Tuesday, June 20 at 6:30 PM
Wade Rouse (writing as Viola Shipman) with speak and sign his new novel!
Reservations required! Please call (269) 982-1110 or email us to reserve your seat.
Bursting with memorable characters and small-town lore, Viola Shipman's enchanting new novel is Fried Green Tomatoes meets Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe, a magical story about the family you're born with, and the one you choose.
For most of her eighty years, Mary Jackson has been waiting. As she's endured the steady invasion of tourists, influencers and real estate developers who have discovered the lakeside charm of Good Hart, Michigan, she's also patiently anticipated the arrival of a stranger she's believed since childhood would one day carry on her legacy--the Very Cherry General Store. Like generations of Jackson women before her, Cherry Mary, as she's known locally, runs the community hub--part post office, bakery and sandwich shop--and had almost given up hope that the mysterious prediction she'd been told as a girl would come true and the store would have to pass to...a man.
Becky Thatcher came to Good Hart with her ride-or-die BFF to forget that she's just turned forty with nothing to show for it. Ending up at the general store with Mary and her cranky grandson is admittedly not the beach vacation she expected, but the more the feisty octogenarian talks about destiny, the stronger Becky's memories of her own childhood holidays become, and the strange visions over the lake she was never sure were real. As she works under Mary's wing for the summer and finds she fits into this quirky community of locals, she starts to believe that destiny could be real, and that it might have something very special in mind for Becky...
WADE ROUSE is the internationally bestselling author of 10 books, which have been translated into nearly 20 languages. Wade chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his fiction.
Wade’s novels include The Charm Bracelet, a 2017 Michigan Notable Book of the Year. Library Journal writes that Wade has “hit upon the perfect formula to tell heartwarming, inter-generational family stories by weaving together the lives, loves and history of family through cherished heirlooms.” Wade’s books have been selected multiple times as Must-Reads by NBC’s Today Show, featured in the Washington Post, USA Today and on Chelsea Lately and have also been chosen three times as Indie Next Picks by the nation’s independent booksellers.
Also a noted humorist of four memoirs, Wade was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards in Humor (he lost to Tina Fey) and was named by Writer’s Digest as “The #2 Writer, Dead or Alive, We’d Like to Have Drinks With” (Wade was sandwiched between Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson).
Wade earned his B.A. from Drury University and his master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. He divides his time between Saugatuck, Michigan, and Palm Springs, California, and is also an acclaimed writing teacher who has mentored numerous students to become published authors.
Wade's books are always bestsellers in our store and he is a store favorite for all his talks. Seats go fast for his events, reserve yours today!
