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.

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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!

Author Talk & Signing with Lisa Campion — Awakening Your Psychic Ability — June 15 at 6 p.m.

From Reiki master Lisa Campion—author of The Art of Psychic Reiki and Energy Healing for Empaths—comes her latest book Awakening Your Psychic Ability: A Practical Guide to Develop Your Intuition, Demystify the Spiritual World, and Open Your Psychic Senses. This transformative and practical guide will help you understand, develop, and harness your own psychic ability, so you can live your life with a greater sense of meaning and purpose. 

On Thursday, June 15 at 6 p.m., Campion will share insights from the book that can begin to deepen your intuition and open your psychic senses, along with answering reader questions and signing copies. 

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

About the Author

LISA CAMPION is a psychic counselor and Reiki master teacher with more than twenty-five years of experience. She has trained more than one thousand practitioners in the hands-on, energy-healing practice of Reiki, including medical professionals; and has conducted more than fifteen thousand individual sessions in her career. Campion is author of several books, including The Art of Psychic Reiki. Based near Providence, RI, she specializes in training emerging psychics, empaths, and healers so they can fully step into their gifts—the world needs all the healers it can get!

Book signing with Michael Ruhlman — THE BOOK OF COCKTAIL RATIOS — and Ann Hood — FLY GIRL — May 25 at 6 p.m. for art night

Join Ink Fish Books as we welcome local authors Michael Ruhlman and Ann Hood to celebrate the release of their newest books—THE BOOK OF COCKTAIL RATIOS, and FLY GIRL now in paperback—on Thursday, May 25 at 6 p.m. during the Bristol Warren Art Night.

Books are available for purchase at the event, in store, and online.

ABOUT THE BOOKS

Purchase THE BOOK OF COCKTAIL RATIOS

From New York Times bestselling author Michael Ruhlman, The Book of Cocktail Ratios: The Surprising Simplicity of Classic Cocktails applies the principles of his innovative book Ratio—about the relationships of ingredients to each other—in this delightful back-to-basics cocktail book, sharing the simple recipes and fundamental techniques that make for delicious and satisfying libations.

Did you know that a Gimlet, a Daiquiri, and a Bee’s Knees are the same cocktail? As are a Cosmopolitan, a Margarita, and a Sidecar. When hosting a party wouldn’t you enjoy saying to your guests, “Would you care for a Boulevardier, perhaps, or a Negroni?” These, too, are the same cocktail, substituting one ingredient for another. Or if you’d like to be able to shake up a batch of whiskey sours for a party of eight in fewer than two minutes, then read on.

As Michael Ruhlman explains, our most popular cocktails are really ratios—proportions of one ingredient relative to the others. Organized around five of our best-known, beloved, classic families of cocktails, each category follows a simple ratio from which myriad variations can be built: The Manhattan, The Gimlet, The Margarita, The Negroni, and the most debated cocktail ever, The Martini.

A practical reference of cocktail classics, a source of inspiration for putting a new spin on the usual gin and tonic, and an affable tribute to the pleasures of the cocktail hour, The Book of Cocktail Ratios shows you how to serve up delectable drinks in no time. Cheers! 

"If memorizing dozens of cocktail recipes seems a daunting task, do not fear! In The Book of Cocktail Ratios, Michael Ruhlman distills dozens of classic drinks to their basics and shows us that by learning five simple formulas and a few techniques, you can simultaneously simplify your thinking of cocktails while vastly expanding your repertoire. It’s as essential to the home bartender as his book Ratio was to home cooks." 

—J. Kenji López-Alt, author of Food Lab

“Once again, Michael Ruhlman brings order and reason to a culinary realm once ruled by confusion, and madness. The Book of Cocktail Ratios is the cocktail book most of us never knew we needed.” 

—Alton Brown, author of Good Eats

Purchase FLY GIRL: A MEMOIR

In 1978, in the tailwind of the golden age of air travel, flight attendants were the epitome of glamor and sophistication. Fresh out of college and hungry to experience the world—and maybe, one day, write about it—Ann Hood joined their ranks. After a grueling job search, Hood survived TWA’s rigorous Breech Training Academy and learned to evacuate seven kinds of aircraft, deliver a baby, mix proper cocktails, administer oxygen, and stay calm no matter what the situation.

In the air, Hood found both the adventure she’d dreamt of and the unexpected realities of life on the job. She carved chateaubriand in the first-class cabin and dined in front of the pyramids in Cairo, fended off passengers’ advances and found romance on layovers in London and Lisbon, and walked more than a million miles in high heels. She flew through the start of deregulation, an oil crisis, massive furloughs, and a labor strike.

As the airline industry changed around her, Hood began to write—even drafting snatches of her first novel from the jump-seat. She reveals how the job empowered her, despite its roots in sexist standards. Packed with funny, moving, and shocking stories of life as a flight attendant, Fly Girl captures the nostalgia and magic of air travel at its height, and the thrill that remains with every takeoff.

Fly Girl is a sheer pleasure. A hilarious and often moving look back at a bygone era and a young woman’s coming of age."

—Dennis Lehane, New York Times best-selling author of Since We Fell

"Fly Girl soars: Ann Hood’s memoir of her experiences as a flight attendant is a love letter to the years when flying was a dream—and the 747s ruled the skies. I was catapulted back in time and savored every second and every story from 35,000 feet in the air." 

—Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Flight Attendant and The Lionness

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Michael Ruhlman is the author of award-winning cookbooks and nonfiction narratives. He is the author of chef Thomas Keller’s seminal The French Laundry Cookbook as well as the highly successful series about the training of chefs: The Making of a Chef, The Soul of a Chef, and The Reach of a Chef. He is also the author of The Elements of Cooking and Ratio. Ruhlman has worked at The New York Times and as a food columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He has attended the Culinary Institute of America and is the author of eighteen books—about food and cooking, and also such wide ranging subjects as a pediatric heart surgeon and building wooden boats. Michael lives with his wife in New York City and Providence, Rhode Island.

Ann Hood is the author of eleven books, including the best-selling novels The Book That Matters Most and The Knitting Circle, and the memoirs Comfort: A Journey Through Grief and Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food. She lives with her husband in Providence, Rhode Island, and New York City.

Christine Kandic Torres — THE GIRLs IN QUEENS — in Conversation with Elizabeth Gonzalez James — MONA AT SEA — May 11 at 6 p.m.

Join Ink Fish Books as we welcome Christine Kandic Torres, to celebrate the paperback release of The Girls in Queens, in conversation with Elizabeth Gonzalez James, author of Mona at Sea and Five Conversations About Peter Sellers.

About the Books

THE GIRLS IN QUEENS (by Christine Kandic Torres) is an unforgettable debut novel about the furious loyalty of two Latinx women coming of age in Queens, New York, an emotionally resonant novel infused with the insight, power, and poignancy of Angie Cruz’s Dominicana, Jacqueline Woodson’s Another Brooklyn, and Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends.

Brisma and Kelly’s fierce loyalty and friendship is challenged when Brisma’s ex-boyfriend Brian is accused of sexual assault. At first, the girls rush to his defense, but as Brisma begins to question her own relationship to men and Kelly remains staunchly by Brian’s side, the friends are forced to determine not only what justice means to each of them, but who deserves it.

Told in alternating timelines, Christine Kandic Torres’s incredible debut explores the unbreakable bonds of friendship, complications of sexual-abuse allegations within communities of color, and the danger of forgetting that sometimes monsters hide in plain sight.

“This debut is a gorgeous coming-of-age story, set through the years of Kelly and Brisma's lives and encapsulating the changing nature of time.” 

— Buzzfeed

“An intoxicating debut that explores race, coming-of-age, sexual assault, and more as readers follow two Latinx women growing up in Queens, New York.”

— Apartment Therapy

MONA AT SEA (by Elizabeth Gonzalez James) introduces us to Mona Mireles — observant to a fault, unflinching in her opinions, and uncompromisingly confident in her professional abilities. Mona is a Millennial perfectionist who fails upwards in the midst of the 2008 economic crisis. The more Mona craves perfection and order, the more she is forced to see that it is never attainable. Mona’s journey asks the question: When we find what gives our life meaning, will we be ready for it?

“Mona at Sea reads like an intimate late night conversation with the friend you never knew you needed. Written with humor and insight and vulnerability, it’s a tribute to the struggle to stay upright as the world around you comes falling down.”

— Mat Johnson, author of Pym and Hunting in Harlem

 “A fantastic read and a remarkable first novel from a writer who deserves to take her place alongside David Sedaris and Ottessa Moshfegh.”

— Galadrielle Allman, author of Please Be with Me: A Song for My Father, Duane Allman

FIVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PETER SELLERS (by Elizabeth Gonzalez James) is an essay that begins as an exploration of the author’s burgeoning obsession with Peter Sellers, and specifically his role in hijacking and derailing production of the spy spoof, Casino Royale, in the late 60s. But what begins as a reported piece on how the film set erupted into chaos, quickly devolves into its own chaos as the essay splits into 5 different narrators, each with their own idea of what the essay is actually about. Is it about how Peter Sellers and his oversize ego ruined Casino Royale? Is it about how society has too long allowed horrible men to run the world? Is it an exploration of the nature of the essay as a creative form? Or is Peter Sellers and his genius at impersonation actually a vehicle through which the author probes her own shifting identity as a bi-ethnic person? The answer is...yes. 

About the Authors

Christine Kandic Torres was born and raised in New York City. Her Pushcart Prize-nominated short stories have been published in various literary journals, such as Catapult, Kweli, Lunch Ticket, and Cosmonauts Avenue. She has received support for her work from Hedgebrook, VONA, and the Jerome Foundation with an Emerging Artist Fellowship for fiction. For her debut novel, The Girls in Queens, she received a 2020 New Work Grant from the Queens Council on the Arts. Christine currently lives in the suburbs with her family, but still supports writers in her home borough through her work with Newtown Literary, a journal and non-profit organization that serves Queens residents.

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 is Interviews Editor at The Rumpus, and was a former contributor to Ploughshares Blog. Originally from South Texas, Elizabeth now lives with her family in Massachusetts.

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

Preorder a paperback copy of THE GIRLS IN QUEENS

Order a copy of MONA AT SEA or FIVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PETER SELLERS

Book Signing with Wendy Leeds — CALM & SENSE: A Woman’s Guide to Living Anxiety-Free — May 6 from 1 to 3 p.m.

Ink Fish Books is excited to welcome psychotherapist Wendy Leeds to share her award-winning book Calm & Sense: A Woman’s Guide to Living Anxiety-Free. From 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 6 she will meet readers and sign copies of her book. The signing date is during National Mental Health Awareness Month, observed in the U.S. since 1949. 

The month focuses on destigmatizing mental illness, and promotes starting conversations about mental illness, such as anxiety, and how it affects the daily lives of millions of individuals. The month seeks to break the historical taboo surrounding mental illness as something to be left unaddressed, and instead, allow for open discussion and support.

Leed’s book tackles the subject of anxiety from a women-centric angle. Combining recent data from anxiety studies, personal stories, and practical tips, Leeds invites readers into a discussion about what anxiety looks like in women, how she has dealt with it personally, and the tools to manage it. A practicing psychotherapist, Leeds has both a professional and a personal interest in finding ways to heal anxiety without medication.

In 1995, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent several surgeries and six months of chemotherapy. It was at that low point, that she began a life-long journey to create a calm, centered, joyful life—for herself and others. She began by reading everything she could get her hands on about anxiety. Then in 2006, she went back to school to earn two graduate degrees in psychology.

Ashley L. Peterson of Mental Health at Home said, “Calm & Sense doesn’t feel like a therapist trying to educate you; rather, it has the feel of another regular person having a conversation with you, who just happens to have the knowledge and experience of a therapist. With the wide range of ideas offered in the book, I think any reader is likely to find things that work for them."

Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event, and available in store or online.

Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day — sat, April 29 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Independent Bookstore Day (IBD) is a one-day national party that takes place at indie bookstores across the country on the last Saturday in April. It’s a book party you won’t want to miss!

We’re thrilled to be hosting our 5th IBD! Stop by from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to join in the fun with exclusive items, free books, raffles, and the opportunity to search for the Golden Ticket with the winner receiving a free year of audiobook credits (12 credits) from Libro.fm.

We’ll be joined for a book signing from 1 to 3 p.m. by local, best-selling authors Vanessa Lillie, of the thrillers Little Voices, For the Best, and Young Rich Widows, along with Wendy Walker, of the psychological suspense novels All Is Not Forgotten, Emma In the Night, The Night Before, Don’t Look For Me, and American Girl.

In anticipation of their new books, Walker’s What Remains (forthcoming on June 13) and Lillie’s Blood Sisters (forthcoming on September 12), we’ll be offering those who preorder a chance to win a free copy.

Also joining us will be GG's Pretzels for a food pop-up.

Purchase any children’s book from Ink Fish Books, April 29–May 6 and Ink Fish Books will match your purchase. Donations support United Way of Rhode Island’s Children’s Book Drive, and books will be distributed through Books Are Wings.

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Book Signing with Mary Palumbo & Cousin Annie — THE HARE ON THE CHAIR — March 25 from 1 to 3 p.m.

Join Ink Fish Books as we welcome local author Mary Palumbo with Cousin Annie, for a book signing of the picture book The Hare on the Chair.

About the Book

Day after day the young hare sat on his chair, watching the world and yearning to be a part of it. Although the hare wished to explore his world, he was uncertain by what he might discover.

But ultimately, he comes to learn through wins and losses, adventures and hardship, that perseverance leads to confidence. Through navigating the unknown and learning from his mistakes, he pushes himself forward.

About the Authors

Mary Palumbo is an award-winning, forty-year elementary educator, emerita with a masters degree from Providence College. Her years in the classroom led her to create the concept for The Hare on the Chair, drawing from her years of sharing a bond (and a bedroom) with her sister, Susan. 

Susan Palumbo (in memorandum) was born an avid reader, a natural wordsmith and a deep thinker with a sensitive soul. She lived a life filled with curiosity and a drive for new adventures — always wondering, “What’s out there?” Her life’s adventure took her from class valedictorian in North Providence to Harvard University and Simmons College as an honors graduate. Her instinctive pursuit of knowledge formed the foundation for many of her adventures. A wonderful sister, an adventurous aunt, the best kind of friend, a poet, a creative powerhouse, a doer — she traveled the world, but never lost her roots. She approached life and those around her with innate humility, great humor and a twinkling brown eye always towards her next adventure.

Cousin Annie is the first cousin to Mary and Susan Palumbo. She helped bring this project to life and honor Susan’s memory with her vision, creativity, writing skills, business experience, work ethic, passion, and most importantly her love for her childhood playmate. She continues this work through the Susan Palumbo Reading Nook at the North Providence Free Library, and most proudly through the Susan Palumbo Library Legacy. Learn more here.

About the Illustrator

Gina Tripodi received a degree in studio art from the University of Rhode Island and pursues her love of not only making, but teaching art through a special and elementary education masters program. Gina aims to help children utilize art as a creative outlet of learning and self-expression.

Books will be for sale and signing at the event. 

If you are unable to attend and would like to order a signed copy, please email us at info@inkfishbooks.com.

Author Talk & Book Signing with Julie Gerstenblatt — DAUGHTERS OF NANTUCKET — March 23 at 6 p.m.

Join Ink Fish Books as we welcome local author Julie Gerstenblatt who will transport readers to the windswept world of 1846 Nantucket — and a dramatic event that changed the tiny island forever — in her sweeping historical fiction debut, Daughters of Nantucket (released March 14, 2023). 

About the Book

Centered around Nantucket’s Great Fire of 1846, the story follows Eliza, Meg and Maria: three very different women whose lives intersect as they fight to survive the blaze and overcome their own personal struggles.

Whaling captain wife Eliza Macy is waiting for her husband to return from a long voyage — while simultaneously hiding her financial trouble — when, in desperation, she turns against her progressive ideals and targets Meg Wright, a pregnant, free Black woman trying to relocate her store to the town’s Main Street. Meanwhile, Maria Mitchell spends every night observing the stars as she runs Nantucket’s Atheneum, but is hiding her own secrets of the heart.  

At the time, women experienced an unusual independence for the 1800s as the island’s men went out to sea, sometimes for years. Daughters of Nantucket explores how these characters both struggle with and enjoy the rare freedom they have — and how the town’s thriving Black community lives an almost-equal, yet separate existence from their Quaker neighbors. 

Praise for Daughters of Nantucket

"Daughters Of Nantucket is thoroughly enjoyable historical fiction, beautifully researched and very authentic. You will be swept up from page one!"
—Jane Green, author of SISTER STARDUST and THE BEACH HOUSE

“Gerstenblatt artfully weaves in modern issues and challenges in this gorgeously written novel, leaving us wiser and more optimistic for our own times.”
—Nancy Thayer, Best-selling author of SUMMER LOVE

“Meticulously researched, Gerstenblatt presents a fascinating look at an island ahead of its time, where women exercised privileges often reserved for men and where blacks shared in the civil liberties of their white neighbors. At its heart, this is a story of love, loss and redemption.”  
—Renee Rosen USA Today best-selling author THE SOCIAL GRACES

About the Author

Julie Gerstenblatt holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post and Cognoscenti, among others. When not writing, Julie is a college essay coach, as well as a producer and on-air host for A Mighty Blaze. A native New Yorker, Julie now lives in coastal Rhode Island with her family and one very smart shichon poo. Daughters of Nantucket is her first novel.

Books will be for sale and signing at the event. You can purchase copies in advance online here, or if you would like a signed copy email the store at info@inkfishbooks.com.

For fans of narrative nonfiction and local history, Ink Fish Books presents a book signing with Amanda Quay Blount, the local author of Meet Me at The Biltmore: 100 Years at Providence’s Most Storied Hotel. (Stillwater Publications, October 2022.)

Copies will be available for purchase during the signing.

To purchase signed copies for shipping, call 401-368-6827 or email info@inkfishbooks.com

About the Book

On June 6, 1922, thousands of people gathered in downtown Providence to witness the grand opening of the most modern hotel of its day: the awe-inspiring Providence Biltmore Hotel. Since that fateful day, the Biltmore has captured the imaginations of local patrons and distant travelers alike, providing luxury accommodation to such celebrities as Babe Ruth, John F. Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, Louis Armstrong, the Von Trapp Family, Maya Angelou, the Rolling Stones, and Providence’s infamous mayor, Buddy Cianci.

The story of the Biltmore is a sensational drama of scandal, secrets and high society. With characters ranging from crooked politicians and mobsters to bootleggers and Hollywood stars, the Biltmore has provided the backdrop for some of the highest highs and lowest lows of Providence in the last century. Now, for the first time in its hundred-year history, the storied past of the Providence Biltmore Hotel comes to life in this meticulously researched tale of the rise, fall, and renaissance of Rhode Island’s capital city, as seen through the eyes of one of its most iconic landmarks.

Praise for Meet Me at The Biltmore

"Amanda Blount deftly employs the lens of a historic landmark hotel to bring twentieth-century Providence to life as a crossroads of American business, politics and society. It’s a must read for anyone who values experiencing and preserving the history of America’s treasured places." 

–Debra Mecky, Executive Director and CEO, Greenwich Historical Society

As seen in the June 2022 issue of Rhode Island Monthly – find the author interview here.

About the Author

Amanda Quay Blount is a New Jersey native but lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her husband, daughter, their pet rabbit, Arthur, and the family dog, Rye. When she isn’t researching and writing historical fiction and nonfiction, Amanda runs a nonprofit organization and is a strategic planning consultant. She has traveled extensively around the world, collecting stories along the way. Amanda believes that it is a profound privilege to be able to tell other people’s stories through her writing and is grateful for the opportunity to share some of these with the world. Meet Me at The Biltmore is her first book.

Ink Fish Books presents a book signing with two local authors (and friends) who have published novels on the theme of women on a journey toward awakening — Martha Reynolds, I Wish I Had a River, and Belle A. DeCosta, Treading Water.

Copies will be available for purchase during the signing.

About the Books

I Wish I Had a River by Martha Reynolds (published October 2022)

Pediatrician Anna Drury has been contentedly married to her husband Nick for three years when he receives a terminal diagnosis. In the two weeks before the fatal illness claims his life, Nick makes three urgent requests that Anna is determined to honor. She takes a year-long leave from her practice and travels to Portugal, Spain, Italy, and finally, France.

Throughout her journey, Anna discovers secrets about her late husband and his family that are troubling. Her healing depends on reconciling her husband's flaws and finding her own balance. For fans of Eat, Pray Love, this novel will take the reader on a four-country journey of self-awareness and ultimate forgiveness.

Treading Water by Belle A. DeCosta (published November 2021)

Meet Caroline McMerritt. Ambitious and driven, with a tongue as sharp as her mind, she is the top advertising executive for a prestigious Manhattan firm – until a particular circumstance takes a bite out of her edge, and she starts down a precipitous path.

Forced to take a hiatus or lose her job, and at the strong suggestion of a trusted brother, Caroline finds herself exiled to the abandoned family cabin in the backwoods of Maine.

Disgusted by her surroundings and enraged by the involuntary break, she vows to be unproductive and miserable, counting the days until she can return to the fast-paced life of her beloved NYC. But a telling moment brings Caroline face to face with her problem, and for the first time in her life, she feels out of control, lost. Panic ensues.

The discovery of a hidden treasure, buried in her deceased mother’s hope chest, helps her reset and restores her strong will. The unexpected gift not only provides the comfort of her mother’s presence but tells of secrets kept, past experiences lived, and lessons learned.

Join Caroline as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery, hard truths, friendship, and love, guided by the advice and wisdom of her late mother. Will it be enough to save her?

Praise & Awards

Praise for I Wish I Had a River

“I Wish I Had a River is a magical journey through love, life and loss, a quest not for riches so much as fulfillment. Martha Reynolds has fashioned a shrewd and sensitive tale that explores both the breadth and the limits of the human heart to emerge from tragedy. This is literary writing of the highest order, on par with Elizabeth Gilbert, Alice Hoffman, and even the great Joan Didion. I only wish there were more books like this!”

–Jon Land, USA Today best-selling author

Awards for Treading Water

Finalist for Best First Novel by Next Generations Indie Book Awards 2022.

About the Authors

Martha Reynolds is the award-winning author of eleven novels, including the best sellers Chocolate for Breakfast and Bits of Broken Glass. Her novel, Villa del Sol, was awarded the 2018 Book Prize in Literary Fiction by Independent Publishers of New England. Her writing has appeared in Magnificat magazine and her very short poem was read by journalist Connie Schultz during NPR’s Tell Me More poetry challenge. 

With five novels set in her beloved Switzerland, she is always dreaming about her next trip. She lives with her husband and their sweet dog, Bonnie, in Rhode Island—never far from the ocean. Learn more about Martha at marthareynoldswrites.com.

Belle A. DeCosta’s memoir, Echoes in the Mirror, was published in June 2020, and her piece, “An Introduction,” is featured in the 2020 ARIA Anthology, Hope. Her novel, Treading Water, published November 2021, was awarded Finalist for Best First Novel by Next Generations Indie Book Awards 2022. Her piece, “Favorite Neighbor,” is featured in the 2022 ARIA Anthology, Iconic Rhode Island.

Belle has had a lifetime of involvement in dance and choreography. She is the creator and director of Tap n’ Time, a seated tap and rhythm class designed for the elderly. Previously, she owned Belle’s School of Dance for 25 years, and was founder and director of VERVE Dance Co.

When not traveling to nursing homes to share her program, she enjoys spending time with her grandson, being in nature, dining with friends, and of course—writing. Belle makes her home in East Providence, Rhode Island, and is a proud member of the Association of Rhode Island Authors. Learn more about Belle at belledecosta.com.

Join us for an author event during Art Night! Meet Elizabeth Gonzalez James author of Mona at Sea. Elizabeth will discuss her debut book, do a reading, Q&A, and sign copies.

Mona At Sea - Elizabeth Gonzalez James

In this sharp, witty debut, Elizabeth Gonzalez James introduces us to Mona Mireles — observant to a fault, unflinching in her opinions, and uncompromisingly confident in her professional abilities. Mona is a Millennial perfectionist who fails upwards in the midst of the 2008 economic crisis.

Despite her potential, and her top- of-her-class college degree, Mona finds herself unemployed, living with her parents, and adrift in life and love. Mona’s the sort who says exactly the right thing at absolutely the wrong moments, seeing the world through a cynic’s eyes. In the financial and social malaise of the early 2000s, Mona walks a knife’s edge as she faces down unemployment, underemployment, the complexities of adult relationships, and the downward spiral of her parents’ shattering marriage. The more Mona craves perfection and order, the more she is forced to see that it is never attainable. Mona’s journey asks the question: When we find what gives our life meaning, will we be ready for it?

About the Author:

Before becoming a writer, Elizabeth Gonzalez James was a waitress, a pollster, an Avon lady, and an opera singer. Her short story, “Cosmic Blues,” was a finalist in Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers, and her stories and essays have received multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. She’s attended the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Tin House Writers Workshop, and Lit Camp. Find her on Twitter and Instagram: @unefemmejames

Books available for purchase in store or here online.

Come meet local author Gail Baccelli Major. She will be signing copies of her new children's book CinDer Finn's Fairy Godmother at Ink Fish Books.

In CinDer Finn's Fairy Godmother, author Gail Baccelli Major depicts a unique and exciting relationship between a young girl and her fairy godmother. Much of this beautiful story is inspired by and dedicated to Gail's real life relationship with her own godmother. CinDer Finn's Fairy Godmother teaches young ones that deep and meaningful relationships are filled with a magical energy and can offer a lifetime of rewards and love. Beautifully written and beautifully illustrated.

Join on Saturday, September 12 at 6:00 PM for a virtual author chat with two of the best New England thriller authors, Megan Collins and Vanessa Lillie. We will discuss their latest releases.

Both books are available in-store at Ink Fish Books and online! Buy online

Join us on Zoom or Facebook Live!

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Zoom Event Registration: VIRTUAL AUTHOR EVENT: Discussion with Vanessa Lillie & Megan Collins

For the Best by Vanessa Lillie

Suspected of a murder she can’t remember, a troubled woman takes an unusual approach to prove her innocence in this gripping thriller from the bestselling author of Little Voices.

When Jules Worthington-Smith’s wallet is found next to a dead man, she becomes the prime suspect in his murder. After struggling for years to build the perfect family and career, she’s dangerously close to losing everything.

Sure of her innocence, Jules is desperate to clear her name. But there’s one big problem: she was blackout drunk when the murder took place and can’t remember what happened.

Unsatisfied with the police’s handling of the case, Jules embarks on her own gin-fueled murder investigation. As she uncovers fresh clues, she starts a true-crime vlog that becomes a viral sensation, pushing her into the public eye. It’s not long before the ordeal forces Jules to confront her demons, including her turbulent childhood and excessive drinking.

The deeper Jules digs, the more dirt she uncovers about the murder and herself. Unexpected truths pile up until she’s buried so deep even finding the killer might not be enough to set her free.

“As a woman tries to clear her name of a murder charge using an investigative vlog, she unearths secrets that hit close to home. The resolution is emotionally complex and devoid of sneaky tricks and tropes. For the Best is intelligent and wholly original. It is that rare book that makes you race to the end but then stops in your tracks and just say WHOA! The perfect follow-up to Lillie’s sensational debut, Little Voices.”

—Wendy Walker, international-bestselling author of The Night Before and All Is Not Forgotten

Behind the Red door by Megan Collins

The author of the “suspenseful, atmospheric, and completely riveting” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author) debut The Winter Sister returns with a darkly thrilling novel about a woman who comes to believe that she has a connection to a decades-old kidnapping and now that the victim has gone missing again, begins a frantic search to learn what happened in the past.

When Fern Douglas sees the news about Astrid Sullivan, a thirty-four-year-old missing woman from Maine, she is positive that she knows her. Fern’s husband is sure it’s because of Astrid’s famous kidnapping—and equally famous return—twenty years ago, but Fern has no memory of that, even though it happened an hour outside her New Hampshire hometown. And when Astrid appears in Fern’s recurring nightmare, one in which a girl reaches out to her, pleading, Fern fears that it’s not a dream at all, but a memory.

Back at her childhood home to help her father pack for a move, Fern purchases a copy of Astrid’s recently published memoir—which may have provoked her original kidnapper to abduct her again—and as she reads through its chapters and visits the people and places within it, she discovers more evidence that she has an unsettling connection to the missing woman. With the help of her psychologist father, Fern digs deeper, hoping to find evidence that her connection to Astrid can help the police locate her. But when Fern discovers more about her own past than she ever bargained for, the disturbing truth will change both of their lives forever.

Featuring Megan Collins’s signature “dark, tense, and completely absorbing” (Booklist) prose and plenty of shocking twists and turns, Behind the Red Door, is an arresting thriller that will haunt you long after you turn the last page.

Join Ink Fish Books and the George Hail Free Library for a virtual author event with Lisa Duffy the author of three novels, My Kind of People, The Salt House and This is Home. We'll discuss My Kind of People her latest novel, her full of life characters, and her writing inspirations, plus take Q&A from you. This book with transport you into a small New England community and you'll fall in love with the characters and feel their struggles and hopes for happiness.

A profound novel about the power of community and a small town’s long-buried secrets as a group of New England islanders come together for a recently orphaned girl. On Ichabod Island, a jagged strip of land thirteen miles off the coast of Massachusetts, ten-year-old Sky becomes an orphan for the second time after a tragic accident claims the lives of her adoptive parents. Grieving the death of his best friends, Leo’s life is turned upside down when he finds himself the guardian of young Sky. Perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Leary, My Kind of People is a riveting, impassioned novel about the resilience of the community and what connects us all in the face of tragedy.

Lisa Duffy is the author of The Salt House, named by Real Simple as a Best Book of the Month upon its June release, as well as Bustle’s 17 Best Debut Novels by Women in 2017 and This Is Home, a favorite book club pick. Lisa received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Massachusetts. Her writing can be found in numerous publications, including Writer’s Digest. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and three children. 

Please click here to sign up for this event and we will send you the virtual event details.

Need a copy of Lisa's new book before the event?
Purchase My Kind of People and other Lisa Duffy books here online at Ink Fish Books with shipping and curbside pickup options.

Your book purchase includes a signed bookplate from Lisa!

Stay tuned for details!

In this debut memoir, an American corporate trainer moves to Paris in search of a Lebanese beauty queen who may help her write a book.

Davidson, who was born Cynthia Fetterolf, had a unique upbringing in Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Lebanon that left her culturally aware, well-traveled, and able to speak three languages. She became familiar with Arabic culture, and as an adult, she began a successful career as a cross-cultural trainer for corporate executives in New York City. But in 1970s Beirut, she experienced great trauma when her father was kidnapped twice and her younger sister narrowly survived a shooting. While on a 10-day trip to Paris in 1984, she was researching a novel—“an Arab version of Gone With the Wind,” as she puts it—based on the life of Georgina Rizk, a former Miss Lebanon, and Miss Universe, who was widowed when her husband was killed by a car bomb. She hoped that talking to the pageant winner would help her understand her own past better. Rizk proved elusive, but the author’s fling with an Iraqi art dealer and her desire to write her book made her settle in Paris. She began to revisit key events in her past, and a new romance with a shadowy Tunisian driver named Omar gave her concerns about her future. Davidson’s belief that historical knowledge is the key to understanding contemporary problems results in a well-told, jet-setting memoir that spans decades and continents. The book is rather lengthy, but its seamless digressions will keep readers’ interest as Davidson recalls important years in her journey toward psychological and spiritual well-being. A vibrant parade of people moved in and out of her life, and her stories range in tone from joyful to harrowing. She also offers considerable cultural and political insight, and a little bit of romance, along the way as well as an intriguing take on Paris as a place of refuge and healing.

A richly told memoir that’s steeped in history.

KIRKUS REVIEW, September 11, 2019

Ink Fish Books is co-hosting the presentation with Elizabeth Rush at the
Barrington Public Library on Thursday, March 12, 6:30 PM.
Free tickets are available beginning February 20th on Eventbrite at Elizabeth Rush Event

We'll have her book available for purchase at the event and we have it in stock now if you'd like to pick up a copy.

Reading Across RI 2020

Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush

With every passing day, and every record-breaking hurricane, it grows clearer that climate change is neither imagined nor distant—and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways. In Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, Elizabeth Rush guides readers through some of the places where this change has been most dramatic, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, and from New York City to the Bay Area. For many of the plants, animals, and humans in these places, the options are stark: retreat or perish in place.

Join us as we welcome the author of this year's Reading Across Rhode Island selection, Elizabeth Rush. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore is her highly original work of lyric reportage and a haunting meditation on how to let go of the places we love. 

Watch this video with Elizabeth Rush  Home or High Water

Join us as we host R. W. Alley and Zoe B. Alley for a children’s event on Saturday, February 22 from 11-12:30 PM! Light refreshments served.

R. W. stands for Robert Whitlock. But, please, call me Bob.

I’ve been making pictures as long as I can remember. They have always told stories. For me, that’s the best part of any picture; the narrative implied by the scene (what’s around the bend?), the characters (are they going or coming?), the technique (calm and static or staccato and animated?). Illustrated books are the perfect format for exploring all this. I’ve had the good fortune to illustrate the narratives in well over one hundred books by a wide variety of authors. I’ve also written and illustrated several titles.

Zoe B Alley

I became at long last thrilled to call myself an “Author” and see my own words in print with the publication of There’s a Wolf at the Door (Roaring Brook Press, 2008) and There’s a Princess in the Palace (Roaring Brook Press, 2010)! And now, my third book, Enzo Races in the Rain! I enjoy writing for being, among other things, a career that allows me to sit on the couch -– my office! -- in my pajamas and play with a pen and paper! And, to know that, somewhere, someone is reading a book to a child.

Following the success of World War II Rhode Island, author Christian McBurney returns, with new coauthors Norman Desmarais and Varoujan Karentz, to present extraordinary personal stories of local contributions to the war effort. From John F. Kennedy’s training as a PT boat commander at Melville to George H.W. Bush’s training as a pilot at Charlestown, the smallest state played an oversized role preparing navy officers and sailors. Important innovations are credited here too. Radar used on night-flying aircraft was developed at Jamestown’s Spraycliff Observatory and tested at Charlestown, and at Davisville, Seabees developed a pontoon aircraft landing field-tested on Narragansett Bay. Scituate was home to the nation’s most successful spy listening station. After these and more captivating stories are revealed, the final chapter details existing World War II sites across the state readers can visit.

The White Mountain: Rediscovering Mount Washington's Hidden Culture

Over the course of one calendar year, journalist Dan Szczesny explored the history and mystique of New England’s tallest mountain. But Mount Washington is more than just a 6,288-foot rock pile; the mountain is the cultural soul of climbers, hikers, and tourists from around the world.

Szczesny’s research took him outside of the archives; he was on the team of a ninety-seven-year-old ultra-runner, he dressed as Walt Whitman and read poetry while hiking up the mountain, and he spent a week in winter cooking for the scientists at the observatory. In The White Mountain, Szczesny turns a veteran journalist’s eye toward exploring Mount Washington’s place in the collective consciousness of the country and how this rugged landscape has reflected back a timeless history of our obsession and passion for exploration and discovery.

He’s a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s 4,000-footer club and has written extensively about the outdoors and hiking. He has camped in the Grand Canyon, hiked England’s Coast to Coast Trail, and trekked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. He's also traveled to India and Turkey with his ten-month-old daughter. For more, check out: www.danszczesny.com.

It’s been three years since Julie Tate and her business partner Freddy saved the farm at Jingle Valley and set up their boutique wedding business. After much hard work, and some challenging clients, it finally looks like they’re well on their way to success. Newly single, Julie’s trying not to envy the happiness enjoyed by her wedding clients. But it’s difficult to keep her mind on the job when her days are filled with other people’s romances. And when a door she thought was closed appears to open again, her confusion deepens.

Leah Keith has won the Allen Ginsberg Award for outstanding poetry through the VSA of Rhode Island three times, and she was chosen to represent them as the poet laureate for the past three years. Leah has a voice and she wants you to know it she wants you to hear her before you decide who she is she wants you to see her and take the time to get to know her before you think you already do she was surprised you with her unique wisdom and colorful sense of humor she is not what you expect her to be she is proud of who she is and she makes no apologies for it in this book Leah uses her voice in the form of poetry and art.

Entertainment: Local musician Lily Rhodes!

Sunday, October 27, 1-3 PM

HALLOWEEN PARTY!  We have four local children’s book authors with Halloween themed stories. They will read something from their books and sign copies.  We will also be giving away gift certificates for the best costume! Ink Fish Books will have candy, cookies, and cider. Join us for a fun afternoon! All Ages, books are appropriate for children 5-15 years.

Local RI children's book authors:

Coral Isabella Aurora, author of The Teenager's Guide to Surviving a Horror Film

David Buckner, author of Even Scary Things Get The Blues

Amanda Grafe, author of My Best Ghoulfriend

Pete O'Donnell, author of The Curse of Purgatory Cove

President Eisenhower’s National Security Advisor Robert “Bobby” Cutler shaped US Cold War strategy in far more consequential ways than previously understood. A lifelong Republican, Cutler also served three Democratic presidents. The life of any party, he was a tight-lipped loyalist who worked behind the scenes to get things done. While Cutler’s contributions to the public sphere may not have received, until now, the consideration they deserve, the story of his private life has never before been told.

LIVE PODCAST, BOOK SIGNING WITH 3 LOCAL AUTHORS

Join us for the Warren Walkabout where the town comes out to enjoy the music, artists, and food presented by the Warren merchants! At Ink Fish Books, meet Providence debut thriller author Vanessa Lillie, local Warren author Eric Mancini, and Boston author and podcast host, Daniel Ford, as they discuss their new books, tips for any aspiring authors, writers, and what books they're excited to read this fall.

Little Voices by Vanessa Lillie - Black Coffee by Daniel Ford - One American Robin by Eric Mancini

JA PATTY FOOD POP-UP
Freshly baked Jamaican Patties from scratch.with a flaky pastry dough filled with various savory fillings, including Jerk Chicken, Traditional Beef, Coconut Curry Veggie, Callaloo and Dumpling, Ackee and Saltfish, & Curry Chicken w/ Mozzarella Cheese! Each patty comes with a scratch-made dipping sauce, tamarind ginger or spicy jerk

Celebrate our 1st Anniversary too!

2 good friends...2 irresistible new books...1 fun-filled visit! Authors and besties Jamie Michalak & Anika Aldamuy Denise are hitting the road to share their brand-new children’s books about friendship! 

Frank and Bean by Jamie Michalak, Illustrated by Bob Kolar. A Junior Library Guild Selection

Frank likes peace and quiet.  He likes his tent, his pencil, and writing in his secret notebook. Bean likes noise. He likes his bus, his trumpet -- toot, toot! -- and making music. Loud music. But Bean is missing something: he does not have words. What will happen if Frank shares his words with Bean? 

The Love Letter by Anika Aldamuy Denise, Illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins. An Indie Next Pick

Fall in love with this endearing and adorable picture book that illustrates how a little bit of heart goes a long way to making the world a better place. Hedgehog, Bunny, and Squirrel are best friends. One day, they each find a letter. But not just any letter...A love letter.

Join Madhuri for a poetry reading & signing of her newly released book and browse the book selections at Ink Fish Books. Light refreshments will be served. In her first collection of poetry, Madhuri Pavamani crafts an intimate portrait of modern-day womanhood. Tender and bold, mournful, sometimes light, I, MACHETE, is a celebration of love, a frank discussion of loss, and a feminist call to reclaim oneself.

About the Author:

MADHURI PAVAMANI writes things. Here and there, she reads them aloud. A daughter of the South - as in South India and the very small southern town of Snellville, Georgia - she is a practicing attorney in New York City and a 2017 resident of the Rhode Island Writers Colony. When she’s not reading or writing or hanging with The Kid, she’s probably somewhere upside down, practicing her handstands. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @madhuriwrites.

All the Lives We Ever Lived: SEEKING SOLACE IN VIRGINIA WOOLF, by Katharine Smyth

Smyth’s story moves between the New England of her childhood and Woolf’s Cornish shores and Bloomsbury squares, exploring universal questions about family, loss, and homecoming. Through her inventive, highly personal reading of To the Lighthouse, and her artful adaptation of its groundbreaking structure, Smyth guides us toward a new vision of Woolf’s most demanding and rewarding novel—and crafts an elegant reminder of literature’s ability to clarify and console.
A wise, lyrical memoir about the power of literature to help us read our own lives—and see clearly the people we love most.

Ruthless River: LOVE AND SURVIVAL BY RAFT ON THE AMAZON’S RELENTLESS MADRE DE DIOS By Holly Fitzgerald

A stunning debut; a Departures original publication. The ultimate survival story; a wild ride—the wildest—down a South American river in the thick of the Amazon Basin; a true and thrilling adventure of a young married couple who survive a plane crash only to later raft hundreds of miles across Peru and Bolivia, ending up in a channel to nowhere, a dead end so flooded there is literally no land to stand on. Their raft—a mere four logs—separates them from the piranha-and-caiman-infested water until they finally realize that there is no way out but to swim. Vintage Original.