THE STORY: In the words of the NY Daily News, the play deals with the humdrum life led by two aging sisters whom time has temporarily turned into rivals for the affections of one man, whom, in their youth, they wanted no part of. Locale of the pla

WITH A FOREWORD BY LISA M. FINE, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY—Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is known for its natural beauty and severe winters, as well as the mines and forests where men labored to feed industrial factories elsewhere in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But there were factories in the Upper Peninsula, too, and women who worked in them. Phyllis Michael Wong tells the stories of the Gossard Girls, women who sewed corsets and bras at factories in Ishpeming and Gwinn from the early twentieth century to the 1970s. As the Upper Peninsula’s mines became increasingly exhausted and its stands of timber further depleted, the Gossard Girls’ income sustained both their families and the local economy. During this time the workers showed their political and economic strength, including a successful four-month strike in the 1940s that capped an eight-year struggle to unionize. Drawing on dozens of interviews with the surviving workers and their families, this book highlights the daily challenges and joys of these mostly first- and second-generation immigrant women. It also illuminates the way the Gossard Girls navigated shifting ideas of what single and married women could and should do as workers and citizens. From cutting cloth and distributing materials to getting paid and having fun, Wong gives us a rare ground-level view of piecework in a clothing factory from the women on the sewing room floor.

A stunning feat of original storytelling from the recipient of the 2018 John Steptoe New Talent Author Award In a boldly transportive original tale, David Barclay Moore infuses history with wry folk wisdom, metaphorical power, and a splash of magic. The Civil War may be over, but times are not substantially improved for the freed Black citizens of Walkerton, Georgia, who are shunned by the white folks of the surrounding towns. One day, though, ol' Rootilla Redgums and her grandson, Julius Jefferson, arrive. Rootilla teaches the citizens of Walkerton how to make all sorts of beautiful things, and the white people can't get enough. But some aren't so happy. When a hooded mob threatens to burn down the town, Julius and Rootilla must work wonders to protect Walkerton and its people—even if it means moving heaven and earth itself. With exquisite cinematic illustrations by John Holyfield and a generous trim size, this portrait of Black endurance draws on the rhythms and traditions of African American storytelling to open a powerful window into the past.

A small town is suddenly deprived of its elementary school. Citizens rallied to find out how they could get their school back. This story documents their successful efforts, and it details how other communities in a similar condition might prevail by overcoming severe roadblocks. It is an uplifting tale of human courage. The author once attended school in the tiny village of Saint Helen. Years later he retired to his old hometown. He learned to love the inhabitants, and he has come to love the spirit of his neighbors. It was this spirituality that caused us to prevail.

The rabbi looks into a professor’s death, in the New York Times–bestselling series that’s “the American equivalent of the British cozy” (Booklist). Retired from his job at the synagogue in Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts, Rabbi Small now teaches Judaic studies at a Boston college. Finally able to enjoy theological contemplation without the annoyance of temple politics, the rabbi is shocked when one of his colleagues is found dead in his car—and the clues at the scene point to murder. The deceased English professor was notoriously selfish and held long-standing grudges against other members of the faculty, so the list of suspects is long. But when the rabbi who took over Small’s position in Barnard’s Crossing is implicated, it falls to Small to clear his name and find the true killer, one last time.

The Smith family of the Smith-&-Smith Paranormal Agency have been investigating haunted houses and buildings for years so during the summer of 2024, they feel that they need a break, so they decide to go to Las Vegas for a family vacation, but since Erica Smith has a fear of flying, the Smiths embark on a cross-country journey. Everything is going smoothly, until they get lost while exploring an abandoned ghost town somewhere in Oklahoma.Everywhere they turn, spooks and spirits are everywhere, but when they try to get back on the main road, they find that there might be more to this than meets t

Grace Cook left her small hometown after high school with a free ride to college and a pulverized heart. Now, years later her father’s death brings her back to town. As long as she can settle his affairs quickly and avoid interacting with Bonnie Whitlock, maybe she’ll survive the trip. Bonnie was at Mr. Cook’s bedside the night he died. She knows Grace Cook, the only woman she’s ever loved, will be back in town for the funeral. Since Bonnie was the cause of Grace leaving all those years ago, the least she can do is let Grace mourn her father in peace. However, distance is impossible when the will is read and the Cook family house is left jointly to Bonnie and Grace. A cruel joke or a second chance at a love that was always meant to be? To find out, Bonnie and Grace must forgive their past selves and embrace the future together in the town that built them.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • "James and Deborah Fallows have always moved to where history is being made.... They have an excellent sense of where world-shaping events are taking place at any moment" —The New York Times • The basis for the HBO documentary streaming on HBO Max For five years, James and Deborah Fallows have travelled across America in a single-engine prop airplane. Visiting dozens of towns, the America they saw is acutely conscious of its problems—from economic dislocation to the opioid scourge—but it is also crafting solutions, with a practical-minded determination at dramatic odds with the bitter paralysis of national politics. At times of dysfunction on a national level, reform possibilities have often arisen from the local level. The Fallowses describe America in the middle of one of these creative waves. Their view of the country is as complex and contradictory as America itself, but it also reflects the energy, the generosity and compassion, the dreams, and the determination of many who are in the midst of making things better. Our Towns is the story of their journey—and an account of a country busy remaking itself.