shop this weekend with John MacIlroy, author of Whatever Happens Probably Will.
“Fasten your seatbelt. You are about to be transported by a master storyteller . . .” – Jayne Adams, author of For All the Right Seasons
In this debut collection of short stories, John W. MacIlroy delights in teasing the moment when everything changes, when the reader suddenly and completely knows the heart of each character and the fullness of the human experience. That slip may be gentle, air-brushed with a sly and lighthearted wink in stories like “The Closer,” “Customer Service,” and “McAllister’s Asterisk.” Or it may creep in after a slow roll, then slash across the final pages in bold strokes in stories like the award-winning “Duke’s” and “Three Buses, Waiting.”
And in others, like “The Painting” and “The Man Inside,” things unseen – whispered in the shadows and along the margins – suddenly explode in surprising ways, burrowing deep into the reader’s soul. In the tradition of writers like Richard Ford, Christopher Tilghman and T.D. Johnston, these stories find in place an essential element of a good story. We find ourselves in a forgotten New England factory town; in a midwestern colonial along a street lined with tall oaks, middling ambitions and short mailboxes; and in a tired cemetery along the Mississippi where the hushed voices of the buried dance among the live oaks.
And in the way of the Southern writer, these, and the other full-bodied stories in the collection, embrace the harsh gravitational pull of the past. And where they land – well, as the writer Jayne Adams warns, “Buckle up. You’re in for a ride . . .”
“MacIlroy weaves these riches together with the skill of a born storyteller gifted with a poet’s eye.” – Douglas Campbell, winner of the Able Muse Write Prize
Following a career that spanned law, business, and teaching, John W. “Mac” MacIlroy began writing creatively in 2016. After publication of his first book – Not Exactly Rocket Scientists and Other Stories, a co-authored collection of zany and “mostly true” stories – he turned to writing short fiction. His story “Duke’s” was named a “Best of 2019 Short Story,” and he won the 2021 Amy Munnell Award. That year he was also named a Finalist in both the Coker Fiction Fellowship and the Excellence in Southern Lowcountry Writing competition for his story “The Man Inside.” These and other award-winning stories are included in his newest book, Whatever Happens, Probably Will: Stories, which was named a Finalist in the 2022 International Books Awards in the category of Short Fiction.
A graduate of Yale College, Harvard, and the University of Virginia School of Law, he lives along a tidal creek in the LowCountry of South Carolina with his wife Linda and a painted ceramic dodo bird named duMont.

Monday Main Street Writes LIVE
2022-12-05 18:30 - 20:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
For the inner writer in all of us, our regular Monday evening writers group – growing every week and sharing some incredible talent! We’re LIVE in the store tonight with treats OR you can join us via Zoom!
Join us via the Zoom link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83115591753?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 831 1559 1753
Passcode: [REDACTED]
If you’d prefer to send your pages in advance (no more than 2 single-spaced or 4 double spaced, you can email them to mainstreetreads@gmail.com — and we’ll share w/the group. On entering the meeting you’ll be given a link to a Google doc of words so you can follow along.
Want to see samples from this incredible group? Visit https://mainstreetwrites.com/

Booksigning: Mark Epstein's Jack “The Shot” Foley: A Legend for All Time
2022-12-10 13:00 - 15:00 | Main Street Reads, 115 S. Main St., Summerville, SC, 29483, United States
Join us for holiday cheery shopping and a book signing! Mark “Pathfinder” Epstein shares the inside story of college basketball icon Jack “The Shot” Foley and remembers a cherished time in Central Massachusetts sports history.
Epstein’s story charts the inspiring life and career of Jack Foley, from Foley’s early years as a budding nature lover to his legendary high school and college basketball days and his later years as an educator. Epstein also celebrates the old-fashioned sports traditions that captivated Foley’s hometown area of Central Massachusetts, and came to represent a golden age of college basketball. As he revisits this iconic era, Epstein shines a light on other basketball luminaries, like Togo Palazzi, as well as the revered institutions, including the College of the Holy Cross, that helped shape these sports heroes.
“For anyone who relishes gaining more knowledge and insight into the sport of basketball and the vibrant history of the City of Worcester, this will be a must-read for you.” —Jeff Twiss, vice president of media services, Boston Celtics.
Mark “Pathfinder” Epstein grew up in the “golden-era” of playground basketball in the “hot-bed” region known as Central Massachusetts. Mark was the ultimate basketball “junkie”. He has had many roles in his favorite sport throughout his lifetime. He is now retired from a career in education and resides with his wife Barbara in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
This is the author’s second book, the first one, “THEY CALL ME PATHFINDER, Education-Basketball-Equality” has received two awards. Mark is also a nationally recognized motivational speaker and can be reached at mepathfinder1@gmail.com.
